[Sussex] Simple cloning

[Brendan Whelan]

Hello,

I am looking for the simplest way to reliably clone a Fedora Core 5 system. Small differences in disk size, changes in server hardware, out dated proprietary software, etc have all caused me aggravation at different times.

Each system only has one SCSI disk drive and I can take the system off the network, boot from the rescue disk etc. i.e. the data should not be changing.
Does the following approach look sensible:

1. Install a virgin copy of FC5 on the target disk.

2. Place the original drive in the server with a low address.

3. Place the target drive in the server with a higher address.

4. Boot the system and allow to settle down.

5. rsync /dev/sda /dev/sdb    is this too simplistic?  Should I repeat this step a couple of times.

6. Shutdown

7. Reboot with only the target drive installed and check that all is well.

Thanks,  Brendan
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