[Westwales] Duplicating a Linux disc

[Adrian Shaw]

I'm currently working on a PC using a "dodgy" Fujitsu hard drive, the 
importan information on which is backed up nightly onto another Fujitsu 
(presumably also dodgy).

Not an ideal situation, and many of my colleagues here were in the same 
position. So, we secured replacement HDDs. We now each have 19 Gb Seagate 
discs, which are everso slightly smaller in capacity.

Most (not all) of my colleagues work on Windows. The disc copy tool seems to 
have worked without fault for them. However, it does not seem to want to 
clone my disc (and therefore by extension that of at least one other Linux 
user).

I could always take the opportunity of upgrading my system, by doing a fresh 
clean install onto a new disc, then copying back vital files. Does someone 
have a list of these, as I can't remember what I need? 

Alternatively, is there a better solution; an easy way to copy the whole 
disc, including the boot sector, and partition information as may be 
necessary? Will dd work, or is there a better way?

I'm running Mandrake 8.1 (I think it is...) with kernel 2.4.8. Maybe I should 
take the opportunity to upgrade to 9.0 (is it worth it?).

Thanks for any help! I'll pass it on to others in a similar position.

Adrian