Knoppix 3.4 and NTFS write

[TLis]

Hi all,

I am searching the partition management (creation/resizing) and partition backup/restore solution, able to deal with NTFS partitions. I plan to use the software on the HP nx7000 notebook with the external HDD connected via USB 2.0.

I have tried Windows-based solutions, but they usually have problems with the restore to the partition, which is currently running.

I understand, that Knoppix, as a system running from CD, does not use HDD, and does not have this problem, as described above. I only need the read/write NTFS filesystem support, so that I can safely backup and restore my partitions.

Version 3.4 is supposed to use Captive driver (through Wine?). What is your opinion - is this solution safe enough for my needs described above? I really have important data to backup ;-)

Thanks in advance for your replies

Tomasz Lisowski

[garyng]

If all you want is backup/restore at partition level, I don't think you really need NTFS support at all. Just a dd if=/dev/hdaX of=backup_file would do the trick. However, if you want to get into individual files in the NTFS partiton, you do need NTFS fs. But in that case, I would simply zip/tar the files and later restore them under Windows so just NTFS read is good enough. Capture is only needed for writing to NTFS.

[TLis]

I am afraid, that when using the dd command, that you suggest, I will need the write access to NTFS, if the backup file is located on NTFS.

Moreover, the write access to NTFS would be even more necessary, if I would like to RESTORE the partition from the backup file, if the original partition is NTFS. Am I right?

[OErjan]

actually you will not even need a fs on the partition, it wil be a PART of the image.
here you have some more on the subject.
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9447&highlight=

[TLis]

I assume, your comment concerns RESTORING the partition from the image file. What about creating the image file? For this activity I guess I will need the NTFS write support, otherwise I would be limited to making a BACKUP on FAT-32 partitions only (my HDD has only Windows-type filesystems).

[OErjan]

actualy dd wil make a bit by bit copy, both ways, ignoring WHAT it is copying, from, where to, even what it is copying to, the operator must know hat the image file has room enough to exist. read the link i gave you, where i helped "mirror" a failing disk, he had ntfs partitions, it worked ok, no complaints, but for the failing disk giving errors (no big surprise there).

[TLis]

Yes, I have read your advices about cloning a HDD, but actually I am not going to make a COPY of the partition. I want to have an IMAGE, i.e. a single file with the partition (or volume) contents with the ability to recreate a partition from this image file.

That's why I am not interested in the command:

dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb
but rather something like

dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb/hda_image.bck

Then I wonder, what happens, if /dev/hdb is an NTFS partition. Probably I need RW access. The same about RESTORING ...

dd if=/dev/hdb\hda_iimage.bck of=/dev/hda
If I have understood you correctly, it should not matter, if /dev/hda is an NTFS partition, of not. Knoppix (without the ability of writing to NTFS) should handle this - right?

Please comment

[OErjan]

it worked for him, an image file or partition, nothing realy diferent as far as DD is concerned, it wil make a bootable floppy from a image on a hdd or other way round so...
i frequently use dd to make 1.722Mb minix, ext2 and vfat floppies from a suitable image, the images where made by me using dd to copy formated floppies to image. the filesystem just follows along (the floppies are unformatted when bought).
i see no reason it should not work ok for ntfs aswell.
you might try on a small scale and see if it works, if not i would be surprised.

[markleong]

I tried dd on Win2000 before. Managed to restore the whole system.

I dd the Win2000 disk to a blank disk of the same size (you would need one that is the same or bigger).

fdisk the 1st disk and dd back the image.

Everything went back to before.

Don't take my word for it. Test or backup before you destroy the original system. I did it on a test system.

[garyng]

what I am interested to know about dd is what would be the impact of changing the disk size ? Say originally it is a 40G but the new one is 80G. Of course, the partitions needed to be created again but do I need to recreate the new partition the exact same size as the old one and must it be in the same location too ?

[TLis]

Thanks OErjan and markleong, I will make a check myself.

garyng, if dd copies "bit by bit", probably it would write disk sectors from your image file to your bigger partition, but I am afraid, that the remaining sectors of this partition will not be properly initialised, unless you set up the filesystem on this partition beforehand.

Then comes the question of the cluster size (NTFS, FAT32). If the image file was taken from a FAT32 partition of the size below 8GB, then it is restored to a FAT32 partition of the size above 8GB, then the cluster size in both cases is different. I suspect serious problems in this situation.

What do you think about it?