How can I migrate Knoppix 6.2 between HD's from internal HD to external USB one?

[GizmoPlushie]

Hi again,

I have Knoppix 6.2 since 2 month on a laptop named bravely Armada 500

I'd like to switch Knoppix data from my internal HD to the external USB HD (around 250GB) to boot it up but this time from the new USB HD.

Is it easy possible?

Take into consideration, that I'm just the starter (newbie, n00b) as some of us (perhaps, cause maybe I'm the only one).

Legend:
HD - hard drive, not movie HD off course.

The reason I want to load system from external HD without installing from the beginning is, that my internal laptop HD makes noise sporadically (the "pyk" noise) so I think it is perhaps broken or I could be preemtive wrong, so that would make me happy (additional expenses make me dizzy)

Thanks

[klaus2008]

I think GParted should be able to copy the partition to the external drive. The best way I think is to boot Knoppix from CD. There is a manual http://gparted.sourceforge.net/docs/...tition-actions with a section Copying and Pasting a Partition. Don't forget to install GRUB in the MBR of your external drive. See also http://gparted.sourceforge.net/docs/...-boot-problems

There is an old documentation with many pictures http://gparted.sourceforge.net/larry...es/gparted.htm

[GizmoPlushie]

I think GParted should be able to copy the partition to the external drive. The best way I think is to boot Knoppix from CD. There is a manual http://gparted.sourceforge.net/docs/...tition-actions with a section Copying and Pasting a Partition. Don't forget to install GRUB in the MBR of your external drive. See also http://gparted.sourceforge.net/docs/...-boot-problems

There is an old documentation with many pictures http://gparted.sourceforge.net/larry...es/gparted.htm

Nice but if I think well enough, this isn't the safest way of copying partition on an external USB HD. Is there no other, manual way of doing it like: copy system files on the DVD, then on the USB HD and change the path?

[mecho]

I am also interested in this topic. Is it possible to move the entire partition from one 4 gb USB drive to a bigger one like 16 gb, then convert it to ext2 and resize it to fit the entire drive and then resize knoppix-data.img above the FAT32's 4gb limit ?

[klaus2008]

I thought GizmoPlushie wanted to copy an HD install of Knoppix 6.2 to a new drive.

I already copied a flash device install of Knoppix 6.1 to a 16 GB USB stick with the ext2 filesystem. I use extlinux as bootloader instead of syslinux. As far as I remember I did the following:

1. I used fdisk to create a linux partition on the 16 GB flash device. On the new partition I created an ext2 filesystem.

2. As user root I mounted the two USB devices and copied the files from the old USB device to the new one while preserving the directory structure.

3. I marked the partition of the 16 GB USB device as bootable using sfdisk.

4. In a root terminal I changed to the directory on the 16 GB USB device which contains the file syslinux.cfg. I renamed that file to extlinux.conf and installed extlinux to the current directory. In the documentation of extlinux http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/EXTLINUX is described that the USB device needs an mbr.

There is a thread about resizing knoppix-data.img http://www.knoppix.net/forum/threads...oppix-data.img in the forum Customising and Remastering.

[kl522]

I am also interested in this topic. Is it possible to move the entire partition from one 4 gb USB drive to a bigger one like 16 gb, then convert it to ext2 and resize it to fit the entire drive and then resize knoppix-data.img above the FAT32's 4gb limit ?

It wasn't clear to me that the previous posts were talking about harddisk installation or flash installation, as the migration procedures will be totally different. Flash installation migration is a lot easier. You consider one of the following strategies :-

First method: On your 16 GB flash, cut it into two partitions, first partition is a much smaller FAT32 ( 1 G is more than enough ), and it will still keeping your syslinux and kernel there. The second partition is ext2, and you copy the entire existing /mnt-system/KNOPPIX ( including knoppix-data.img ) over there.

Knoppix autodetects KNOPPIX directory and perform all the work accordingly.

To get two partitions out of the original single partition 16GB flash, you can use fdisk or equivalent. There are some details need to make it bootable, install boot loader and so on.

Second Method: You need to install alternative bootloader into your 16GB flash, say using grub or extlinux. These will require you to know how to use grub or extlinux.

Last but not least, you can yet consider migrating the entire /mnt-system/KNOPPIX directory to your internal harddisk ( together with your existing file system on the internal harddisk). I do that. I use the flash for booting only. After booting, I can remove the flash.

[mecho]

Thank you - that was very thorough explanation. I thought that the procedure would be somewhat similar to the subject of this thread that's why I did not open another one and posted here. I didn't want to mess it up

[Capricorny]

One thing that might be tricky, is that it's not really advisable just to copy a live system with ordinary tools. Therefore, I use the copy to flash option to place a copy of the running system on external media first, and then copy the entire KNOPPIX directory from there to the final destination - that could be anywhere. This way, I don't have to boot the ISO or anything to do the work, and I can use all the extra tools I have installed all the time too. Working with it just like an ordinary install. In the case of copying to a Unix file system, I personally feel that extlinux is somewhat superfluous, as I don't really see any very good reason to not use GRUB when everything is in place.

I wonder why you need bigger than 4GB persistent storage. The limitation can surely be a hassle, but exactly what is the problem? I work with 3x4GB persistent, everything set up within the KNOPPIX directory, and in many ways, I find it is better to have the different development tools etc on different volumes of a very manageable size. When you run KNOPPIX from a Unix partition, that is mounted and accessible anyway, and I routinely mount one ore more storage volumes. Where I, for example, keep the virtual machines for vmware workstation. And ISO images, ready for loop-mounting.

The way I have organized it, I can have everything I need on a 16GB FAT32 stick.

Installing Knoppix 6.2.X on a hard disk the old way is just plain stupid. You end up with a brain damaged Debian install - which could have some merit in the old days before UNIONFS, but not anymore. And copying that retarded monster around is even worse.

[mecho]

Thanks Capricorny,

I have no problem in having more then one persistent storage files, but I do not really understand how will knoppix be accessing them and how will I be able to manage them. I have installed many new packages and have upgraded many too. I am not running out of space because I delete all unnecessary localizations and prevent browsers from using disk cache, so even on a single 3 GB persistent I have 1.68 free space. I am also storing all my user files on the hard drive and keep the USB stick only for the system and applications. Anyway I would really feel better if I know that I have more room

[Capricorny]

When you add more volumes of persistent storage, it's really first and foremost for your own use, not for Knoppix. It may be possible to join volumes too, but I use them separately. I have Java, Eclipse and other development tools, server-related things together with my own projects, on the extra volumes. Having so much space available, there is not really much need to manage it, in my situation. Currently, I have 1.8 + 2.3 + 3.4 GB free, I will not be able to use it all in a long time, I think, as long as I use hard disks (external+internal) for the voluminous things.
I would have increased the basic volume to 4GB if I were you. There are a few ways to do this.
I'm not so sure that you need to be so strict about cache use. You could run du --max-depth=2 (or 3-5) routinely on your persistent storage, to see how it is used and how it changes.