Back up boot floppy?

**spangeman** · 03-28-2004, 11:35 PM

I have now got knoppix running from my HD (after reading posts on here, thanx!)

Is there any way to boot directly from my HD or do I have to use the floppy that knoppix created? If no then.....

How can I backup the floppy? They aren't exactly reliable!

Regards
Spangeman (an extreme novice to unix, linux and anything non-windows)

**Stephen** · 03-29-2004, 12:22 AM

Originally Posted by spangeman

I have now got knoppix running from my HD (after reading posts on here, thanx!)

Is there any way to boot directly from my HD or do I have to use the floppy that knoppix created? If no then.....

How can I backup the floppy? They aren't exactly reliable!

Regards
Spangeman (an extreme novice to unix, linux and anything non-windows)

To backup the floppy open a console window with the floppy in the drive and as root dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/path/desired/to/store/knoppixboot.img then to write to a floppy also as root dd if=/path/to/knoppixboot.img of=/dev/fd0. To boot from the HD you will have to check your /etc/lilo.conf file and make sure that it has the proper settings for your setup then run as root /sbin/lilo -v to write the file to the HD so it can be used. If you need help with this then you should post the /etc/lilo.conf and tells us where the / partition is hda1, hda5, hdb1 ... and if you have any other OS's installed on the machine.

**spangeman** · 03-29-2004, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by Stephen

To backup the floppy open a console window with the floppy in the drive and as root dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/path/desired/to/store/knoppixboot.img then to write to a floppy also as root dd if=/path/to/knoppixboot.img of=/dev/fd0.

Being a linux newbie means that makes very little sense to me
I know how to open a console window with the floppy but the code:

dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/path/desired/to/store/knoppixboot.img

is a little confusing.

can: path/desired/to/store/knoppixboot.img be anywhere on linux such as a directory in knoppix/home? As for:

dd if=/path/to/knoppixboot.img of=/dev/fd0

is =/path/to/knoppixboot.img where the floppy drive is? How does it know where the copied file is on my HD?

And I'm just ignoring the HD boot coz thats way over my head

**Stephen** · 03-29-2004, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by spangeman

can: path/desired/to/store/knoppixboot.img be anywhere on linux such as a directory in knoppix/home? As for:

Yes the if= is the input file in this case the floppy (/dev/fd0) you want to duplicate the of= or output file is the image that you want to save to hard disk and you can save it anywhere pretty much eg. of=/home/username/knoppixboot.img.

dd if=/path/to/knoppixboot.img of=/dev/fd0

is =/path/to/knoppixboot.img where the floppy drive is? How does it know where the copied file is on my HD?

That would be where the boot image is that you have saved to hard disk and want to write too a new floppy which would be the if= or input file now then you write to the of=/dev/fd0 or output file which is the floppy so you now have a duplicate.