Copy of Knoppix from inside Knoppix

[Gencho]

Hello,

I have read suggestions of making multiple copies from an ISO file, or, if one has the CD and not the file, of installing Knoppix on the HD (compressed) and running it from there.

I have a CD-ROM and a CD-RW drive. I don't want to change my partitions - actually I want, but imagine the case I had a crash, or a small hard disk. Is there a way to make a backup copy of the CD?

On the fly copy works, but I assume it isn't a good idea to try to make an exact copy by reading from the device while Knoppix is running from the same device. Am I right?

But the files on the CD are still readable as files - or would this also confuse some programs or cause some overhead that will lock the system? Maybe it is possible to "construct" the CD on the fly? (I don't really know if this is possible.)

Another idea was to take or to make a minimal distribution (but which can read and write CD-R) that runs from the memory, but it would be nice if it all this could de made using only Knoppix.

It is just an idea. Maybe it isn't very important - for the moment, if my CD gets scratched, the simplest thing for me is to ask a friend or to buy a new one.

Bye,
Gencho

[mzilikazi]

Now this is for Kanotix but Knoppix *should* be similar. I have no idea about the Knoppix kernel.

Just loop mount the cdrom

mount -o loop /dev/cdrom /cdrom
cd /cdrom
Copy the compressed image to hdd:

cp -R /KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX /mnt/hda7
Copy the /boot directory to hdd:

cp-R /boot
Add an entry to your boot loader to point to the image:

title Kanotix BH09
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us vga=791 n
omce alsa xmodule=fbdev home=/dev/hda7 myconf=/dev/hda7 hdb=scsi
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/miniroot.gz
You can even save your persistent home to the same partition (despite what others may tell you ;) )

You can also run the installer when booted to the compressed KNOPPIX image from hdd. It's very fast. When you want to upgrade simply replace the KNOPPIX file. No change to your boot loader is required.

It is also possible to mount the knoppix.blah.iso. There is a howto for that somewhere.

[firebyrd10]

You could always try to use k3b and do an on the fly reading of the knoppix disk.

[Gencho]

You could always try to use k3b and do an on the fly reading of the knoppix disk.

I have tried something similar (with cdrdao, I believe) and this time it worked, thanks. But I am almost sure that trying to copy the Knoppix cd confused the computer once when I tried this in a previous Knoppix version, so I thought that maybe Knoppix needs the CD itself so often that the hardware or the software can't handle simultaneous intensive reading. Obviously that "theory" was wrong.