Trying to clone my yumi multiboot drive

[ell]

Hi, I'm stumped here, I created a multiboot usb drive (74 GB fat32) and want to duplicate it onto another usb hard drive so I would have a spare. I formatted it (fat32 160 GB) and used acronis clone and then tried making a backup image and recovering it and both times all the files are successfully copied but it will not boot, what am I missing here?

 

[SilverLeaf]

Hi, I'm stumped here, I created a multiboot usb drive (74 GB fat32) and want to duplicate it onto another usb hard drive so I would have a spare. I formatted it (fat32 160 GB) and used acronis clone and then tried making a backup image and recovering it and both times all the files are successfully copied but it will not boot, what am I missing here?

This is a perfect job for the unix/linux dd command. Fire up the live linux cd of choice (Parted Magic is good here), make sure the drives in question are not mounted, open a terminal, and use the command. The command syntax is:

dd if=/dev/sd[B]x[/B] of=/dev/sd[B]y[/B] bs=4096 conv=notrunc,noerror

where /dev/sdx is the original drive and /dev/sdy is the new drive. BE VERY CAREFUL HERE. Make sure you have identified your drives correctly. You don't want to accidentally clone the wrong disk to the wrong disk!

See here for more info: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Disk_Cloning

dd is a great tool to know how to use, just be careful with it.

 

[ell]

This is a perfect job for the unix/linux dd command. Fire up the live linux cd of choice (Parted Magic is good here), make sure the drives in question are not mounted, open a terminal, and use the command. The command syntax is:

dd if=/dev/sd[B]x[/B] of=/dev/sd[B]y[/B] bs=4096 conv=notrunc,noerror

where /dev/sdx is the original drive and /dev/sdy is the new drive. BE VERY CAREFUL HERE. Make sure you have identified your drives correctly. You don't want to accidentally clone the wrong disk to the wrong disk!

See here for more info: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Disk_Cloning

dd is a great tool to know how to use, just be careful with it.

unfortunetly I'm am a total newb in linux, I have used it to test hardware but as far as commands, I don't have a clue, someday I need to remedy that. I don't get why acronis is not cloning the boot info correctly, it shows that is has copied bootini, etc., it just doesn't work. maybe I'll try another cloning app like clonezilla.

 

[ell]

You could try ImageUSB. It's free from http://www.osforensics.com/tools/write-usb-images.html

thanks, I'll give it a try!

 

[Avgsmoe]

I haven't used yumi before but if just uses either Syslinux or grub4dos, you would be best of just to copy the data, and set the boot sector with the appropriate tool. For example, download the Syslinux package that you are using, there will be a Windows directory, from cmd with admin run syslinux (might need to append if using 64 bit) -ma "yourusbdrive": or grub4dos has a GUI to do this.

 

[coffee]

I agree with silverleaf's idea. Using DD is a great way to get the drives cloned. Afterall, Clonezilla is just a pretty frontend for DD, and other resources.

The most simple command for DD is:

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb

if - INPUT FILE
of - OUTPUT FILE


You can use dd from almost any linux flavor and boot it from cd/dvd to use it. Just open up a terminal window and become root.

I would use dd before clonezilla.

coffee

p.s. -- Here is a good page on how to use it with examples ----> http://www.computerhope.com/unix/dd.htm

 

[HFultzjr]

I suggest what Silverleaf instructed, it's really not that hard. Just make sure to get the drives right.

If you want to give Acronis another go, try a sector by sector copy. You're original is smaller, so it shouldn't be a problem. Also select "ignore errors".

Are you sure your original doesn't have any errors? If it does, go straight to ddrescue.

 

[ell]

I suggest what Silverleaf instructed, it's really not that hard. Just make sure to get the drives right.

If you want to give Acronis another go, try a sector by sector copy. You're original is smaller, so it shouldn't be a problem. Also select "ignore errors".

Are you sure your original doesn't have any errors? If it does, go straight to ddrescue.

Acronis only has the sector by sector option for making a backup image not for its cloning procedure, maybe thats what I need to do instead, make an image them restore it to the drive.

 

[HFultzjr]

Acronis only has the sector by sector option for making a backup image not for its cloning procedure, maybe thats what I need to do instead, make an image them restore it to the drive.

You are correct. My error.
The image procedure may work.
Might still be a good time to try ddrescue, you might find that you like it.