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1 sng 28 Installing on USB
2     ==============================================================================
3    
4     Installation to USB made easy
5     ****************************************
6     Until recently installing Clonezilla-SysRescCD on a USB disk would not
7     be such a great idea, because of its size. But since USB devices become
8     cheaper and cheaper, it is an interesting alternative.
9    
10     Starting with version 3.1.0, Clonezilla-SysRescCD provides an iso
11     file that's ISO-Hybrided. This means (as we read at the isolynux site {{
12     http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Doc/isolinux#HYBRID_CD-ROM.2FHARD_DISK_MODE
13     }}) that
14    
15     "the iso file can be booted from either CD-ROM or from a device which BIOS
16     considers a hard disk or ZIP disk, e.g. a USB key or similar. This image can
17     then be copied using any raw disk writing tool (on Unix systems, typically
18     "dd" or "cat") to a USB disk, or written to a CD-ROM using standard CD
19     burning tools.
20    
21     The ISO 9660 filesystem is encapsulated in a partition (which starts at
22     offset zero, which may confuse some systems.) This makes it possible for
23     the operating system, once booted, to use the remainder of the device for
24     persistent storage by creating a second partition."
25    
26     [[ important.png ]]
27     Incorrect use of any raw disk writing tool could cause your operating system
28     (GNU/Linux / Windows) not to boot. Confirm the command before you run it.
29    
30     So, from any linux box, assuming Clonezilla-SysRescCD iso file is in
31     your home directory, and your USB device name is sdc4, you just execute
32     the commands:
33    
34     umount /dev/sdc4
35     dd if=~/clonezilla-sysresccd-full-mod-"myVersion".iso of=/dev/sdc4 bs=512
36    
37     And that's it. Your usb device is ready to boot!!!
38    
39     Installing the "hard" way
40     ****************************************
41     If the "easy" way does not work there is an alternative; you will use
42     the Clonezilla-SysRescCD ISO file (or CD) to copy and modify a couple of
43     files on the USB disk, and finally make it bootable, using syslinux {{
44     http://syslinux.zytor.com }} and its configuration file syslinux.cfg.
45    
46     [[ important.png ]]
47     Incorrect use of syslinux could cause your operating system (GNU/Linux /
48     Windows) not to boot. Confirm the command before you run it.
49    
50     The only thing that's important is that your USB disk must contain a VFAT
51     (Windows 98 or DOS) file system. If this is not the case, refer to the
52     section "Troubleshooting", to find out how you can format it, before
53     copying files to it.
54    
55     The bootable USB disk creation procedure can be performed either from
56     Linux or Windows.
57    
58     [[ info.png ]]
59     If you want to create a bootable USB flash drive for this version
60     or later, remember to use the syslinux command from syslinux
61     3.71 or later. Otherwise the boot menu won't work.
62    
63     Installation from Linux
64     ---------------------
65     There are two ways you can proceed, if you are going to use Linux to
66     perform the USB installation, either using a running linux box, or using
67     Clonezilla-SysRescCD.
68    
69     I will assume that you have saved clonezilla-sysresccd-full-mod-3.1.0.iso
70     in your home directory (~).
71    
72     Using a linux box
73     ---------------------
74     If you already have a linux box up and running, you can use it to create
75     your Clonezilla-SysRescCD USB, without even having to burn it to CD
76     beforehand. The only thing here is that you have to have syslinux {{
77     http://syslinux.zytor.com }} installed.
78    
79     I will assume that your CD drive is /dev/sr0 and that your USB device
80     is /dev/sdc4. You may have to change any of them to reflect your system
81     configuration.
82    
83     Boot into linux, connect your USB device and execute the following commands:
84     mkdir /mnt/mycd
85     mount ~/clonezilla-sysresccd-full-mod-3.1.0.iso /mnt/mycd -o loop
86     mkdir /mnt/usbdevice
87     mount /dev/sdc4 /mnt/usbdevice
88     cp -r /mnt/mycd/* /mnt/usbdevice
89     umount /mnt/mycd; rmdir /mnt/mycd
90     cd /mnt/usbdevice
91     rm isolinux/*.cfg
92     mv isolinux/* .
93     rmdir isolinux
94     cd; umount /dev/sdc4
95     rmdir /mnt/usbdevice
96    
97     Finally make your USB device bootable, by executing
98     syslinux /dev/sdc4
99     and you are done.
100    
101     > Using Clonezilla-SysRescCD
102     If you already burnt Clonezilla-SysRescCD to CD, you can use it to create
103     your Clonezilla-SysRescCD USB.
104    
105     I will assume that your CD drive is /dev/sr0 and that your USB device
106     is /dev/sdc4. You may have to change any of them to reflect your system
107     configuration.
108    
109     Boot SystemRescueCD using the option To RAM, and when it is fully loaded,
110     execute the following commands:
111     mkdir /mnt/mycd
112     mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/mycd
113     mkdir /mnt/usbdevice
114     mount /dev/sdc4 /mnt/usbdevice
115     cp -r /mnt/mycd/* /mnt/usbdevice
116     umount /mnt/mycd
117     cd /mnt/usbdevice
118     rm isolinux/*.cfg
119     mv isolinux/* .
120     rmdir isolinux
121     cd; umount /dev/sdc4
122    
123     Finally make your USB device bootable, by executing
124     syslinux /dev/sdc4
125     and you are done.
126    
127     Installation from Windows
128     ---------------------
129     Installing Clonezilla-SysRescCD from Windows is as easy as
130     it is in Linux. You have to burn Clonezilla-SysRescCD to CD
131     or use a CD/DVD ROM emulator software like Daemon Tools {{
132     http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/announcements.php }} to mount the ISO file.
133    
134     I will assume that your USB device is drive K: and your CD drive or mounted
135     ISO file is drive
136     D:. You may have to change any of them, in order to reflect your system
137     configuration.
138    
139     You will have to
140    
141     * Copy all files from drive D: (CD or mounted ISO file) to drive K:
142     (USB disk)
143     * Delete all cfg files from K:isolinux
144     * Move all files from K:isolinux to K:
145     * Delete folder K:isolinux
146    
147     Now all you have to do is make your USB disk bootable. In order to do
148     that you have to open a DOS window (in Windows XP press "Start / Run "
149     and type cmd). Then type at DOS prompt:
150     K:
151     cd bootprog
152     syslinux -ma K:
153    
154     Booting from USB
155     ---------------------
156     Before trying to boot from your USB device, you have to set your boot device
157     at your BIOS. This means you have to reboot having your USB device connected,
158     get into your BIOS (usually pressing DEL) and make the appropriate settings
159     in the BOOT section.
160    
161     Booting Clonezilla Live should not be a problem. Just select the desired
162     option and press ENTER to boot.
163    
164     Booting SystemRescueCD has been made equally simple with SystemRescueCD
165     v 1.0.0, so you shouldn't have any problem (option cdroot is not required
166     any more).
167    
168     If you have any problems here, you may try adding any of these boot
169     parameters:
170     usbstick
171     doscsi
172    
173     Troubleshooting
174     ---------------------
175     Whether you can successfully boot from a USB disk or not, depends mainly on
176     your BIOS. Chances are that you will not be able to boot on an old computer,
177     with an old (and possibly buggy) BIOS. So I would recommend testing your
178     Clonezilla-SysRescCD USB on a new computer.
179    
180     * I can't boot (I don't even see the splash screen)
181     or Clonezilla Live does not boot
182    
183     The first thing you should do is double check your BIOS settings. Reboot
184     having your USB device connected, get into your BIOS (usually pressing DEL)
185     and make the appropriate settings in the BOOT section.
186    
187     If you are on linux, check that the partition on the USB disk is active
188     (bootable), executing:
189     fdisk -l /dev/sdc
190     You should get something similar to this:
191    
192     Disk /dev/sdc: 1031 MB, 1031798272 bytes
193     64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 983 cylinders
194     Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
195    
196     Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
197     /dev/sdc4 * 1 983 1006576 6 FAT16
198    
199     If the partition is not active (no astrisk), execute:
200     fdisk /dev/sdc
201     and issue "Command: " a (toggle a bootable flag) and "Partition number:"
202     4 (for /dev/sdc4).
203    
204     If you are on Windows, this is taken care of by syslinux (parameters -ma).
205    
206     If you still have problems booting, you should try to execute
207     syslinux -s /dev/sdc4
208     from Linux, or
209     syslinux -sma K:
210     from Windows (from folder K:syslinux).
211    
212     syslinux man page reads:
213    
214     (Option) -s
215     Install a "safe, slow and stupid" version of syslinux. This version may work
216     on some very buggy BIOSes on which syslinux would otherwise fail. If you find
217     a machine on which the -s option is required to make it boot reliably, please
218     send as much info about your machine as you can, and include the failure
219     mode.
220    
221     * I still can't boot
222     In this case you will have to format your USB disk.
223    
224     If you are using linux to perform the installation, execute the command:
225     mkdosfs -F 16 /dev/sdc4
226     to create a FAT16 file system, or
227     mkdosfs -F 32 /dev/sdc4
228     to create a FAT32 file system.
229    
230     When you are done go back to section "Installation from Linux".
231    
232     If you are on Windows, you should download the HP-USB Format tool {{
233     http://h50178.www5.hp.com/local_drivers/17550/SP27608.exe }}, install it
234     and format your USB drive using the Fat or Fat32 option. This program can
235     be used to format USB devices that won't boot properly when formatted with
236     Windows format tool.
237    
238     When you are done go back to section "Installation from Windows".
239    
240     * I still can't boot (after formating)
241     Things are getting tough!!! Try to format your USB disk using the option you
242     did not use previously. So, if you have created a FAT32 file system, create
243     a FAT16 file system this time, and recreate Clonezilla-SysRescCD on USB.
244    
245     If nothing works, you are out of luck; you will not be able to use
246     Clonezilla-SysRescCD USB on this computer... If you do manage to boot it,
247     please send me a message.
248    
249     * SystemRescueCD does not boot
250     Ok, you have managed to get to the splash screen and successfully booted
251     Clonezilla Live. But you still can't boot SystemRescueCD.
252    
253     Refer to section Booting from USB to find out the boot parameters you can
254     use with SystemRescueCD.
255    
256     Customizing sysresc.cfg
257     ---------------------
258     As stated previously, Clonezilla-SysRescCD USB is booted by syslinux through
259     its configuration file syslinux.cfg. This file loads sysresc.cfg in order
260     to boot SystemRescueCD.
261    
262     If you have to specify any additional boot parameters for SystemRescueCD,
263     you may want to write these changes to the configuration file, so that
264     you don't have to insert them by hand every time.
265    
266     The procedure to do that is the following:
267    
268     Boot SystemRescueCD (or if that's not possible yet, bot Clonezilla Linux
269     and get to the command line) using the option To RAM, and when it is fully
270     loaded, execute the following commands:
271     mkdir /mnt/usbdevice
272     mount /dev/[device] /mnt/usbdevice
273     cd /mnt/usbdevice
274     cp sysresc.cfg sysresc.bak
275     sed 's|scandelay=5|scandelay=x [additional params]|'
276     sysresc.cfg > sys.cfg
277     mv sys.cfg sysresc.cfg
278     cd; umount /dev/[device]
279     syslinux /dev/[device]
280     reboot
281    
282     where x is a number from 1 to 10.
283    
284     After executing these commands, you will have a new sysresc.cfg file,
285     and a backup file called sysresc.bak (in case things go wrong).
286    
287     If, for example, you want to increase the device scan delay to maximum,
288     the above commands would become:
289     mkdir /mnt/usbdevice
290     mount /dev/sdc4 /mnt/usbdevice
291     cd /mnt/usbdevice
292     cp sysresc.cfg sysresc.bak
293     sed 's|scandelay=5|scandelay=10|' sysresc.cfg > sys.cfg
294     mv sys.cfg sysresc.cfg
295     cd; umount /dev/sdc4
296     syslinux /dev/sdc4
297     reboot
298    
299     If, in addition to that, you had to use the boot parameter usbstick,
300     then it would be:
301     mkdir /mnt/usbdevice
302     mount /dev/sdc4 /mnt/usbdevice
303     cd /mnt/usbdevice
304     cp sysresc.cfg sysresc.bak
305     sed 's|scandelay=5|scandelay=10 usbstick|' sysresc.cfg > sys.cfg
306     mv sys.cfg sysresc.cfg
307     cd; umount /dev/sdc4
308     syslinux /dev/sdc4
309     reboot
310    
311     In case something goes wrong with your new settings, you can always rename
312     sysresc.bak to sysresc.cfg, either from linux or Windows.
313    
314    
315    
316    
317     Boot parameters
318     ==============================================================================
319    
320     Intro
321     ****************************************
322     Booting a linux system means loading a kernel, which is actually the
323     operating system. Well, this is not exactly true, and it is not the only
324     thing that happens during boot up phase, but it is not my intension to
325     explain it here.
326    
327     The kernel is loaded by Isolinux (the CD boot manager), which is able to pass
328     a number of parameters to it, through its configuration file isolinux.cfg.
329    
330     These parameters, called boot parameters, are documented by the kernel
331     itself, and can differentiate its behavior dramatically. In our case,
332     each CD (SystemRescueCD and Clonezilla Live) accept a different set of
333     parameters, because they are based on gentoo {{ http://www.gentoo.org/ }}
334     and debian, respectively.
335    
336     While in the splash screen of Clonezilla-SysRescCD, you can edit the boot
337     parameters by pressing TAB. They will be presented to you, and you can
338     add or remove what you want. You must be careful not to change or remove
339     the parameters that are dedicated to the CD itself, as altering them will
340     certainty make it unbootable. When you are done, just press ENTER to boot.
341    
342     SystemRescueCD boot parameters
343     ****************************************
344     [[ info.png ]]
345     The following info applies to SystemRescueCD v. 1.3.5. In case
346     you need to get info for a more recent version of SystemRescueCD
347     please see the page "Sysresccd-manual-en Booting the CD-ROM {{
348     http://www.sysresccd.org/Sysresccd-manual-en_Booting_the_CD-ROM }}"
349    
350     A typical sysresccd isolinux entry is:
351    
352     kernel rescuecd
353     append initrd=initram.igz video=ofonly
354    
355     The kernel used is rescuecd, and anything after the word append is a
356     boot parameter.
357    
358     Available kernels (boot images):
359    
360     * rescuecd This is the default choice for 32bits systems, with Framebuffer
361     disabled, best choice.
362     * altker32 This is an alternative kernel for 32bits systems. Boot with
363     this kernel in case you have problems with rescuecd. altker32 was named
364     vmlinuz2 in versions prior to SystemRescueCd-1.0.0.
365     * rescue64 This is the default 64 bits kernel. Use it if you want to chroot
366     to a 64bits linux system installed on your hard disk, or if you have to run
367     64 bits programs. This kernel is able to boot SystemRescueCd from the cdrom
368     with 32bits programs, and it required a processor with 64bits instructions
369     (amd64 / em64t).
370     * altker64 This is an alternative kernel for 64bits systems. Boot with
371     this kernel in case you have problems with rescue64. Only available from
372     SystemRescueCd-1.0.0 and newer.
373    
374     The boot parameters you can use are:
375    
376 sng 43 General boot options
377     Press <TAB> to add additional options.
378 sng 28
379 sng 43 * docache: causes the CD-ROM will be fully loaded into memory. A slower
380     start but once complete, programs start faster and the CD drive will be
381     released allowing normal access to other CDs. This requires 400MB of memory
382     to cache everything (including the bootdisks and isolinux directories). Add
383     lowmem if you have less that 400MB of memory of to prevent these directories
384     to be copied.
385    
386     During boot you will be prompted for the keyboard configuration, avoid
387     this by using
388    
389     * setkmap=kk: which defines the keymap to load where kk (example: setkmap=de
390     for German keyboards)
391     * root=/dev/xdnp: the root=<device> option {{
392 sng 28 http://www.sysresccd.org/news/2008/06/05/use-systemrescuecd-to-boot-a-linux-os-from-the-hard-disk/
393 sng 43 }} boots an existing linux system. For example, if you have linux
394     Gentoo installed on /dev/sda6, use rescuecd root=/dev/sda6 to start
395     it. Keep in mind that you must use a 64bit kernel if your system is
396     made of 64bit programs. This option works with LVM volumes. Use rescuecd
397     root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00. Support is also provided for root=auto,
398     which scans all the block devices tfor a linux system. The first linux
399     system found will be started. So with root=auto let you start the system
400 sng 28 installed from the CD-ROM in case you have problem with your boot loader or
401 sng 43 kernel. It's also possible to specify a partition using its filesystem label
402     or filesystem uuid. If the label of the partition where linux is installed
403     is mylinux, then boot it using rescuecd root=LABEL=mylinux. Similarly
404     root=UUID=b3d3bec5-997a-413e-8449-0d0ec41ccba7. See more details.
405     * initscript=service:action: This options allows start/stop a service
406     at boot time. For instance if you need the samba service to be started,
407     you can boot with: initscript=samba:start. This does the same thing as
408     /etc/init.d/samba start. Use this option multiple times for different
409     services. All the actions that are supported by an initscript can be used.
410     * backstore=xxx: SystemRescueCd comes with support for the backing-stores {{
411 sng 28 http://www.sysresccd.org/news/2008/06/29/creating-a-backing-store-to-keep-your-modifications-in-sysresccd/
412 sng 43 }}. A backing-store saves all the changes you can make. so that you
413     keep these changes the next time you boot it. By default, sysresccd
414     automatically scan removable devices (eg: USB sticks) at boot time and
415     uses the first backing-store it finds. A backing-store is not mandatory
416     and it the scan fails it will store the files which change in memory. To
417     disable the disks scan at boot time specify backstore=off on the boot command
418     line. If you want to save your backing-store file on an harddisk, boot with
419     backstore=alldev to scan all devices (not just removable devices). The
420     default location for backing-stores file is any file named sysrcd.bs
421     located at the root of a disk which is often an USB stick. Change the path
422     by using backstore=/sysrcd/mybackstore.bs. See backing-stores.
423     * isoloop=xxx: Grub2 (currently in development: grub-1.98) provides a new
424     feature to boot from an ISO image which is stored from the hard disk. If you
425     put a copy of systemrescuecd-x86-x.y.z.iso on a partition that Grub2 can read
426     then you can boot SystemRescueCd directly from the ISO image stored on your
427     hard drive. This is very convenient if you frequently update SystemRescueCd
428     and you want to boot it directly from Grub2. Grub2 knows what an ISO image
429     is and it will load the kernel image (rescuecd/rescue64) and the initramfs
430     (initram.igz) from the ISO into memory. It will then do its normal job and
431     execute the kernel. The SystemRescueCd init script must then be aware that
432     its sysrcd.dat file is in an ISO and not directly on the partition. For that
433     reason, this isoloop=xxx boot option is required so you must use it in your
434     grub.cfg. This option is only supported in SystemRescueCd-1.4.0 and more
435     recent. This option specifies the path of the ISO image in the partition
436     that grub considers as its root partition. It's important to understand
437     that the path of the ISO image may be different from the path on your
438     linux system. If you have a separate boot partition mounted on /boot and if
439     you copy this ISO image to /boot/sysrcd/systemrescuecd-x86-x.y.z.iso then
440     the option has to be isoloop=/sysrcd/systemrescuecd-x86-x.y.z.iso. This
441     is because the boot partition is what Grub2 will consider as its root
442     partition during the boot process. Please read the section about isoloop {{
443     http://www.sysresccd.org/Sysresccd-manual-en_Easy_install_SystemRescueCd_on_harddisk#Boot_the_ISO_image_from_the_disk_using_Grub2
444     }} for more details.
445 sng 28
446 sng 43 Hardware, drivers and troubleshooting options
447     * dodebug: Enables verbose messages in linuxrc
448 sng 28
449 sng 43 * doload=xxx: loads needed modules, multiple occurrences are permitted
450     (example: doload=3c59x)
451     * noload=xxx: prevents loading modules, multiple occurrences are permitted
452     (example: noload=3c59x). Use this option if you have a problem when the
453     system loads a particular module.
454 sng 28 * nonet: this will disable the network auto detection at startup
455 sng 43
456 sng 28 * scandelay=x: pauses x seconds during the startup to allow slow devices
457 sng 43 to initialize. This is required when you boot an USB device. A delay of
458 sng 28 only few seconds should be enough.
459 sng 43
460 sng 28 * doxdetect: Since version 0.3.5 the auto-configuration is done in X.Org
461 sng 43 itself, mkxf86config is disabled by default. This option forces the system to
462     run the mkxf86config startup script and to run the hardware auto-detection
463     from this script. Use this option if you have problems with the graphical
464     environment configuration. This option replaces the option noxdetect that
465     was useful in previous versions.
466     * nodetect: prevents generic hardware auto-detection. Use this option if
467     you have problems with the hardware auto-detection.
468    
469     * dostartx: load the X.Org graphical environment.
470     * forcevesa: Forces X.Org to use the safe VESA driver instead of the best
471     video driver detected for your video card. Use this option if you cannot
472     get the graphical environment working with the default options.
473     * forcevesa=xxx: The startx command will load the Xvesa server instead
474     of Xorg, and use the screen resolution given as parameter (eg: 1024x768,
475     1280x1024x32).
476    
477 sng 28 * all-generic-ide: In case of problems related to your hard disk, try to
478     enable this option (eg rescuecd all-generic-ide)
479 sng 43 * nodmraid: Disable dmraid, for some motherboards with built-in RAID
480     controller.
481     * nomdadm: Disable mdadm, for software RAID.
482    
483     * acpi-off / noapic / irqpool: use these options if you have problem when
484     the kernel boots: if it hangs on a driver or if it crashes, ...
485    
486     * lowmem: For systems with smaller memory, some daemons are not started
487     including sshd and nfsd.
488    
489 sng 28 * skipmount=/dev/xxx: The system mounts all the storage devices at boot
490 sng 43 time to find the sysrcd.dat file. If your hard disk is broken it should
491     be mounted. Boot with skipmount=/dev/sda1 skipmount=/dev/sda2 to ignore
492     these two partitions.
493 sng 28
494 sng 43 Network configuration and remote access
495     * dodhcp: to request a DHCP server provide network attributes including
496     an IP address, gateway... . otherwise,
497     * ethx=ipaddr/cidr: Sets the static IP address of all the ethernet
498     interfaces on the system. The /cidr extension is optional. For instance,
499     if you use option ethx=192.168.0.1 on a machine with two ethernet adapters,
500     both eth0 and eth1 will be configured with 192.168.0.1. You can use the
501     format ethx=10.0.0.1/24 (using the cidr notation) if you don't use the
502     default netmask.
503     * eth0=ipaddr/cidr: This option is similar to ethx=ipaddr/cidr but it
504     configures only one interface at a time. To configure the network on a
505     server that has two interfaces, use: eth0=192.168.10.1/24 eth1=192.168.20.1.
506 sng 28 * dns=ipaddr: Sets the static IP address of the DNS nameserver you want
507     to use to resolve the names. For instance dns=192.168.0.254 means that
508     you want to use 192.168.0.254 as the DNS server.
509     * gateway=ipaddr: Sets the static IP address of the default route on your
510     network. For instance gateway=192.168.0.254 means that the computer can
511     connect to a computer outside of the local network via 192.168.0.254.
512     * dhcphostname=myhost: Sets the hostname that the DHCP client will send
513     to the DHCP server. This may be required if the default hostname cannot
514     be used with your DHCP configuration. This option has been introduced
515     in SystemRescueCd-1.3.5.
516     * rootpass=123456: Sets the root password of the system running on the
517     livecd to 1234. That way you can connect from the network and ssh on the
518     livecd and give 123456 password as the root password.
519     * vncserver=x:123456: The vncserver boot option {{
520     http://www.sysresccd.org/news/2008/04/12/use-systemrescuecd-remotely-with-vnc-server/
521     }} has been introduced in SystemRescueCd-1.0.2. This options forces the
522     system to configure the VNC-server and to start it automatically at boot
523     time. You have to replace x with the number of displays you want, and 123456
524     with your password The password must be between 5 and 8 characters, else the
525     boot option will be ignored. In other words the vncserver=2:MyPaSsWd option
526     will give you access to two displays (display=1 on tcp/5901 and display=2
527     on tcp/5902). Display 0 is reserved for X.Org since SystemRescueCd-1.1.0.
528     * nameif=xxx: You can can specify what interface name to give {{
529     http://www.sysresccd.org/news/2008/06/28/option-to-define-the-name-of-a-network-interface-using-the-mac-address/
530     }} to a particular interface using the mac address. You need
531     SystemRescueCd-1.1.0 or newer to do that. Here is how you can specify
532     which interface is using which mac address on a machine with two network
533     interfaces: nameif=eth0!00:0C:29:57:D0:6E,eth1!00:0C:29:57:D0:64. Be
534     careful, you have to respect the separator (comma between the interfaces
535     and exclamation marks between the name and the mac address).
536    
537 sng 43 Network boot using PXE
538     SystemRescueCd provides several options for booting from the network
539     using PXE.
540     These options can be combined with other network boot options
541     such as ethx (cf previous section). See PXE network booting {{
542     http://www.sysresccd.org/Sysresccd-manual-en_PXE_network_booting }} to
543     get a global overview of SystemRescueCd and PXE and Manage remote servers
544     using PXE.
545     The second stage downloads the kernel + initramfs using DHCP/TFTP.
546     The third stage of the PXE boot process acquires the root files system.
547     Several protocols are available.
548 sng 28
549 sng 43 * netboot=tftp://ip/path/sysrcd.dat: from a TFTP server. The filesystem
550     is loaded into memory. As a consequence computers with less than 400MB of
551     memory won't be able to boot this way. The system will continue to work
552     if the network is disconnected after the boot process.
553     * netboot=http://ip:port/path/sysrcd.dat: from a Web server. The file system
554     is loaded into memory. Computers with smaller memory won't be able to boot
555     this way. The the system continues to work if the network is disconnected
556     after the boot process.
557     * netboot=nfs://ip:/path: mount an NFSv3 directory. The NFS url must be
558     the path of the directory that contains sysrcd.dat. Only NFSv3 can be used,
559     NFSv4 is not supported. NFS it allows computers with smaller memory to boot
560     SystemRescueCd from the network. After the boot process, the connection
561     is required or you will loose the access to the root file system.
562     * netboot=nbd://ip:port: connect to an NBD server configured with sysrcd.dat
563     on ip:port. NBD is easier to configure than NFS (only one TCP port involved)
564     and it allows computers with smaller memort to boot SystemRescueCd from
565     the network. After the boot process, the connection is required the access
566     to the root system.
567    
568     For information on activating speakup, see the speakup info page {{
569     http://www.sysresccd.org/Speakup-info }}.
570    
571     Options provided for autorun
572 sng 28 * ar_source=xxx: place where the autorun are stored. It may
573     be the root directory of a partition (/dev/sda1), an nfs
574     share (nfs://192.168.1.1:/path/to/scripts), a samba share
575     (smb://192.168.1.1/path/to/scripts), or an http directory
576     (http://192.168.1.1/path/to/scripts).
577 sng 43 * autoruns=[0-9]: comma separated list of the autorun scrip to be run. For
578     example autoruns=0,2,7 the autorun sc autorun0, autorun2, autorun7 are
579     run. Use autoruns=no to disable all the autorun scripts with a number.
580 sng 28 * ar_ignorefail: continue to execute the scripts chain even if a script
581     failed (returned a non-zero status)
582     * ar_nodel: do not delete the temporary copy of the autorun scripts located
583     in /var/autorun/tmp after execution
584     * ar_disable: completely disable autorun, the simple autorun script will
585     not be executed
586     * ar_nowait: do not wait for a keypress after the autorun script have
587     been executed.
588    
589     Clonezilla Live boot parameters
590     ****************************************
591     [[ info.png ]]
592     The following info applies to Clonezilla Live v. 1.2.3-27
593     In case you need to get info for a more recent version of Clonezilla Live
594     please see the page "The boot parameters for Clonezilla live {{
595     http://www.clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live/doc/fine-print.php?path=./99_Misc/00_live-initramfs-manual.doc#00_live-initramfs-manual.doc
596     }}"
597    
598     A typical Clonezilla Live isolinux entry is:
599    
600     kernel /live/vmlinuz1
601     append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
602     ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general"
603     ocs_live_extra_param="" ocs_live_keymap="" ocs_live_batch="no" ocs_lang=""
604     vga=791 nolocales
605    
606     The kernel used is vmlinuz, and anything after the word append is a boot
607     parameter.
608    
609     The following info comes from the
610     page titled The boot parameters for Clonezilla live {{
611     http://www.clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live/doc/fine-print.php?path=./99_Misc/00_live-initramfs-manual.doc#00_live-initramfs-manual.doc
612     }}.
613    
614     Clonezilla live is based on Debian live {{ http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLive/
615     }} with clonezilla installed. Therefore there are 2 kinds of boot parameters:
616    
617     * Boot parameters from live-initramfs. You can refer to this manual of
618     live-initramfs.
619     * Boot parameters specially for Clonezilla. All of them are named as
620     "ocs_*", e.g. ocs_live_run, ocs_live_extra_param, ocs_live_batch, ocs_lang.
621     * ocs_live_run is the main program to run in Clonezilla live to save
622     or restore. or other command. Available program: ocs-live-general,
623     ocs-live-restore or any command you write. Use the Absolute path in
624     Clonezilla live.
625     e.g. ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general"
626 sng 43 //NOTE// You might have to use "sudo" command inside your own script,
627     or you can assign it like: ocs_live_run="sudo bash /my-clonezilla"
628 sng 28 * ocs_live_extra_param will be used only when ocs_live_run=ocs-live-restore
629     (not for ocs-live-general or any other), then it will be passed to
630     ocs-sr. Therefore these parameters are actually those of ocs-sr.
631     e.g. ocs_live_extra_param="-b -c restoredisk sarge-r5 hda"
632     * ocs_live_keymap is for keymap used in Clonezilla live. Man install-keymap
633     for more details.
634     e.g. ocs_live_keymap="NONE" (won't change the default layout)
635     ocs_live_keymap="/usr/share/keymaps/i386/azerty/fr-latin9.kmap.gz"
636     (French keyboard)
637     * batch mode or not (yes/no), if no, will run interactively.
638     e.g. ocs_live_batch="no"
639     * ocs_lang is the language used in Clonezilla live. Available value:
640     en_US.UTF-8, zh_TW.UTF-8... (see $DRBL_SCRIPT_PATH/lang/bash/)
641     e.g. ocs_lang="en_US.UTF-8"
642     * ocs_debug (or ocs-debug) is for you to enter command line prompt before
643     any clonezilla-related action is run. This is easier for you to debug.
644     * ocs_daemonon, ocs_daemonoff, ocs_numlk, ocs_capslk.
645     Ex. for the first 2 parameters, ocs_daemonon="ssh", then ssh service will
646     be turned on when booting. For the last 2 parameters, use "on" or "off",
647     e.g. ocs_numlk=on to turn on numberlock when booting.
648     * ocs_prerun, ocs_prerun1, ocs_prerun2... is for you to run a shell script
649     before Clonezilla is started. E.g. ocs_prerun="/live/image/myscript.sh". If
650     you have more commands to run, you can assign them in the order:
651     ocs_prerun=..., ocs_prerun1=..., ocs_prerun2=.... If more than 10
652     parameters, remember to use ocs_prerun01, ocs_prerun02..., ocs_prerun11
653     to make it in order.
654     * ocs_live_run_tty. This option allows you to specify the tty where
655     $ocs_live_run is run. By default $ocs_live_run is run on /dev/tty1
656     only. (It was also on /dev/ttyS0 before, but since Clonezilla live >=
657     1.2.3-22 no more this due to a problem). If you want to use ttyS0, for
658     example, add live-getty and console=ttyS0,38400n81 in the boot parameter.
659 sng 43 //NOTE//
660     * This parameter was added in Clonezilla live 1.2.3-22 or later.
661     * If "live-getty console=$tty,38400n81" are assigned in the boot parameters,
662     ocs_live_run_tty will honor $tty, even other value is assigned to
663     ocs_live_run_tty in boot parameter.
664     * It's recommended to assign ocs_lang and ocs_live_keymap in the boot
665     parameters too.
666     * ip, this option allows you to specify the network parameters for
667     network card. In Clonezilla live a patched live-initramfs is used, which
668     is different from the original live-initramfs so that you can assign
669     DNS server, too. Its format is: ip=ethernet port,IP address, netmask,
670     gateway, DNS. E.g. If you want to assing eth0 with IP address 10.0.100.1,
671     netmask 255.255.255.0, gateway 10.0.100.254, DNS server 8.8.8.8, you can
672     assign the following in the boot parameter:
673     ip=eth0,10.0.100.1,255.255.255.0,10.0.100.254,8.8.8.8
674     If more than one network card, you can use ":" to separate them, e.g.:
675     ip=eth0,10.0.100.1,255.255.255.0,10.0.100.254,8.8.8.8:eth1,192.168.120.1,255.255.255.0,192.168.120.254,,
676 sng 28 * Besides, "live-netdev" (yes, not ocs_live_netdev) can be used when
677     using PXE booting, you can force to assign the network device to get
678     filesystem.squashfs. This is useful when there are two or more NICs are
679     linked. E.g. live-netdev="eth1" allows you to force the live-initramfs
680     to use eth1 to fetch the root file system filesystem.squashfs.
681    
682     With the above options, we have the following examples:
683    
684     * A PXE config example for you to boot Clonezilla live via PXE, and ssh
685     service is on, the password of account "user" is assigned:
686     ----------------------------------------
687     label Clonezilla Live
688     MENU LABEL Clonezilla Live
689     MENU DEFAULT
690     kernel vmlinuz1
691     append initrd=initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs noswap noprompt vga=788
692     fetch=tftp://192.168.120.254/filesystem.squashfs usercrypted=bkuQxLqLRuDW6
693     ocs_numlk="on" ocs_daemonon="ssh"
694     ----------------------------------------
695     The usercrypted password is created by:
696     echo YOUR_PASSWORD | mkpasswd -s
697     ("mkpasswd" is from package "whois" in Debian or Ubuntu. Check your
698     GNU/Linux to see which package provides this command if you are not using
699     Debian or Ubuntu. Replace YOUR_PASSWORD with your plain text password,
700     and remember do not put any " in the boot parameters of live-initramfs
701     (while it's ok for those ocs_* boot parameters), i.e. do NOT use something
702     like usercrypted="bkuQxLqLRuDW6").
703     //NOTE// If you do not assign salt to mkpasswd, the encrypted password
704     will not be the same every time you create it.
705     For more about usercrypted discussion, please check the here.
706    
707     * How to put your own binary driver in Clonezilla live without modifying
708     /live/filesystem.squashfs:
709    
710     * Boot clonezilla live
711     * Become root by running "sudo su -"
712     * Copy the dir lsi, which contains a precompiled kernel module matching
713     the running kernel in Clonezilla live and a script to run it, to a working
714     dir, e.g.:
715     cp -r /live/image/lsi /home/partimag
716     * cd /home/partimag
717     * /opt/drbl/sbin/ocs-live-dev -c -s -i lsi -u lsi -x
718     "ocs_prerun=/live/image/lsi/prep-lsi.sh"
719     * /opt/drbl/sbin/ocs-iso -s -i lsi -u lsi -x
720     "ocs_prerun=/live/image/lsi/prep-lsi.sh"
721     * ///NOTE/// In this example, the 2 files in dir lsi are: megasr.ko (the
722     binary driver) and prep-lsi.sh. The contents of prep-lsi.sh:
723    
724     ------------------------
725     #!/bin/bash
726     cp -f /live/image/lsi/megasr.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/block/
727     chown root.root /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/block/megasr.ko
728     depmod -a modprobe megasr
729     sleep 1
730     ------------------------
731     * To put your customized script with a PXE version of Clonezilla live
732     (You have to use Clonezilla live version 1.2.2-2 or later):
733     In this example, we assume (1) The IP address of your PXE server is
734     192.168.120.254, (2) the customized script (custom-ocs-2) is put on
735     your PXE server's tftpd root dir (E.g. On DRBL server, the path is
736     /tftpboot/nbi_img/. It might be different in your case if you are not use
737     DRBL server as a PXE server).
738     Therefor your pxelinux.cfg/default file is like:
739     ------------------------
740     label Clonezilla Live
741     MENU DEFAULT
742     # MENU HIDE
743     MENU LABEL Clonezilla Live
744     # MENU PASSWD
745     kernel vmlinuz1
746     append initrd=initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs noswap noprompt vga=788
747     ip=frommedia fetch=tftp://192.168.120.254/filesystem.squashfs
748     ocs_prerun="busybox tftp -g -b 10240 -r custom-ocs-2 -l
749     /tmp/custom-ocs-2 192.168.120.254" ocs_live_run="bash /tmp/custom-ocs-2"
750     ocs_live_keymap="NONE" ocs_live_batch="no" ocs_lang="en_US.UTF-8" nolocales
751     TEXT HELP
752     Boot Clonezilla live via network
753     ENDTEXT
754     ------------------------
755     The content of custom-ocs-2 can be like:
756    
757     ------------------------
758     #!/bin/bash
759     . /opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-conf-functions
760     . /opt/drbl/sbin/ocs-functions
761     . /etc/ocs/ocs-live.conf
762    
763     # Load language file
764     ask_and_load_lang_set en_US.UTF-8
765    
766     # 1. Mount the clonezilla image home.
767     # Types: local_dev, ssh_server, samba_server, nfs_server
768     prep-ocsroot -t nfs_server
769    
770     # 2. Restore the image
771     if mountpoint /home/partimag/ &>/dev/null; then
772     ocs-sr -l en_US.UTF-8 -c -p choose restoredisk ask_user ask_user
773     else
774     [ "$BOOTUP" = "color" ] & $SETCOLOR_FAILURE
775     echo "Fail to find the Clonezilla image home /home/partimag!"
776     echo "Program terminated!"
777     [ "$BOOTUP" = "color" ] & $SETCOLOR_NORMAL
778     fi
779     ------------------------
780     live-initramfs manual
781     ---------------------
782     This is the manual of live-initramfs {{
783     http://www.clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live/live-initramfs-param.php }}
784    
785     live-initramfs(7)
786     =================
787    
788     Name
789     ----
790     live-initramfs - Debian Live initramfs hook
791    
792     Synopsis
793     --------
794     BOOT=live
795    
796     as kernel parameter at boot prompt.
797    
798     Description
799     -----------
800    
801     live-initramfs is a hook for the initramfs-tools, used to generate
802     a initramfs
803     capable to boot live systems, such as those created by *live-helper*(7).
804     This includes the Debian Live isos, netboot tarballs, and usb stick images.
805    
806     At boot time it will look for a (read-only) media containing a "/live"
807     directory where a root filesystems (often a compressed filesystem image like
808     squashfs) is stored. If found, it will create a writable environment, using
809     aufs, for Debian like systems to boot from.
810    
811     You probably do not want to install this package onto a non-live system,
812     although it will do no harm.
813    
814     live-initramfs is a fork of link:http://packages.ubuntu.com/casper/[casper].
815     casper was originally written by Tollef Fog Heen <tfheen@canonical.com>
816     and Matt Zimmerman <mdz@canonical.com>.
817    
818     Boot options
819     ------------
820    
821     Here is the complete list of recognized boot parameters by live-initramfs.
822    
823     access=*ACCESS*::
824    
825     Set the accessibility level for physically or visually impared users. ACCESS
826     must be one of v1, v2, v3, m1, or m2. v1=lesser visual impairment,
827     v2=moderate
828     visual impairment, v3=blindness, m1=minor motor difficulties, m2=moderate
829     motor
830     difficulties.
831    
832     console=*TTY,SPEED*::
833    
834     Set the default console to be used with the "live-getty" option. Example:
835     "console=ttyS0,115200"
836    
837     debug::
838    
839     Makes initramfs boot process more verbose.
840    
841     fetch=*URL*::
842    
843     Another form of netboot by downloading a squashfs image from a given url,
844     copying to ram and booting it.
845    
846     hostname=*HOSTNAME*, username=*USER*, userfullname=*USERFULLNAME*::
847    
848     Those parameters lets you override values read from the config file.
849    
850     ignore_uuid
851    
852     Do not check that any UUID embedded in the initramfs matches the discovered
853     medium. live-initramfs may be told to generate a UUID by setting
854     LIVE_GENERATE_UUID=1 when building the initramfs.
855    
856     integrity-check::
857    
858     If specified, an MD5 sum is calculated on the live media during boot and
859     compared to the value found in md5sum.txt found in the root directory of the
860     live media.
861    
862     ip=**[CLIENT_IP]:[SERVER_IP]:[GATEWAY_IP]:[NETMASK]:[HOSTNAME]:[DEVICE]:[AUTOCONF]
863     [,[CLIENT_IP]:[SERVER_IP]:[GATEWAY_IP]:[NETMASK]:[HOSTNAME]:[DEVICE]:[AUTOCONF]]***::
864    
865     Let you specify the name(s) and the options of the interface(s) that
866     should be
867     configured at boot time. Do not specify this if you want to use dhcp
868     (default).
869     It will be changed in a future release to mimick official kernel boot param
870     specification
871     (e.g. ip=10.0.0.1::10.0.0.254:255.255.255.0::eth0,:::::eth1:dhcp).
872    
873     ip[=**frommedia**]::
874    
875     If this variable is set, dhcp and static configuration are just skipped
876     and the
877     system will use the (must be) media-preconfigured /etc/network/interfaces
878     instead.
879    
880     {keyb|kbd-chooser/method}=**KEYBOARD**,
881     {klayout|console-setup/layoutcode}=**LAYOUT**,
882     {kvariant|console-setup/variantcode}=**VARIANT**,
883     {kmodel|console-setup/modelcode}=**CODE**, koptions=**OPTIONS**::
884    
885     Configure the running keyboard as specified, if this one misses
886     live-initramfs
887     behaves as if "keyb=us" was specified. It will be interfered from
888     "locale=" if
889     locale is only 2 lowecase letters as a special case. You could also specify
890     console layout, variant, code, and options (no defaults).
891    
892     live-getty::
893    
894     This changes the auto-login on virtual terminals to use the (experimental)
895     live-getty code. With this option set the standard kernel argument
896     "console=" is
897     parsed and if a serial console is specified then live-getty is used to
898     autologin
899     on the serial console.
900    
901     {live-media|bootfrom}=**DEVICE**::
902    
903     If you specify one of this two equivalent forms, live-initramfs will
904     first try
905     to find this device for the "/live" directory where the read-only root
906     filesystem should reside. If it did not find something usable, the
907     normal scan
908     for block devices is performed.
909    
910     {live-media-encryption|encryption}=**TYPE**::
911    
912     live-initramfs will mount the encrypted rootfs TYPE, asking the passphrase,
913     useful to build paranoid live systems :-). TYPE supported so far are
914     "aes" for
915     loop-aes encryption type.
916    
917     live-media-offset=**BYTES**::
918    
919     This way you could tell live-initramfs that your image starts at offset
920     BYTES in
921     the above specified or autodiscovered device, this could be useful to
922     hide the
923     Debian Live iso or image inside another iso or image, to create "clean"
924     images.
925    
926     live-media-path=**PATH**::
927    
928     Sets the path to the live filesystem on the medium. By default, it is set to
929     '/live' and you should not change that unless you have customized your media
930     accordingly.
931    
932     live-media-timeout=**SECONDS**::
933    
934     Set the timeout in seconds for the device specified by "live-media="
935     to become
936     ready before giving up.
937    
938     {locale|debian-installer/locale}=**LOCALE**::
939    
940     Configure the running locale as specified, if not present the live-media
941     rootfs
942     configured locale will be used and if also this one misses live-initramfs
943     behave
944     as "locale=en_US.UTF-8" was specified. If only 2 lowercase letter are
945     specified
946     (like "it"), the "maybe wanted" locale is generated (like en:EN.UTF-8),
947     in this
948     case if also "keyb=" is unspecified is set with those 2 lowercase letters
949     (keyb=us). Beside that facility, only UTF8 locales are supported by
950     live-initramfs.
951    
952     module=**NAME**::
953    
954     Instead of using the default optional file "filesystem.module" (see below)
955     another file could be specified without the extension ".module"; it should be
956     placed on "/live" directory of the live medium.
957    
958     netboot[=**nfs**|**cifs**]::
959    
960     This tells live-initramfs to perform a network mount. The parameter
961     "nfsroot="
962     (with optional "nfsopts="), should specify where is the location of the root
963     filesystem. With no args, will try cifs first, and if it fails nfs.
964    
965     nfsopts=::
966    
967     This lets you specify custom nfs options.
968    
969     noautologin::
970    
971     This parameter disables the automatic terminal login only, not touching
972     gdk/kdm.
973    
974     noxautologin::
975    
976     This parameter disables the automatic login of gdm/kdm only, not touching
977     terminals.
978    
979     nofastboot::
980    
981     This parameter disables the default disabling of filesystem checks in
982     /etc/fstab. If you have static filesystems on your harddisk and you want
983     them to
984     be checked at boot time, use this parameter, otherwise they are skipped.
985    
986     nopersistent::
987    
988     disables the "persistent" feature, useful if the bootloader (like syslinux)
989     has
990     been installed with persistent enabled.
991    
992     noprompt
993    
994     Do not prompt to eject the CD on reboot.
995    
996     nosudo::
997    
998     This parameter disables the automatic configuration of sudo.
999    
1000     swapon::
1001    
1002     This parameter enables usage of local swap partitions.
1003    
1004     nouser::
1005    
1006     This parameter disables the creation of the default user completely.
1007    
1008     noxautoconfig::
1009    
1010     This parameter disables Xorg auto-reconfiguration at boot time. This
1011     is valuable
1012     if you either do the detection on your own, or, if you want to ship a custom,
1013     premade xorg.conf in your live system.
1014    
1015     persistent[=nofiles]::
1016    
1017     live-initramfs will look for persistent and snapshot partitions or files
1018     labeled
1019     "live-rw", "home-rw", and files called "live-sn*", "home-sn*" and will
1020     try to,
1021     in order: mount as /cow the first, mount the second in /home, and just
1022     copy the
1023     contents of the latter in appropriate locations (snapshots). Snapshots
1024     will be
1025     tried to be updated on reboot/shutdown. Look at live-snapshot(1) for more
1026     informations. If "nofiles" is specified, only filesystems with matching
1027     labels
1028     will be searched; no filesystems will be traversed looking for archives
1029     or image
1030     files. This results in shorter boot times.
1031    
1032     {preseed/file|file}=**FILE**::
1033    
1034     A path to a file present on the rootfs could be used to preseed debconf
1035     database.
1036    
1037     package/question=**VALUE**::
1038    
1039     All debian installed packages could be preseeded from command-line that way,
1040     beware of blanks spaces, they will interfere with parsing, use a preseed
1041     file in
1042     this case.
1043    
1044     quickreboot::
1045    
1046     This option causes live-initramfs to reboot without attempting to eject the
1047     media and without asking the user to remove the boot media.
1048    
1049     showmounts::
1050    
1051     This parameter will make live-initramfs to show on "/" the ro filesystems
1052     (mostly compressed) on "/live". This is not enabled by default because could
1053     lead to problems by applications like "mono" which store binary paths on
1054     installation.
1055    
1056     textonly
1057    
1058     Start up to text-mode shell prompts, disabling the graphical user interface.
1059    
1060     timezone=**TIMEZONE**::
1061    
1062     By default, timezone is set to UTC. Using the timezone parameter, you can
1063     set it
1064     to your local zone, e.g. Europe/Zurich.
1065    
1066     todisk=**DEVICE**::
1067    
1068     Adding this parameter, live-initramfs will try to copy the entire read-only
1069     media to the specified device before mounting the root filesystem. It
1070     probably
1071     needs a lot of free space. Subsequent boots should then skip this step
1072     and just
1073     specify the "live-media=DEVICE" boot parameter with the same DEVICE used this
1074     time.
1075    
1076     toram::
1077    
1078     Adding this parameter, live-initramfs will try to copy the whole read-only
1079     media
1080     to the computer's RAM before mounting the root filesystem. This could need
1081     a lot
1082     of ram, according to the space used by the read-only media.
1083    
1084     union=**aufs**|**unionfs**::
1085    
1086     By default, live-initramfs uses aufs. With this parameter, you can switch to
1087     unionfs.
1088    
1089     utc=**yes**|**no**::
1090    
1091     By default, Debian systems do assume that the hardware clock is set to
1092     UTC. You
1093     can change or explicitly set it with this parameter.
1094    
1095     xdebconf::
1096    
1097     Uses xdebconfigurator, if present on the rootfs, to configure X instead
1098     of the
1099     standard procedure (experimental).
1100    
1101     xvideomode=**RESOLUTION**::
1102    
1103     Doesn't do xorg autodetection, but enforces a given resolution.
1104    
1105     Files
1106     -----
1107    
1108     /etc/live.conf
1109    
1110     Some variables can be configured via this config file (inside the live
1111     system).
1112    
1113     /live/filesystem.module
1114    
1115     This optional file (inside the live media) contains a list of white-space or
1116     carriage-return-separated file names corresponding to disk images in the
1117     "/live"
1118     directory. If this file exists, only images listed here will be merged
1119     into the
1120     root aufs, and they will be loaded in the order listed here. The first entry
1121     in this file will be the "lowest" point in the aufs, and the last file in
1122     this list will be on the "top" of the aufs, directly below /cow. Without
1123     this file, any images in the "/live" directory are loaded in alphanumeric
1124     order.
1125    
1126     /etc/live-persistence.binds
1127    
1128     This optional file (which resides in the rootfs system, not in the live
1129     media)
1130     is used as a list of directories which not need be persistent: ie. their
1131     content does not need to survive reboots when using the persistence features.
1132    
1133     This saves expensive writes and speeds up operations on volatile data such as
1134     web caches and temporary files (like e.g. /tmp and .mozilla) which are
1135     regenerated each time. This is achieved by bind mounting each listed
1136     directory
1137     with a tmpfs on the original path.
1138    
1139     See also
1140     --------
1141    
1142     live-snapshot(1), initramfs-tools(8), live-helper(7), live-initscripts(7),
1143     live-webhelper(7)
1144    
1145     Bugs
1146     ----
1147    
1148     Report bugs against live-initramfs
1149     link:http://packages.qa.debian.org/live-initramfs[http://packages.qa.debian.org/live-initramfs].
1150    
1151     Homepage
1152     --------
1153    
1154     More information about the Debian Live project can be found at
1155     link:http://debian-live.alioth.debian.org/[http://debian-live.alioth.debian.org/]
1156     and
1157     link:http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLive/[http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLive/].
1158    
1159     Authors
1160     -------
1161    
1162     live-initramfs is maintained by Daniel Baumann <daniel@debian.org>
1163     for the Debian project.
1164    
1165     live-initramfs is a fork of link:http://packages.ubuntu.com/casper/[casper].
1166     casper was originally written by Tollef Fog Heen <tfheen@canonical.com>
1167     and Matt Zimmerman <mdz@canonical.com>.
1168    
1169    
1170    
1171    
1172     About Clonezilla Live
1173     ==============================================================================
1174    
1175     Intro
1176     ****************************************
1177     The DRBL-based PXEBoot Clonezilla is used to clone many computers
1178     simultaneously. It is an extremely useful tool, however, it does have several
1179     limitations. In order to use it, you must first prepare a DRBL server AND
1180     the machine to be cloned must boot from a network (e.g. PXE/Etherboot).
1181    
1182     To address these limitations, the Free Software Lab at the NCHC has combined
1183     Debian Live {{ http://debian-live.alioth.debian.org/ }} with Clonezilla
1184     to produce "Clonezilla Live", a new software that can be used to easily
1185     clone individual machines.
1186    
1187     Clonezilla Live provides two modes of operation:
1188    
1189     * device-image
1190     In this mode of operation, a disk/partition can be saved to an
1191     image file. This image file can be used to restore the original
1192     disk/partition. With Clonezilla-SysRescCD, it can also be used to create an
1193     automated restore CD/DVD. This is the mode of operation we will discuss here.
1194    
1195     * device-device (cloning)
1196     This mode of operation creates an exact copy of the original disk/partition
1197     on the fly.
1198    
1199     When working in device-image mode, you will always have to specify three
1200     things:
1201    
1202     * The location of the image file
1203     * The working parameters for the operation
1204     * The disk/partition that will be saved/restored
1205    
1206     Clonezilla Live provides a user friendly interface in order to insert
1207     this data.
1208    
1209     When Clonezilla Live is booted up, either normally or copied to RAM, the
1210     contents of the whole CD/DVD can be found in folder /live/image. This
1211     is where you will find any extra files, such as the restorecd and the
1212     doc folders.
1213    
1214     Starting and stopping Clonezilla Live
1215     ****************************************
1216     When you boot into Clonezilla Live, the program (actually a script) starts
1217     automatically. There are many places where you can stop it, by selecting
1218     Cancel or answering N(o) to a question. When you do that you will probably
1219     get the following:
1220     Now you can choose to:
1221     (0) Poweroff
1222     (1) Reboot
1223     (2) Enter command line prompt
1224     (3) Start over
1225     [2]
1226    
1227     Select Poweroff or Reboot, only if you haven't already mounted a disk
1228     partition. I found out by experience, it is not always safe to let any live
1229     CD automatically unmount my partitions. So if you have already specified
1230     the image partition and/or the partition to save/restore, you should enter
1231     command line prompt and type:
1232     sudo su -
1233     mount | grep /dev/[sh]d
1234     and then unmount the partitions shown by the last command. So if the
1235     results of this command is for example:
1236     /dev/hda1 on /home/partimag type vfat (rw)
1237     just type the command:
1238     umount /dev/hda1
1239     and it's now safe to Poweroff of Reboot.
1240    
1241     If, on the other hand, you just want to restart the program, type:
1242     ocs-live
1243    
1244     About the Image file
1245     ****************************************
1246     One thing should be made clear about the image file: it is not a file,
1247     it is a folder, containing the actual image file and some data about the
1248     disk/partition it is associated with. So when you insert the image file name,
1249     you actually insert the folder name where the image will be saved/restored.
1250    
1251     Before you are able to insert the image file name, a list of partitions
1252     will be presented to you, so that you can choose where it should be
1253     saved/found. When you select one of them, it will be mounted under
1254     /home/partimag.
1255    
1256     This folder is very important for Clonezilla Live; the image file must be
1257     located under this directory, which means that the image file must be on
1258     the root directory of the mounted partition. So you can not, for example,
1259     create a folder called all_my_images and move all your image files in there;
1260     Clonezilla Live will not be able to find them!!!
1261    
1262     Another thing that should be pointed out is that only unmounted partitions
1263     will be included in the above list. This means that if you have stopped
1264     the program at some point after specifying the partition where the image
1265     file resides, and it has been mounted, it will not be present in the list
1266     the next time it is presented to you, and you will not be able to use it.
1267    
1268     There are two things you can do in this case; either unmount the partition,
1269     as stated above, or select
1270     skip Use existing /home/partimag
1271    
1272     instead of any other option, when you restart the program. The later of
1273     course means that you still want to use the previously specified partition
1274     as the image file location.
1275    
1276     Fianlly I should say that Clonezilla Live is able to use a remote
1277     disk/partition as the location of the image file, mounted through ssh,
1278     samba or nfs. Using any of these options is a more advanced topic, way
1279     beyond the scope of this presentation.
1280    
1281     Scripts' options
1282     ****************************************
1283     This section presents the options which are available at the "Clonezilla
1284     advanced extra parameters" screens, if the "Expert" mode is selected. For
1285     other options, see Getting backups and Restoring data.
1286    
1287     Backup options
1288     ---------------------
1289     > Imaging program priority
1290    
1291     -q2 Priority: partclone > partimage > dd
1292     -q1 Priority: Only dd (supports all filesystem, but inefficient)
1293     -q Priority: ntfsclone > partimage > dd
1294     Priority: partimage > dd (no ntfsclone)
1295    
1296     This option chooses which imaging programs are preferred. By default,
1297     Clonezilla Live uses partclone for nearly all filesystems, including
1298     ext2/3/4, NTFS and FAT32. If a filesystem isn't supported by partclone,
1299     but is supported by partimage (spesifically: if the filesystem is HFS,
1300     HPFS or JFS), it is cloned by partimage. If it isn't supported by either
1301     (for example Linux swap, though it doesn't make any sense to clone swap
1302     partitions), it is cloned by dd. Unlike partclone or partimage, dd copies
1303     all blocks of the partition instead of only used, resulting in slower
1304     imaging process and bigger images.
1305    
1306     Normally the default option -q2 should be preferred. Try another option
1307     if you have problems and believe they are caused by the imaging program used.
1308    
1309     > Various parameters
1310    
1311     These options are available at the second "Clonezilla advanced extra
1312     parameters" screen.
1313     -c Client waits for confirmation before cloning
1314     This option causes Clonezilla Live to ask if you really want to clone the
1315     disk/partition just before it starts cloning. It is enabled by default.
1316    
1317     -j2 Clone the hidden data between MBR and 1st partition
1318     If this option is set, the 15 hidden sectors between Master Boot Record
1319     and the first partition are copied. This area usually contains some data
1320     necessary for booting. The option is enabled by default and should be kept
1321     enabled if you are cloning a bootable disk.
1322    
1323     -nogui Use text output only, no TUI/GUI output
1324     Causes Clonezilla Live to force the used programs to use only command-line
1325     interface even if text-based or graphical user interface is available.
1326    
1327     -a Do NOT force to turn on HD DMA
1328     Prevents Clonezilla Live from using DMA for communicating with hard
1329     drives. Slows cloning down but in some conditions cloning without this
1330     option can be impossible.
1331    
1332     -rm-win-swap-hib Remove page and hibernation files in Win if exists
1333     This option prevents Clonezilla Live from cloning your page file if you
1334     are cloning a partition containing Windows. Often the page file is big
1335     and unneeded, and skipping it may speed cloning up without causing any
1336     harm. Mind you, this option is disabled by default because sometimes the
1337     page file may be necessary.
1338    
1339     -ntfs-ok Skip checking NTFS integrity, even bad sectors (ntfsclone only)
1340     This option works only if you selected the -q option and you're cloning
1341     a NTFS partition. It prevents the integrity check of NTFS partitions and
1342     speeds the cloning process up a little. However, if the check is disabled,
1343     there is a risk that the filesystem is damaged and the image created from
1344     it is useless.
1345    
1346     -gm Generate image MD5 checksums
1347     Causes Clonezilla Live to calculate MD5 checksum(s) of image(s) created. If
1348     the image cets corrupted afterwards, the checksum allows to notice the
1349     corruption before the image is restored. Mind you, calculating the checksum
1350     takes some time and slows the process down a little.
1351    
1352     -gs Generate image SHA1 checksums
1353     This option is identical to the above, but creates SHA1 checksum(s) instead
1354     of MD5. SHA1 is considered to be more accurate checksum algorithm than MD5,
1355     but MD5 is more popular.
1356    
1357     > Compression method
1358    
1359     -z1 gzip compression (fast with a smaller image)
1360     -z2 bzip2 compression (slowest but smallest image)
1361     -z3 lzo compression (faster with image size approx. to that of
1362     gzip)(NOTE!!)
1363     -z4 lzma compression (slowest but also small image, faster
1364     decompression than bzip2)
1365     -z0 No compression (fastest but largest image size)
1366    
1367     This option chooses the method which is used to compress the image while
1368     creating it.
1369    
1370     If no compression is used at all, there won't be any negative speed impact
1371     caused by compression. However, the image file size is the size of all the
1372     data backed up - for example, if you clone a 160 GB hard drive containing
1373     60 gigabytes of data, the resulting disk image will be 60 gigabytes in size.
1374    
1375     Gzip and lzop are fast compression methods. Lzop is many times faster than
1376     gzip, but creates slightly larger images. Clonezilla Live warns that lzop
1377     requires good-quality RAM, but I (the contributor who wrote this chapter)
1378     think other compression methods require good RAM too.
1379    
1380     Bzip2 and lzma are powerful compression methods. Lzma creates a little
1381     smaller images than bzip2, and decompressing lzma-compressed images is faster
1382     than decompressing bzip2 images. But there is no free lunch: lzma compression
1383     method is very slow compared even to bzip2, which isn't fast method either.
1384    
1385     > Splitting
1386    
1387     This option (command line: -i [number]) decides if the created image files
1388     are splitted into smaller pieces, and if yes, how large the pieces are. This
1389     setting doesn't usually matter, but some filesystems (most importantly
1390     FAT32) don't allow files larger than four gigabytes. If you're saving the
1391     disk image to a FAT32 partition, enter 4000 or less. (Value 0 disables
1392     splitting, so don't use it in that case.) If the filesystem allows files
1393     big enough, enter any value which isn't too small (you don't want to split
1394     the image into too many pieces, do you?)
1395    
1396     > Postaction
1397    
1398     -p true Do nothing when the clone finishes
1399     -p reboot Reboot client when the clone finishes
1400     -p poweroff Shutdown client when the clone finishes
1401    
1402     In this screen you can decide what Clonezilla Live does when the
1403     disk/partition is cloned.
1404    
1405     Spiros told above that he has found out that it's not always safe to allow
1406     Live CDs automatically unmount partitions, and I have lost data when trying
1407     auto-unmount with a script. So, avoid -p reboot and -p poweroff options
1408     if possible. You have been warned.
1409    
1410     Restore options (script ocs-sr)
1411     ---------------------
1412     > Various parameters
1413    
1414     These options are available at the first "Clonezilla advanced extra
1415     parameters" screen.
1416     -g auto Reinstall grub in client disk MBR (only if grub config exists)
1417     Causes Clonezilla Live to reinstall GRUB into the Master Boot Record
1418     of the disk if at least one partition contains GRUB config file
1419     (/boot/grub/menu.lst). The option is enabled by default and shouldn't
1420     cause any harm. However, it should be disabled if you for example have
1421     another bootloader in MBR and chainload GRUB with it.
1422    
1423     -e1 auto Automatically adjust filesystem geometry for a NTFS boot partition
1424     if exists
1425     The NTLDR bootloader used by Windows isn't able to determine automatically
1426     where the files it needs are stored. It only knows their physical locations,
1427     which sometimes change when the disk or partition is copied. If the locations
1428     are changed and this option is selected, the location information of the
1429     files is changed accordingly. This option is enabled by default and if
1430     it's disabled, the cloned Windows will fail to boot.
1431    
1432     -e2 sfdisk uses CHS of hard drive from EDD(for non-grub boot loader)
1433     This option requires that the -e1 auto option is selected. It causes
1434     Clonezilla Live to use disk read interface named EDD for determining the
1435     physical locations of the files when updating the location information
1436     used by NTLDR. The option is enabled by default because it reduces the
1437     risk that Windows doesn't boot.
1438    
1439     -hn0 PC Change MS Win hostname (based on IP address) after clone
1440     If this option is selected and a partition containing Microsoft Windows is
1441     cloned, its IP address -based hostname is changed after cloning. Computers
1442     which are on any network simultaneously need to have different hostnames,
1443     so this option is needed if a Windows system is cloned to another computer
1444     and the original computer is still used in addition to the one where the
1445     image was restored to.
1446    
1447     -hn1 PC Change MS Win hostname (based on MAC address) after clone
1448     This option causes the MAC address -based hostname of Windows to change. This
1449     option needs also be enabled in the above condition.
1450    
1451     -v Prints verbose messages (especially for udpcast)
1452     Causes Clonezilla Live to tell more information of what it does.
1453    
1454     -nogui Use text output only, no TUI/GUI output
1455     Causes Clonezilla Live to force the used programs to use only command-line
1456     interface even if text-based or graphical user interface is available.
1457    
1458     -b Run clone in batch mode (DANGEROUS!)
1459     Causes Clonezilla Live to run in batch mode. According to Clonezilla
1460     Live reference card, this option is dangerous, though I (the contributor)
1461     don't know why.
1462    
1463     -c Client waits for confirmation before cloning
1464     This option causes Clonezilla Live to ask if you really want to clone the
1465     disk/partition just before it starts cloning. It is enabled by default.
1466    
1467     -t Client does not restore the MBR (Mater Boot Record)
1468     Do NOT restore the MBR (Mater Boot Record) when restoring image. If this
1469     option is set, you must make sure there is an existing MBR in the current
1470     restored harddisk. Default is Yes.
1471    
1472     -t1 Client restores the prebuilt MBR from syslinux (For Windows only)
1473     If this option is set, the MBR is overwritten by prebuilt one which
1474     chainloads Windows. Use this option if you have to restore Windows and
1475     make it bootable, but don't have the original MBR or backup of it.
1476    
1477     -r Try to resize the filesystem to fit partition size
1478     This option is useful if you are cloning a small disk to larger one. It
1479     tries to resize the restored filesystem to the size of the partition where
1480     it was restored to. It allows you to use the whole size of your new disk
1481     without resizing the partition afterwards. The option requires that the
1482     disk where the image is copied already contains a partition where the
1483     image is restored or that the option -k1 is enabled.
1484    
1485     -e sfdisk uses the CHS value of hard drive from the saved image
1486     Force to use the saved CHS (cylinders, heads, sectors) when using sfdisk. Of
1487     cource, there is no use of it when using any of -j0, -k or -k2 options.
1488    
1489     -j1 Write MBR (512 B) again after image is restored. Not OK for partition
1490     table diffe
1491     When a disk image is restored, the partition table must be updated to
1492     reflect the actual partitions in the disk. If you don't want it to happen,
1493     enable this option. Then the Master Boot Record (including the partition
1494     table) is restored again after restoring the image. Note that using this
1495     option can destroy all the data in the target drive.
1496    
1497     -j2 Clone the hidden data between MBR and 1st partition
1498     If this option is set, the 15 hidden sectors between Master Boot Record
1499     and the first partition are restored. This area usually contains some data
1500     necessary for booting. The option is enabled by default and should be kept
1501     enabled if you are cloning a bootable disk.
1502    
1503     -cm Check image by MD5 checksums
1504     If the image folder contains MD5 checksum(s), this option causes Clonezilla
1505     Live to check if the image has corrupted by calculating its checksum and
1506     comparing it to the precalculated one. Mind you, calculating the checksum
1507     takes some time and slows the process down a little.
1508    
1509     -cs Check image by SHA1 checksums
1510     This option is identical to the above, but checks SHA1 checksum(s) instead
1511     of MD5.
1512    
1513     -a Do NOT force to turn on HD DMA
1514     Prevents Clonezilla Live from using DMA for communicating with hard
1515     drives. Slows cloning down but in some conditions cloning without this
1516     option can be impossible.
1517    
1518     -o0 Run script in $OCS_PRERUN_DIR before clone starts
1519     Run the scripts in the directory $OCS_PRERUN_DIR before clone is
1520     started. The location of the directory can be determined by editing the
1521     file drbl-ocs.conf. By default it is /opt/drbl/share/ocs/prerun.
1522    
1523     -o1 Run script in $OCS_POSTRUN_DIR as clone finishes
1524     Run the scripts in the directory $OCS_POSTRUN_DIR when clone is
1525     finished. The location of the directory can be determined by editing the
1526     file drbl-ocs.conf. By default it is /opt/drbl/share/ocs/postrun. The
1527     command will be run before that assigned in -p.
1528    
1529     The scripts will be executed by the program "run-parts". run-parts only
1530     accepts that the name of the scripts must consist entirely of upper and
1531     lower case letters, digits and underscores. So if your file name has an
1532     illegal character ".", run-parts won't run it. You can test which files
1533     will be executed by entering the command:
1534     run-parts --test /opt/drbl/share/ocs/postrun
1535    
1536     > Partition table
1537    
1538     This option decides what is done to the partition table of the target drive.
1539     Use the partition table from the image
1540     This option causes Clonezilla Live to copy the partition table from the
1541     image. Use this option if you are cloning a whole disk or somehow know that
1542     the partition tables are identical (for example, if you are restoring a
1543     partition to the same disk where it was copied from and haven't repartitioned
1544     the drive after creating the backup). This is the default option.
1545    
1546     -k Do NOT create a partition table on the target disk
1547     Do NOT create partition in target harddisk. If this option is set,
1548     you must make sure there is an existing partition table in the current
1549     restored harddisk.
1550    
1551     -k1 Create partition table proportionally (OK for MRB format, not GPT)
1552     Causes Clonezilla Live to create the partition table automatically using
1553     sfdisk after restoring the images. This option works nearly always, but
1554     sometimes cloned Windows don't boot. Note that this option doesn't work if
1555     you have GUID Partition Table on your disk. (Most likely you don't have one.)
1556    
1557     -k2 Enter command line prompt to create partition manually later
1558     Like the -k option, this option doesn't create the partition table
1559     automatically. However, after restoring the image you are led to command
1560     line prompt where you can create the partition table manually. Don't use
1561     this option if you don't know how the partition table can be created.
1562    
1563     -j0 Use dd to create partition (NOT OK if logical drives exist)
1564     Use dd to dump the partition table from saved image instead of sfdisk.
1565    
1566     We read in DRBL FAQ/Q&A {{
1567     http://drbl.sourceforge.net/faq/fine-print.php?path=./2_System/23_Missing_OS.faq#23_Missing_OS.faq
1568     }}:
1569    
1570     When I use clonezilla to clone M$ windows, there is no any problem
1571     when saving an image from template machine. However, after the image
1572     is restored to another machine, it fails to boot, the error message is
1573     "Missing Operating System". What's going on ?
1574    
1575     Usually this is because GNU/Linux and M$ windows interpret the CHS (cylinder,
1576     head, sector) value of harddrive differently. Some possible solutions:
1577     1. Maybe you can change the IDE harddrive setting in BIOS, try to use
1578     LBA instead of auto mode.
1579     2. Try to choose
1580     [ ] -j0 Use dd to create partition table instead of sfdisk
1581     and
1582     [ ] -t1 Client restores the prebuilt MBR from syslinux (For Windows only)
1583     when you restore the image.
1584     3. You can try to boot the machine with MS Windows 9x bootable floppy,
1585     and in the DOS command prompt, run: "fdisk /mbr".
1586     4. You can try to boot the machine with MS Windows XP installation
1587     CD, enter recovery mode (by pressing F10 key in MS XP, for example),
1588     then in the console, run "fixmbr" to fix it. Maybe another command
1589     "fixboot" will help, too. For more info, refer to this doc {{
1590     http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B314058&x=7&y=14 }}
1591     5. Use ntfsreloc to adjust FS geometry on NTFS partitions. For more info,
1592     refer to http://www.linux-ntfs.org/doku.php?id=contrib:ntfsreloc
1593    
1594     It has been confirmed that activating the -j0 option, fixes the problem.
1595    
1596     This option doesn't work if you use LVM (Logical Volume Manager).
1597    
1598     exit Exit
1599     This option ends the restore process and enters command line prompt.
1600    
1601     > Postaction
1602    
1603     -p true Do nothing when the clone finishes
1604     -p reboot Reboot client when the clone finishes
1605     -p poweroff Shutdown client when the clone finishes
1606    
1607     When image restoration finishes, do one of the following: choose action
1608     (default), poweroff or reboot.
1609    
1610     Saving image files in NTFS partitions
1611     ****************************************
1612     Although not recomended, you may find yourself having to save your image
1613     file in a NTFS (Windows XP) partition. You may never have a problem doing
1614     this, but you may get a message like the following one, when the partition
1615     gets mounted:
1616     Volume is scheduled for check
1617     Please boot into Windows TWICE, or use 'force' mount option"
1618     and the backup procedure fails. There are two things you can do here:
1619    
1620     * Exit the program, reboot and use Windows XP Recovery Console to fix the
1621     NTFS file system. From Recovery Console
1622     prompt, execute the command:
1623     chkdsk /f X:
1624    
1625     where X: is the drive letter of the disk. When done, boot back into
1626     Clonezilla Live and repeat the backup procedure.
1627    
1628     If the Windows version you use is not XP, boot into SystemRescueCD
1629     (graphical mode is not needed) and run the following command:
1630     ntfsfix /dev/hda1
1631    
1632     where /dev/hda1 is the partition name in GNU/Linux. When done, boot back
1633     into Clonezilla Live and repeat the backup procedure.
1634    
1635     If the disk/partition you are trying to backup is not the Windows System
1636     disk (usually C:), you can boot Windows, and execute the command in a DOS
1637     window. To open a DOS window click Start / Run... and at the prompt Open:
1638     type cmd.
1639    
1640     * If Windows XP Recovery Console is not available, you don't have the time
1641     to execute the procedure described above, or even if you have executed it
1642     but you still get the same message, and you are absolutely sure that you
1643     get this message because the NTFS partition is really scheduled for check,
1644     and it's not because Windows crushed or have become corrupt, you can mount
1645     the patririon by hand and tell Clonezilla Live to use it. Assuming the
1646     partition is /dev/hda1, exit the program and execute the commands:
1647     sudo su -
1648     ntfs-3g -o force /dev/hda1 /home/partimag
1649     ocs-live
1650    
1651     and when you get to the screen "Mount clonezilla image directory", select
1652     skip Use existing /home/partimag
1653    
1654    
1655    
1656    
1657     Getting backups
1658     ==============================================================================
1659    
1660     Intro
1661     ****************************************
1662     In this page I will demonstrate the creation of an image file by getting
1663     a backup of a virtual partition (/dev/hdb1). The image file will be saved
1664     in another virtual partition (/dev/hda1).
1665    
1666     The first thing you do when you want to get a backup of a disk/partition,
1667     is make sure both the souce (to be backed up) and target (to hold the
1668     image file) partitions are in excellent condition (error free). This is the
1669     logical thing to do, cause I wouldn't want to backup a corrupt partition,
1670     or end up with a corrupt image file.
1671    
1672     There is one more step I would want to take: I should check that my BIOS
1673     boot settings are correct, in order to boot from my CD/DVD drive.
1674    
1675     Having done all of the above, I am ready to boot from Clonezilla-SysRescCD.
1676    
1677     [[ info.png ]]
1678     The following pressentation has been made usingClonezilla Live v 1.2.3-27
1679    
1680     Getting the backup
1681     ****************************************
1682     Clonezilla-SysRescCD starting screen
1683     ---------------------
1684     If you're fine with US keymap and English language (available languages are
1685     English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese and Chinese [both simplified
1686     and traditional]) or don't mind editing the boot parameters, just select
1687     Clonezilla Live at the starting screen and press ENTER. When the system
1688     comes up, it will load the program that will preform the backup. After
1689     that continue from this step.
1690    
1691     If you need to change these settings, select one of the available Clonezilla
1692     Live menu entries, and press TAB. The current boot parameters will be
1693     displayed.
1694    
1695     The default parameters for booting Clonezilla Live on a 1024x768 screen,
1696     are the following:
1697    
1698     append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
1699     ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param=""
1700     ocs_prerun="/live/image/restorecd/prerun.normal" ocs_live_batch="no"
1701     ocs_lang="en_US.UTF-8" ocs_live_keymap="NONE" vga=791 nolocales
1702    
1703     By deleting the words in red, you instruct Clonezilla Live to ask you the
1704     values of these parameters. When the appropriate changes have been done
1705     (as shown bellow), just press ENTER to boot.
1706    
1707     append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
1708     ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param=""
1709     ocs_prerun="/live/image/restorecd/prerun.normal" ocs_live_batch="no"
1710     ocs_lang="" ocs_live_keymap="" vga=791 nolocales
1711    
1712     Screen "Choose Language"
1713     ---------------------
1714     [[ backup-00.png ]]
1715     I select "en_US.UTF-8 English" and press ENTER.
1716    
1717     Screen "Configuring console-data"
1718     ---------------------
1719     [[ backup-01.png ]]
1720     I select "Select keymap from full list" and press ENTER. If you're using
1721     US keymap, the default option "Don't touch keymap" is a better choice.
1722    
1723     Screen "Configuring console-data"
1724     ---------------------
1725     [[ backup-02.png ]]
1726     As I (the contributor who wrote a great deal of this page) use Finnish
1727     keyboard, I select "pc / qwerty / Finnish / Standard / Standard". Because
1728     you most likely use a different keyboard, choose the one you use.
1729    
1730     Screen "Start Clonezilla"
1731     ---------------------
1732     [[ backup-03.png ]]
1733     I select "Start Clonezilla" and press ENTER.
1734    
1735     Screen "Clonezilla"
1736     ---------------------
1737     [[ backup-04.png ]]
1738     I select "device-image" and press ENTER.
1739    
1740     Screen "Mount clonezilla image directory"
1741     ---------------------
1742     In this screen I can select the way the image file directory will be saved.
1743     Available options are local directory, remote directory through ssh,
1744     samba or nfs and skip, to use the previously used directory. More info
1745     about the image file can be found at section "About the Image file".
1746    
1747     [[ backup-05.png ]]
1748     I select "local_dev" and press ENTER.
1749    
1750     Next screen
1751     ---------------------
1752     This is where I choose the location of the image file. It will be saved
1753     at the root directory of the selected partition.
1754    
1755     [[ backup-06.png ]]
1756     I select partition hda1 and press ENTER.
1757    
1758     [[ backup-07.png ]]
1759     and then ENTER again.
1760    
1761     [[ backup-08.png ]]
1762     This screen displays the mounting result.
1763     As we can see, /dev/hda1 has been successfully mounted under /tmp/local-dev.
1764    
1765     Next Screen
1766     ---------------------
1767     [[ backup-09.png ]]
1768     I select Beginer mode to accept the default backup options. If you select
1769     Expert mode, you can choose the options yourself. More details can be
1770     found here.
1771    
1772     Screen "Select mode"
1773     ---------------------
1774     Here I can select the desired operation.
1775    
1776     [[ backup-10.png ]]
1777     I select "savedisk" and press ENTER.
1778    
1779     Next Screen
1780     ---------------------
1781     [[ backup-11.png ]]
1782     In this screen I select the image name.
1783     I type "Backup_5-2010_hdb", which in my opinion is more informative name
1784     than the default.
1785    
1786     Next Screen
1787     ---------------------
1788     [[ backup-12.png ]]
1789     Finally I am asked to select the partition to save.
1790     I just press ENTER again.
1791    
1792     Starting the backup
1793     ---------------------
1794     [[ backup-13.png ]]
1795     Then the program will display the command that will be executed and will
1796     ask me to press ENTER.
1797     Then I will be asked to confirm the operation by pressing y and ENTER.
1798    
1799     [[ backup-14.png ]]
1800     After that, the backup begins
1801    
1802     [[ backup-15.png ]]
1803     and when it's successfully completed, I will be able to reboot the system
1804     by pressing 1 and ENTER.
1805    
1806    
1807    
1808    
1809     Getting backups on Samba
1810     ==============================================================================
1811    
1812     Intro
1813     ****************************************
1814     What if you don't have a spare local disk or partition or a USB disk? How
1815     will you be able to get a backup of your system? Well, if your PC is on
1816     the same LAN with another PC running Windows (or linux), you can use Samba
1817     to save your image file on that remote PC (which we will call Samba server
1818     from now on).
1819    
1820     Using Samba you will be able to mount a Windows share resource (or
1821     Samba share resource), from within Clonezilla Live, and save the image
1822     file there. Then you can boot that PC using SystemRescueCD and create a
1823     restore DVD.
1824    
1825     In this page I will demonstrate the creation of an image file by getting a
1826     backup of my Windows partition (/dev/hda1). The image file will be save in
1827     my Samba server which is my laptop (ip: 10.0.0.2, Windows share resource
1828     name: data).
1829    
1830     What is Samba?
1831     ---------------------
1832     We read at http://us1.samba.org/samba/:
1833    
1834     Samba is an Open Source/Free Software suite that provides seamless file
1835     and print services to SMB/CIFS clients. Samba is freely available, unlike
1836     other SMB/CIFS implementations, and allows for interoperability between
1837     Linux/Unix servers and Windows-based clients.
1838    
1839     Samba is software that can be run on a platform other than Microsoft
1840     Windows, for example, UNIX, Linux, IBM System 390, OpenVMS, and other
1841     operating systems. Samba uses the TCP/IP protocol that is installed on the
1842     host server. When correctly configured, it allows that host to interact
1843     with a Microsoft Windows client or server as if it is a Windows file and
1844     print server.
1845    
1846     Gathering info
1847     ****************************************
1848     Before you can use this approach to get a backup, you have to get some
1849     info about the Samba server.
1850    
1851     The Samba server I have used for this example was my laptop, so I already
1852     knew most of the info required. If this is not the case for you, just ask
1853     the owner, user or system admin.
1854    
1855     The info required is:
1856    
1857     * The IP address of the Samba server
1858     * The domain on the Samba server
1859     This may exist if your PC is connected to a larger LAN (a corporation
1860     network, for example). In my case this is empty.
1861     * The user name and password you can use
1862     * The directory on the Samba server you can use to save your backup
1863     This is the name of the Windows share resource (Samba share resource)
1864     as it is known in the network, which is not necessarily the same as the
1865     local directory name. The user whose account will be used to login to the
1866     Samba server, must have write permission to this directory.
1867    
1868     Getting the backup
1869     ****************************************
1870     If you're fine with US keymap and English language (available languages are
1871     English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese and Chinese [both simplified
1872     and traditional]) or don't mind editing the boot parameters, just select
1873     Clonezilla Live at the starting screen and press ENTER. When the system
1874     comes up, it will load the program that will preform the backup.
1875    
1876     If you need to change these settings, go to the Getting backups page for
1877     instructions .
1878    
1879     Screen "Start Clonezilla"
1880     ---------------------
1881     I select "Start Clonezilla" and press ENTER.
1882    
1883     Screen "Clonezilla"
1884     ---------------------
1885     I select "device-image" and press ENTER.
1886    
1887     Screen "Mount clonezilla image directory" [^
1888     ---------------------
1889     In this screen I can select the way the image file directory will be saved.
1890     Available options are local directory, remote directory through ssh,
1891     samba or nfs and skip, to use the previously used directory. More info
1892     about the image file can be found at section "About the Image file".
1893    
1894     I select "samba server" and press ENTER.
1895    
1896     Screen "Mount Samba Server"
1897     ---------------------
1898     This is where I have to enter the IP address of my Samba server. I type
1899     "10.0.0.2" and press ENTER.
1900    
1901     Screen "Mount Samba Server" (second time)
1902     ---------------------
1903     This is where I have to enter the account (user) name on my Samba server. I
1904     type "spiros" and press ENTER.
1905    
1906     Screen "Mount Samba Server" (third time)
1907     ---------------------
1908     This is where I have to enter the domain name on my Samba server. I select
1909     "Cancel" and press ENTER, as there is no domain in my LAN. If there
1910     is a domain in your network, you have to type its name (something like
1911     my_company.com) and press ENTER.
1912    
1913     Screen "Mount Samba Server" (fourth time)
1914     ---------------------
1915     This is where I have to enter the directory name on my Samba server,
1916     in which the image file will be saved. I type "/data" and press ENTER.
1917    
1918     At this point I will be asked for the password for user spiros. I will be
1919     able to continue only after entering it correctly.
1920    
1921     Screen "Clonezilla - Opensource Clone System (OCS)"
1922     ---------------------
1923     I select Beginner mode to accept the default backup options. If you select
1924     Expert mode, you can choose the options yourself. More details can be
1925     found here.
1926    
1927     Screen "Clonezilla: Select mode"
1928     ---------------------
1929     Here I can select the desired operation. Available options are:
1930    
1931     savedisk
1932     Save entire disk to image
1933    
1934     restoredisk
1935     Restore entire disk from image
1936    
1937     saveparts
1938     Save partition to image
1939    
1940     restoreparts
1941     Restore partition from image
1942    
1943     recovery-iso-zip
1944     Create an automated restore CD/DVD/USB drive
1945    
1946     I select "saveparts" and press ENTER.
1947    
1948     Screen "Clonezilla - Opensource Clone System (OCS) | Mode: saveparts"
1949     ---------------------
1950     This is the name of the image file. You can insert anything you like,
1951     as long as it makes sence to you, so that you can distinguish the image
1952     file afterwards.
1953    
1954     I insert "win_img" and press ENTER.
1955    
1956     Next screen
1957     ---------------------
1958     Here I can select the partition that will be backed up. I select "( )
1959     hda1 ntfs" by pressing SPACE and press ENTER, and ENTER again.
1960    
1961     Then a message is displayed asking for confirmation in order to continue. I
1962     just press y, and the backup procedure begins.
1963    
1964     Rebooting the system
1965     ****************************************
1966     When the backup is done, I get the following:
1967     (0) Poweroff
1968     (1) Reboot
1969     (2) Enter command line prompt
1970     (3) Start over
1971     [2]
1972     Then I press ENTER and get to the shell. I execute the commands:
1973     sudo su -
1974     cd
1975     umount -a
1976     reboot
1977    
1978    
1979    
1980    
1981     Restoring data
1982     ==============================================================================
1983    
1984     Intro
1985     ****************************************
1986     Image files are always created for one purpose: restoring the data they
1987     contain. Images can be, for example, a backup solution: as long as hardware
1988     works, the computer can be restored to the state it was when creating the
1989     image. Another usage scenario is changing the hard drive: files can be
1990     copy-pasted from the old drive to the new, but that method doesn't make
1991     the new drive bootable. Disk images do.
1992    
1993     This page contains a demonstration of the latter case. On the Getting backups
1994     page, a 500 MB virtual disk containing 160 megabytes of data was copied
1995     to a 2 GB virtual disk which was empty. Now the 500 MB disk is changed to
1996     an empty 2 GB disk (still virtual) and I'll restore the data to that disk.
1997    
1998     When creating a disk image, one needs to check that both the source and
1999     target partitions are error free. That's not required when the image is
2000     restored, because restoration process can't damage the disk image. Note,
2001     however, that restoring an image erases all the data in the target
2002     disk/partition.
2003    
2004     You also need to check the BIOS settings to be able to boot from
2005     Clonezilla-SysRescCD. Some BIOSes contain a boot menu, others require
2006     editing settings pernamently. Details can be found on the manual of the
2007     motherboard or laptop.
2008    
2009     Now let's boot.
2010    
2011     [[ important.png ]]
2012     Restore process erases all the data on the target disk/partition.Before
2013     restoring make sure you have backup of all the data on the target
2014     disk/partition, even if the filesystem is corrupted.
2015    
2016     [[ info.png ]]
2017     The following pressentation has been made usingClonezilla Live v 1.2.3-27
2018    
2019     Restoring data
2020     ****************************************
2021     Clonezilla-SysRescCD starting screen
2022     ---------------------
2023     If you're fine with US keymap and English language (available languages are
2024     English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese and Chinese [both simplified
2025     and traditional]) or don't mind editing the boot parameters, just select
2026     Clonezilla Live at the starting screen and press ENTER. When the system
2027     comes up, it will load the program that will preform the backup. After
2028     that continue from this step.
2029    
2030     If you need to change these settings, select one of the available Clonezilla
2031     Live menu entries, and press TAB. The current boot parameters will be
2032     displayed.
2033    
2034     The default parameters for booting Clonezilla Live on a 1024x768 screen,
2035     are the following:
2036    
2037     append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
2038     ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param=""
2039     ocs_prerun="/live/image/restorecd/prerun.normal" ocs_live_batch="no"
2040     ocs_lang="en_US.UTF-8" ocs_live_keymap="NONE" vga=791 nolocales
2041    
2042     By deleting the words in red, you instruct Clonezilla Live to ask you the
2043     values of these parameters. When the appropriate changes have been done
2044     (as shown bellow), just press ENTER to boot.
2045    
2046     append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
2047     ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param=""
2048     ocs_prerun="/live/image/restorecd/prerun.normal" ocs_live_batch="no"
2049     ocs_lang="" ocs_live_keymap="" vga=791 nolocales
2050    
2051     Screen "Choose Language"
2052     ---------------------
2053     [[ backup-00.png ]]
2054     This is where the language can be selected. I select "en_US.UTF-8 English"
2055     and press ENTER.
2056    
2057     Screen "Configuring console-data"
2058     ---------------------
2059     [[ backup-01.png ]]
2060     I select "Select keymap from full list" and press ENTER. If you're using
2061     US keymap, the default option "Don't touch keymap" is a better choice.
2062    
2063     Screen "Configuring console-data"
2064     ---------------------
2065     [[ backup-02.png ]]
2066     Because I haven't changed my keyboard, I select "pc / qwerty / Finnish /
2067     Standard / Standard". Because you most likely use a different keyboard,
2068     choose the one you use.
2069    
2070     Screen "Start Clonezilla"
2071     ---------------------
2072     [[ backup-03.png ]]
2073     I select "Start Clonezilla" and press ENTER.
2074    
2075     Screen "Clonezilla"
2076     ---------------------
2077     [[ backup-04.png ]]
2078     I select "device-image" and press ENTER.
2079    
2080     Screen "Mount clonezilla image directory"
2081     ---------------------
2082     In this screen I can select the way the image file directory has been saved.
2083     Available options are local directory, remote directory through ssh,
2084     samba or nfs and skip, to use the previously used directory. More info
2085     about the image file can be found at section "About the Image file".
2086    
2087     [[ backup-05.png ]]
2088     I select "local_dev" and press ENTER.
2089    
2090     Next screen
2091     ---------------------
2092     This is where I choose the location of the image file.
2093     [[ restoration-06.png ]]
2094     I select partition hda1 and press ENTER.
2095    
2096     [[ backup-07.png ]]
2097    
2098     [[ restoration-08.png ]]
2099     This screen displays the mounting result.
2100     As we can see, /dev/hda1 has been successfully mounted under /tmp/local-dev.
2101    
2102     Next Screen
2103     ---------------------
2104     [[ backup-09.png ]]
2105     I select Beginer mode to accept the default restore options. If you select
2106     Expert mode, you can choose the options yourself. More details can be
2107     found here.
2108    
2109     Screen "Select mode"
2110     ---------------------
2111     Here I can select the desired operation.
2112    
2113     [[ restoration-10.png ]]
2114     I select "restoredisk" and press ENTER.
2115    
2116     Next Screen
2117     ---------------------
2118     [[ restoration-11.png ]]
2119     In this screen I select the image folder. This partition contains only
2120     one image.
2121    
2122     Next Screen
2123     ---------------------
2124     [[ restoration-12.png ]]
2125     Finally I am asked to select which partition the image will be restored
2126     to. After double-checking the disk doesn't contain anything important,
2127     I press ENTER.
2128    
2129     Starting the restoration
2130     ---------------------
2131     [[ restoration-13.png ]]
2132     Then the program will display the command that will be executed and will
2133     ask me to press ENTER.
2134     Then I will be asked to confirm the operation by pressing y and ENTER.
2135    
2136     [[ restoration-14.png ]]
2137    
2138     [[ important.png ]]
2139     This is the last confirmation Clonezilla Live asks.After this step there
2140     is no coming back.
2141     Then my confirmation is asked one last time. After checking one more time
2142     the disk doesn't contain any important data, I press y and ENTER.
2143    
2144     [[ restoration-15.png ]]
2145     After that, the restore process begins
2146    
2147     [[ restoration-16.png ]]
2148     and when it's successfully completed, I will be able to reboot the system
2149     by pressing 1 and ENTER.
2150    
2151    
2152    
2153    
2154     Creating a Restore DVD - Part 1
2155     ==============================================================================
2156    
2157     Intro
2158     ****************************************
2159     Assuming you have used Clonezilla Live to make a backup of your Windows XP
2160     system (partition /dev/hda1), which you have saved as win_img, you will
2161     probably be wondering what to do with it now. Well, one option would be
2162     to keep it to the disk you used to save it in, store the disk, and use it
2163     whenever you need it. Another option would be to create a DVD you can use
2164     to restore this image.
2165    
2166     Before, up to Clonezilla-SysRescCD 2.6.0, the process to create an automated
2167     restore DVD required entering command line prompt and writing some commands,
2168     that can be uncomfortable or even difficult for many people.
2169    
2170     Later, a TUI option to create an automated recovery disc was added to
2171     Clonezilla Live, and ocs-iso script included in Clonezilla-SysRescCD
2172     3.1.0 and newer has a TUI too. Old command-line options are no longer
2173     supported. This page walks you through the creation of an automated restore
2174     DVD via TUI.
2175    
2176     Assuming you have saved your image file win_img in partition hdb4, you
2177     have to boot Clonezilla Live, using Clonezilla-SysRescCD.
2178    
2179     [[ info.png ]]
2180     The following pressentation has been made usingClonezilla Live v 1.2.3-27
2181    
2182     Creating the disk image
2183     ****************************************
2184     Clonezilla-SysRescCD starting screen
2185     ---------------------
2186     If you're fine with US keymap and English language (available languages are
2187     English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese and Chinese [both simplified
2188     and traditional]) or don't mind editing the boot parameters, just select
2189     Clonezilla Live at the starting screen and press ENTER. When the system
2190     comes up, it will load the program that will preform the backup. After
2191     that continue from this step.
2192    
2193     If you need to change these settings, select one of the available Clonezilla
2194     Live menu entries, and press TAB. The current boot parameters will be
2195     displayed.
2196    
2197     The default parameters for booting Clonezilla Live on a 1024x768 screen,
2198     are the following:
2199    
2200     append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
2201     ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param=""
2202     ocs_prerun="/live/image/restorecd/prerun.normal" ocs_live_batch="no"
2203     ocs_lang="en_US.UTF-8" ocs_live_keymap="NONE" vga=791 nolocales
2204    
2205     By deleting the words in red, you instruct Clonezilla Live to ask you the
2206     values of these parameters. When the appropriate changes have been done
2207     (as shown bellow), just press ENTER to boot.
2208    
2209     append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
2210     ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param=""
2211     ocs_prerun="/live/image/restorecd/prerun.normal" ocs_live_batch="no"
2212     ocs_lang="" ocs_live_keymap="" vga=791 nolocales
2213    
2214     Screen "Choose Language"
2215     ---------------------
2216     [[ backup-00.png ]]
2217     I select "en_US.UTF-8 English" and press ENTER.
2218    
2219     Screen "Configuring console-data"
2220     ---------------------
2221     [[ backup-01.png ]]
2222     I select "Select keymap from full list" and press ENTER. If you're using
2223     US keymap, the default option "Don't touch keymap" is a better choice.
2224    
2225     Screen "Configuring console-data"
2226     ---------------------
2227     [[ backup-02.png ]]
2228     Because I haven't changed my keyboard, I select "pc / qwerty / Finnish /
2229     Standard / Standard". Because you most likely use a different keyboard,
2230     choose the one you use.
2231    
2232     Screen "Start Clonezilla"
2233     ---------------------
2234     [[ backup-03.png ]]
2235     I select "Start Clonezilla" and press ENTER.
2236    
2237     Screen "Clonezilla"
2238     ---------------------
2239     [[ backup-04.png ]]
2240     I select "device-image" and press ENTER.
2241    
2242     Screen "Mount clonezilla image directory"
2243     ---------------------
2244     In this screen I can select the way the image file directory has been saved.
2245     Available options are local directory, remote directory through ssh,
2246     samba or nfs and skip, to use the previously used directory. More info
2247     about the image file can be found at section "About the Image file".
2248    
2249     [[ backup-05.png ]]
2250     I select "local_dev" and press ENTER.
2251    
2252     Next screen
2253     ---------------------
2254     This is where I choose the location of the image file.
2255     [[ restore-06.png ]]
2256     I select partition hda1 and press ENTER.
2257    
2258     [[ backup-07.png ]]
2259     and then ENTER again.
2260    
2261     [[ restore-08.png ]]
2262     This screen displays the mounting result.
2263     As we can see, /dev/hda1 has been successfully mounted under /tmp/local-dev.
2264    
2265     Next Screen
2266     ---------------------
2267     [[ backup-09.png ]]
2268     I select Beginer mode to accept the default restore options, which are
2269     used if the recovery disk is ever used. If you select Expert mode, you
2270     can choose the options yourself. More details can be found here.
2271    
2272     Screen "Clonezilla: Select mode"
2273     ---------------------
2274     Here I can select the desired operation.
2275    
2276     [[ restore-10.png ]]
2277     I select "recovery-iso-zip" and press ENTER.
2278    
2279     Next Screen
2280     ---------------------
2281     [[ restore-11.png ]]
2282     In this screen I select the image folder. This partition contains only
2283     one image.
2284    
2285     Next Screen
2286     ---------------------
2287     [[ restore-12.png ]]
2288     Now I am asked to select which disk the image will be restored to, if the
2289     recovery disc is used. Because this image is a backup, I choose the same
2290     disk where the original data resides. If you're upgrading your hard drive,
2291     choose the new drive.
2292    
2293     Next Screen
2294     ---------------------
2295     [[ restore-13.png ]]
2296     In this screen I can select the language that the recovery disc uses. I
2297     choose "en_US.UTF-8".
2298    
2299     Next Screen
2300     ---------------------
2301     [[ restore-14.png ]]
2302     This screen allows me to select the keymap that the recovery disc
2303     uses. Unfortunately, changing the keymap requires knowing where the keymap
2304     file resides in Debian GNU/Linux. Because I don't know it, I just press
2305     ENTER to accept US keymap.
2306    
2307     Next Screen
2308     ---------------------
2309     [[ restore-15.png ]]
2310     I select "iso" to create a CD/DVD disk image which I can burn to a recordable
2311     CD/DVD disc. The good thing about recordable discs is that overwriting
2312     the backup by accident is impossible. The "zip" option creates a ZIP file
2313     which can be used to create a bootable pendrive or external hard drive.
2314    
2315     [[ restore-16.png ]]
2316     Then the program will display the command that will be executed and will
2317     ask me to press ENTER.
2318    
2319     [[ cust-menu-01.png ]]
2320     Due to limitations of mkisofs, the script can't create a ISO file which
2321     is over 4,5 gigabytes in size. It causes problems if the size of your
2322     image is over 4,4 gigabytes. Clonezilla-SysRescCD contains a workaround
2323     that creates a ISO file that contains no image, so you can add the image
2324     manually later. This dialog asks if you want to do so. Note that if you
2325     see this dialog, you most likely need a dual layer DVD+R or Blu-ray disc
2326     to burn the image. Growisofs doesn't support multisession burning on dual
2327     layer DVD-R discs, so such disc can't be used either.
2328    
2329     Screen "Customization section"
2330     ---------------------
2331     [[ cust-menu-02.png ]]
2332     Now I am asked if I want to customize the boot menu of the disc. I answer
2333     "Yes". If you don't want to customize the menu, continue from this step.
2334    
2335     Screen "DVD Title"
2336     ---------------------
2337     [[ cust-menu-03.png ]]
2338     In this screen I select the title of the boot menu. I type "Home PC
2339     Restore DVD".
2340    
2341     Screen "Menu Items Caption"
2342     ---------------------
2343     [[ cust-menu-04.png ]]
2344     This screen allows me to select the caption for all menu items. I enter
2345     "Restore Win XP".
2346    
2347     Screen "Boot delay"
2348     ---------------------
2349     [[ cust-menu-05.png ]]
2350     I press ENTER to accept the default delay of 30 seconds. It means that
2351     when a computer is booted from the restore disc, it waits 30 seconds
2352     before choosing the default option automatically. You may want to reduce
2353     this delay if, for example, your keyboard doesn't work in boot menu and
2354     you must wait until the delay ends.
2355    
2356     Screen "Default Boot Item"
2357     ---------------------
2358     [[ cust-menu-06.png ]]
2359     In this screen I can select the default option of the menu. Selecting one
2360     of the options that restore the image makes using the disc even easier,
2361     but also raises the risk that the image is restored accidentally. Another
2362     reason to select such option may be that your keyboard doesn't work in
2363     boot menu, preventing you from choosing any non-default option. I select
2364     the first option that restores the image using pixel dimensions of 1024*768.
2365    
2366     Screen "Boot Screen Image"
2367     ---------------------
2368     [[ cust-menu-07.png ]]
2369     This screen allows me to select the background picture of the menu. Note
2370     that the picture must be in the same partition that contains the disk
2371     image, if you don't mind entering command line and mounting the right
2372     partition manually. I choose picture mysplash.png in the root of the
2373     partition. Because the partition has been mounted in /home/partimag,
2374     the full path of the picture is /home/partimag/mysplash.png.
2375    
2376     Screen "ISO Label"
2377     ---------------------
2378     [[ cust-menu-08.png ]]
2379     In this screen I can select the volume label of the disc. Volume label is
2380     the name of the disc you may see in various situations, for example in the
2381     notification you see when you insert the disc into your DVD writer. I type
2382     "Backup_52-2009_hdb".
2383    
2384     Screen "Publisher ID"
2385     ---------------------
2386     [[ cust-menu-09.png ]]
2387     This is where I choose the publisher ID of the ISO file
2388     and the disc. Publisher ID means the person or company who
2389     created the disc. However, at least in GNU/Linux reading
2390     the publisher ID is, strictly speaking, a challenge. Here {{
2391     http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/getting-volume-information-from-cds-iso- }}
2392     are instructions to read the publisher ID of a ISO file. I didn't find
2393     any working instructions to read the ID from the disc.
2394    
2395     Starting the creation of the disk image
2396     ---------------------
2397     [[ restore-17.png ]]
2398     After that, creation of the disk image begins. Note that no confirmation
2399     is asked it the disk image is small enough to fit to a CD.
2400    
2401     [[ cust-menu-10.png ]]
2402    
2403     If you have above enabled the workaround to create a ISO file without any
2404     image, you get the info screen, which explains the actions to be taken
2405     in order to burn the ISO file and add the iamge file to the DVD. A script
2406     file is also saved as /tmp/burnISO.
2407    
2408     [[ restore-18.png ]]
2409     When the disk image is successfully created, I must reboot in order to
2410     burn the disc because my DVD burner is still in use. Clonezilla Live can
2411     be loaded into computer memory during boot in order to be able to burn
2412     disc(s) within it. However, due to a known bug, the disk image can't
2413     be created if Clonezilla Live has been loaded into memory. (source {{
2414     http://free.nchc.org.tw/clonezilla-live/stable/Known-issues-Clonezilla-live.txt
2415     }}) Thus, I press 1 and ENTER to reboot to another operating system and
2416     burn the image using graphical burning program. For instructions, follow
2417     one of these links:
2418    
2419     If the ISO file contains the disk image
2420     If the ISO file contains no image
2421     If you've created a ZIP file
2422    
2423    
2424    
2425    
2426     Creating a Restore DVD - Part 2
2427     ==============================================================================
2428    
2429     What to do with the disk image
2430     ****************************************
2431     The previous page contains partial instructions to create an automated
2432     recovery DVD. They're partial because they only tell how the disk image
2433     can be created, not what one should do with the image. Of course, partial
2434     instructions are not enough, but don't worry - this page is the other part.
2435    
2436     Earlier versions of Clonezilla Live allowed creating the DVD without
2437     reboot, but it's no longer possible due to a known bug. The disk image
2438     can't be created if Clonezilla Live has been loaded into memory (source {{
2439     http://free.nchc.org.tw/clonezilla-live/stable/Known-issues-Clonezilla-live.txt
2440     }}) and the image can't be burned to disc if Clonezilla Live isn't in
2441     memory. And if the computer must be rebooted anyway, it's a good idea to
2442     use one's favorite operating system and a graphical burning program for
2443     burning the disc. Doing so also allows reading these instructions while
2444     burning the disc.
2445    
2446     This page walks through burning the disc by using ImgBurn and K3b. The
2447     instructions can be adapted for many other burning programs as well. If
2448     your burning program is too different, download either of the programs
2449     mentioned - they both can be downloaded for free.
2450    
2451     In addition to a DVD, bootable pendrive or external hard drive can be
2452     created as well. If you want to do so, follow instructions below.
2453    
2454     Before following these instructions, insert a writable DVD or Blu-ray disc
2455     to your burner.
2456    
2457     Burning the disc
2458     ****************************************
2459     If the ISO file contains the disk image
2460     ---------------------
2461     > Using ImgBurn
2462    
2463     ImgBurn {{ http://www.imgburn.com/ }} is a lightweight but very feature-rich
2464     disc burning program. It only requires about two megabytes disk space
2465     and contains a lot of settings. ImgBurn is closed-source freeware and -
2466     unfortunately - Windows-only software. I (Jyrki) personally use ImgBurn
2467     when burning discs within Windows.
2468    
2469     Launch ImgBurn and press Write image file to disc. Select the disk image
2470     you just created.
2471    
2472     At the settings window, keep Test Mode disabled. I also recommend
2473     keeping the Verify option enabled. Verifying the integrity of the disc
2474     after burning requires time and doesn't prevent the disc from becoming a
2475     so-called coaster, but it allows you to know immediately if the burning
2476     attempt failed, so you can try burning the disc again.
2477    
2478     Keep the number of copies as 1 (or increase it, if you really
2479     want multiple copies of the disc). Use your best judgment while
2480     choosing the burning speed: according to this forum thread {{
2481     http://club.myce.com/f33/high-speed-vs-low-speed-burning-69698/ }} lowering
2482     the burning speed gives very mixed results in quality. I personally use
2483     ¾ of the maximum speed of the disc, for example 12x on a disc rated 16x.
2484    
2485     After choosing the settings, press the big picture at the bottom-left of
2486     the window. Don't do anything that requires much computer resources while
2487     burning, because doing so increases the likelihood of burning failure.
2488    
2489     That's it. You own now an automated recovery disc.
2490    
2491     > Using K3b
2492    
2493     K3b (KDE Burn Baby Burn) is the disc burning program included in KDE
2494     Software Compilation. It comes with most, if not all, KDE-based GNU/Linux
2495     distributions. It can also be installed on other distributions, but I
2496     recommend against doing so - K3b requires KDE base packages to be installed,
2497     and it doesn't make much sense to install KDE base only for K3b.
2498    
2499     [[ k3b-00.png ]]
2500     I launch K3b and navigate to the folder where the disk image resides.
2501    
2502     [[ k3b-01.png ]]
2503     I double-click the file clonezilla-live-Backup_5-2010_hda.iso.
2504    
2505     [[ k3b-02.png ]]
2506     This window allows me to choose burning settings. I don't touch Image Type or
2507     Burn Medium, because they're auto-detected anyway. The maximum burning speed
2508     allowed by the disc is 16x, so I choose speed 12x. According to this forum
2509     thread {{ http://club.myce.com/f33/high-speed-vs-low-speed-burning-69698/
2510     }} low burning speed can decrease burning quality, so I always use speed
2511     near the maximum speed of the disc.
2512    
2513     I keep Writing Mode as Auto and number of copies as 1. I also keep the
2514     Simulate option disabled and enable the Verify written data option. The
2515     latter allows me to notice immediately if the burning attempt failed, so
2516     I can try burning the disc again, rather than owning a so-called coaster
2517     and relying on it if something happens to my data...
2518    
2519     [[ k3b-03.png ]]
2520     I click Start and the burning process begins.
2521    
2522     [[ k3b-04.png ]]
2523     Because I enabled the Verify written data option, K3b starts verifying
2524     the integrity of the disc right after burning.
2525    
2526     [[ k3b-05.png ]]
2527     The burning attempt succeeded.
2528    
2529     If the ISO file contains no image
2530     ---------------------
2531     If you have enabled the workaround to create a ISO file that contains
2532     no disk image (required if the size of the image is over 4,4 gigabytes),
2533     things become much more problematic. The ISO file and the image can't be
2534     burned to the disc simultaneously, they must be written one-by-one. That
2535     requires two burning sessions: the first for writing the ISO file to the
2536     disc and the second for adding the disk image. Many burning programs don't
2537     even support multisession burning at all. About the programs I've mentioned
2538     in this page: K3b supports multisession burning, ImgBurn doesn't.
2539    
2540     I didn't find any instructions for adding an additional file to a
2541     spesific directory by using K3b. Actually, I don't even know if that's
2542     possible at all. Thus, I recommend using growisofs for burning the disc
2543     if the workaround has been enabled, because growisofs allows adding
2544     any file to any directory. However, there's one more limitation:
2545     growisofs doesn't support multisession burning on dual layer DVD-R
2546     discs, so you must use dual layer DVD+R or Blu-ray disc. (source {{
2547     http://fy.chalmers.se/~appro/linux/DVD+RW/-RW/#nomultisess }})
2548    
2549     Growisofs is a command-line program and a part of dvd+rw-tools that is
2550     installed on most GNU/Linux distributions. Dvd+rw-tools is Linux-only
2551     software, so if you use a competing operating system, you must boot into
2552     SystemRescueCD (graphical mode is not needed) in order to burn the disc.
2553    
2554     Open terminal and mount the partition that contains the image. The commands
2555     below must be run as root.
2556    
2557     mkdir /media/usb
2558     mount /dev/sdc1 /media/usb
2559    
2560     Note: How a command can be run as root depends on the GNU/Linux distribution
2561     you use. If it's Ubuntu or a distro based on it, simply put "sudo" above the
2562     command. For example, the latter of the above commands can be executed by
2563     typing "sudo mount /dev/sdc1 /media/usb". If you're using SystemRescueCD,
2564     all commands are run as root, so you don't need to add any prefix to
2565     the commands.
2566    
2567     Note: In the command replace /dev/sdc1 with the partition where the disk
2568     image resides. It's the same partition you mounted as /home/partimag when
2569     creating the image.
2570    
2571     Go to root of the partition:
2572    
2573     cd /media/usb
2574    
2575     Burn the ISO file to the disc:
2576    
2577     growisofs -Z /dev/dvd=clonezilla-live-Backup_5-2010_hdb.iso
2578    
2579     Note: In the last command I have assumed your ISO file is
2580     clonezilla-live-Backup_5-2010_hdb.iso. You will have to replace this with
2581     the actual name of the file.
2582    
2583     Note: If your computer has multiple DVD drives, replace /dev/dvd with the
2584     name of your DVD writer.
2585    
2586     The disc must be ejected because it's the only known way to force the
2587     drive to reread the disc. Do it:
2588    
2589     eject /dev/dvd
2590    
2591     Note: If your drive can't reload the disc, insert the disc back right
2592     after ejecting it.
2593    
2594     Finally, add the image file to the disc:
2595    
2596     growisofs -M /dev/dvd -R -J -V "Backup_5-2010_hdb" --publisher "Your Name"
2597     -graft-points /Backup_5-2010_hdb/=/media/usb/Backup_5-2010_hdb
2598    
2599     Note: In the command replace Your Name with anything you want to be the
2600     publisher ID of the disc. If you don't want the disc to have any publisher
2601     ID, run this command instead:
2602    
2603     growisofs -M /dev/dvd -R -J -V "Backup_5-2010_hdb" -graft-points
2604     /Backup_5-2010_hdb/=/media/usb/Backup_5-2010_hdb
2605    
2606     [[ restore-20.png ]]
2607    
2608     ZIP file instructions
2609     ****************************************
2610     Often the image file is way too big to fit to even 8 GB DVD. Some people may
2611     also want to be able to overwrite the backup when it becomes outdated. In
2612     addition, netbooks don't have optical drives at all.
2613    
2614     One option is using recovery thumb drive or external hard drive instead
2615     of DVD. If the external HD is big enough, the disk image can be even over
2616     a terabyte in size. Recovery USB drive can also be used on netbooks and
2617     overwritten at will.
2618    
2619     Clonezilla Live allows creating a ZIP file instead of disk image. If you
2620     want to do so, follow this step-by-step guide.
2621    
2622     Before creating the disk image, make sure it is split to pieces of four
2623     gigabytes or less. It is split automatically if you use Beginner mode,
2624     and if you use Expert mode, you should already know how the splitting
2625     setting can be changed.
2626    
2627     Using GNU/Linux
2628     ---------------------
2629     After creating the disk image and booting into GNU/Linux, make sure that the
2630     filesystem of the partition where you plan to put the disk image is FAT32. If
2631     you don't know the filesystem, open terminal and run this command as root:
2632    
2633     fdisk -l /dev/sdc
2634    
2635     Note: How a command can be run as root depends on the GNU/Linux distribution
2636     you use. If it's Ubuntu or a distro based on it, simply put "sudo" above
2637     the command. For example, the above command can be executed by typing
2638     "sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc"
2639    
2640     Note: In the command replace /dev/sdc with the name of your USB disk.
2641    
2642     Note: The l in parameter -l is lowercase L, not number 1.
2643    
2644     If your disk doesn't contain any FAT32 partition, but it contains a
2645     partition which is big enough and doesn't contain any important data,
2646     format the partition as FAT32. The command below needs root access too.
2647    
2648     [[ important.png ]]
2649     The command below erases all the data on the target partition.Make sure
2650     you don't format a wrong partition by accident.
2651    
2652     mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdc1
2653    
2654     After formatting the partition or noticing that it was already FAT32,
2655     extract the ZIP archive to the root of the partition. Also these commands
2656     need root rights.
2657    
2658     mount /dev/sdc1 /media/usb
2659     unzip clonezilla-live-Backup_5-2010_hdb.zip -d /media/usb/
2660    
2661     Note: In the last command I have assumed your image file is
2662     clonezilla-live-Backup_5-2010_hdb.zip. You will have to replace this with
2663     the actual name of the file.
2664    
2665     ZIP package contains a script to make the USB drive bootable. Let's run
2666     it. The latter of these commands needs root access.
2667    
2668     [[ important.png ]]
2669     The latter of the commands below replaces theexisting bootloader of the
2670     target disk, if there is one.Make sure you don't select a wrong disk
2671     by accident.
2672    
2673     cd /media/usb/utils/linux
2674     ./makeboot.sh /dev/sdc1
2675    
2676     That's all. Your thumb drive or external hard drive should be now an
2677     automatic recovery disk.
2678    
2679     Using Windows
2680     ---------------------
2681     If the Windows version you use is not Vista or 7, you need to be logged in
2682     as administrator. If you're not, but you have access to an admin account,
2683     log out and then log again in as admin.
2684    
2685     If you don't have admin rights at all, boot into SystemRescueCD (you don't
2686     need graphical mode this time) and follow the instructions for GNU/Linux. In
2687     SystemRescueCD all commands are run as root, so you don't need to add any
2688     prefix to the commands.
2689    
2690     If you normally use Windows, you maybe don't know the name of your USB
2691     disk in GNU/Linux. If that's the case, don't specify any disk in the first
2692     command. It causes fdisk to tell about all disks in the computer and you
2693     should be able to identify both the right disk and the right partition.
2694    
2695     After creating the disk image and booting into Windows, make sure that
2696     the filesystem of the partition where you plan to put the disk image is
2697     FAT32. If you don't know the filesystem, open My Computer, right-click the
2698     partition and select Properties. Then read the "File system" column. If
2699     there reads anything but FAT32, check other partitions of the disk too,
2700     if the disk contains multiple partitions. If you have a suitable FAT32
2701     partition, continue from this step.
2702    
2703     If your disk doesn't contain any FAT32 partition, but it contains a
2704     partition which is big enough and doesn't contain any important data,
2705     format the partition as FAT32.
2706    
2707     [[ important.png ]]
2708     Formatting erases all the data on the target partition.Make sure the
2709     partition contains nothing important.
2710    
2711     Right-click the partition and select Format.... If the Windows version
2712     you use is Vista or 7, an UAC prompt asks for admin password. Enter it.
2713    
2714     At the format window, choose the FAT32 filesystem. You can enter any volume
2715     label (it means the name of the partition you can see next to the partition
2716     letter) and enable Quick Format if you're in a hurry. If Quick Format is
2717     disabled, Windows checks if the partition is physically OK after formatting
2718     it. Enabling Quick Format makes the formatting process many times faster
2719     and, contrary to popular belief, hardly ever causes any harm.
2720    
2721     After formatting the partition or noticing that it was already FAT32, extract
2722     the ZIP archive to the root of the partition. Navigate to the folder where
2723     you've saved the ZIP file and right-click it. Choose Extract all..., and when
2724     you're asked for location where the archive is extracted, enter the letter
2725     of the partition, for example H:\. Do NOT choose any folder in the partition!
2726    
2727     After that, browse to the folder X:\utils\win32, where X: is the letter
2728     of the partition. Then, double-click makeboot.bat. If the Windows version
2729     you use is Vista or 7, another UAC prompt appears. Enter the password
2730     again. Then just follow the prompts to make the USB drive bootable.
2731    
2732     Now you're done. Your thumb drive or external hard drive should be an
2733     automatic recovery disk.
2734    
2735    
2736    
2737    
2738     Restoring to a different location
2739     ==============================================================================
2740    
2741     Intro
2742     ****************************************
2743     In the past restoring to a different location was not supported by
2744     Clonezilla Live at all. Because of that, a script called reloc-img was
2745     added to Clonezilla-SysRescCD, which would help the user perform this task.
2746    
2747     Recent versions of Clonezilla Live partly support restoring to a
2748     different location, so the reloc-img script is obsolete, and has been
2749     removed. Clonezilla Live now supports:
2750    
2751     * Relocation of a disk image (restoring a whole disk)
2752     * Relocation of a partition image (restoring a partition)
2753    
2754     Clonezilla Live does not support:
2755    
2756     * Relocation of a single partition contained into a disk image.
2757    
2758     Imagine you have a disk backup image named hda-2009-02-02. The image
2759     contains three partitions, hda1 (operating system), hda2 (user data)
2760     and hda3 (other data).
2761    
2762     You want to restore your other data partition (hda3), to a different system
2763     (partition sdb2) but there is no way to restore (extract) a single partition
2764     from a disk image - you can only restore the whole disk.
2765    
2766     In order to address this situation, two new scripts have been written for
2767     Clonezilla-SysRescCD: imginfo and imgconvert
2768    
2769     Script imginfo
2770     ****************************************
2771     The script will be used to print info about existing image files.
2772    
2773     Its help screen is:
2774    
2775     # imginfo -h
2776     Clonezilla Live Image Information
2777     imginfo v. 0.1 - (C) 2009 S. Georgaras <sng@hellug.gr>
2778    
2779     Usage: imginfo <options> <directory>
2780    
2781     Available options:
2782     s Search in sub-directories too
2783     i [name] Pring info for image [name]
2784     v Print version info and exit
2785     h Print this screen and exit
2786    
2787     Script imgconvert
2788     ****************************************
2789     The script will be used to convert an existing disk image file to a new
2790     partition image file.
2791    
2792     imgconvert can create two type of images:
2793    
2794     * Temporary image
2795     This type of image is created by linking the data files of the existing
2796     disk image to the new partition image. This means that the original image
2797     must be present for the new image to be used. This is the default image
2798     type created by imgconvert.
2799    
2800     * Permanent image
2801     This type of image is created by copying the data files from the existing
2802     disk image to the new partition image. This means that the original image is
2803     not needed in order to use the new one. Permenant image files are created
2804     using the command line parameter -p.
2805    
2806     Its help screen is:
2807    
2808     # imgconvert -h
2809     Clonezilla Live Image Conversion
2810     imgconvert v. 0.1 - (C) 2009 S. Georgaras <sng@hellug.gr>
2811    
2812     Usage: imgconvert <options> [image] [partition] <new partition>
2813    
2814     Parameters are:
2815     [image] Disk image to be converted to partition image
2816     [partition] Partition name to convert. It must be a valid device name
2817    
2818     Available options:
2819     o [image] Save new imag as [image]
2820     p Save new partition instead of making a link to the old one
2821     v Print version info and exit
2822     h Print this screen and exit
2823    
2824     Using the scripts
2825     ****************************************
2826     Restoring to a partition
2827     ---------------------
2828     After booting into Clonezilla Live, I select
2829    
2830     Enter_shell Enter command line prompt
2831    
2832     when the menu is displayed and then I press 2 to exit to the shell.
2833    
2834     At this point I will mount my images partition (in this example /dev/sdc4),
2835     and use script imginfo to get info about my image files.
2836    
2837     $ sudo su -
2838     # mount /dev/sdc4 /home/partimag
2839     # cd /home/partimag
2840     # imginfo
2841     Image files found in: /home/partimag
2842     Image: usb250-img, disk: sda, size: 259MB, parts: 1
2843     part: sda4, size: 247.00MB, type: FAT16
2844     Image: sys-bck, disk: hda, size: 320.0GB, parts: 3
2845     part: hda1, size: 22.36GB, type: Linux
2846     part: hda2, size: 39.06GB, type: Linux
2847     part: hda3, size: 233.87GB, type: Linux
2848    
2849     As you can see there are two disk images under /home/partimag: usb250-img
2850     and sys-bck.
2851    
2852     sys-bck is a backup of my old system, which had three partitions. What
2853     I need to do now is "copy" the hda3 partition to my current system, by
2854     transfering its data to partition sdb2.
2855    
2856     The way to proceed is:
2857    
2858     * Create a new partition image (containing hda3's data) based on the
2859     existing disk image file, by executing the command:
2860    
2861     # imgconvert sys-bck hda3 sdb2
2862     Clonezilla Live Image Conversion
2863     imgconvert v. 0.1 - (C) 2009 S. Georgaras
2864    
2865     Determining input image
2866     Input image: "/home/partimag/sys-bck"
2867     Validating image... ok
2868     Determining input partition
2869     Input partition: "hda3"
2870     Validating input partition... ok
2871     Determining output image
2872     Output image: "/home/partimag/sys-bck-cnv"
2873     Validating output image... ok
2874     Checking permissions... ok
2875     Determining output partition
2876     Output partition: "sda2"
2877     Validating output partition... ok
2878     Creating output image: /home/partimag/sys-bck-cnv
2879     Linking files... done
2880     Fixing info files... done
2881    
2882     This command will create a temporary partition image file (automatically
2883     named sys-bck-cnv), which contains sdb2 only, as you can see by executing:
2884    
2885     # imginfo -i sys-bck-cnv
2886     Image: sys-bck-cnv, part: sdb2, size: 233.87GB, type: Linux
2887    
2888     * Restart Clonezilla Live by pressing Control-D twice.
2889    
2890     * Restore the new image file into sdb2, by selecting
2891    
2892     Screen 1: Start_Clonezilla Start Clonezilla
2893    
2894     Screen 2: device-image disk/partition to/from image
2895    
2896     Screen 3: skip use existing /home/partimag
2897    
2898     Screen 4: Beginer / Expert
2899    
2900     Screen 5: restoreparts
2901     Restore_an_image_to_local_partition
2902    
2903     and continue as usual to restore the partition.
2904    
2905     Converting image files
2906     ---------------------
2907     # imgconvert -p -o other_data sys-bck hda3 sdb2
2908     Clonezilla Live Image Conversion
2909     imgconvert v. 0.1 - (C) 2009 S. Georgaras
2910    
2911     Determining input image
2912     Input image: "/home/partimag/sys-bck"
2913     Validating image... ok
2914     Determining input partition
2915     Input partition: "hda3"
2916     Validating input partition... ok
2917     Determining output image
2918     Output image: "/home/partimag/other_data"
2919     Validating output image... ok
2920     Checking permissions... ok
2921     Determining output partition
2922     Output partition: "sda2"
2923     Validating output partition... ok
2924     Creating output image: /home/partimag/other_data
2925     Copying files... done
2926     Fixing info files... done
2927    
2928     # imginfo -i other_data
2929     Image: other_data, part: sdb2, size: 233.87GB, type: Linux
2930    
2931     # ls -la sys-bck
2932     total 1111972
2933     drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2007-11-22 03:21 .
2934     drwxr-xr-x. 34 root root 4096 2009-04-06 21:28 ..
2935     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4 2007-11-20 20:33 disk
2936     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1081716736 2007-11-20 20:32 hda1.aa
2937     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 45453312 2007-11-20 20:33 hda2.aa
2938     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10317824 2007-11-20 20:33 hda3.aa
2939     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 37 2007-11-21 18:56 hda-chs.sf
2940     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 37 2007-11-21 18:50 hda-chs.sf.orig
2941     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512 2007-11-20 20:31 hda-mbr
2942     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 259 2007-11-21 18:59 hda-pt.sf
2943     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 259 2007-11-21 18:50 hda-pt.sf.orig
2944     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15 2007-11-20 20:33 parts
2945     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17 2007-11-20 20:33 swappt-hda4.info
2946     #
2947     #
2948     # ls -la other_data
2949     total 24
2950     drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2009-04-06 21:27 .
2951     drwxr-xr-x. 35 root root 4096 2009-04-06 21:27 ..
2952     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5 2009-04-06 21:27 parts
2953     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10317824 2009-04-06 21:27 sdb2.aa
2954     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 37 2009-04-06 21:27 sdb-chs.sf
2955     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 106 2009-04-06 21:27 sdb-pt.sf
2956    
2957     Booting a restored Linux system
2958     ****************************************
2959     A Linux system that has been restored to a new disk/partition, is usually
2960     not ready to be booted right after the restoration procedure is finished.
2961    
2962     There are two more steps that you may have to take:
2963    
2964     * Fix /etc/fstab
2965     * Reinstall GRUB.
2966     I will assume GRUB is your boot manager, as it is the usual case nowadays.
2967    
2968     For this example I will assume that you have restored a Linux system
2969     (that used to be in sdb), to a new disk (hda), and that it contains three
2970     partitions, / (the root partition), /home (user's partition) and a swap
2971     partition. You must be really careful here, as the name of the new disk
2972     depends on the system to be booted. If it uses one of the newest Linux
2973     kernels (using the libata disk driver), ALL your disks will be recognised
2974     as SCSI. More info: "Identifying devices in Linux" section "SCSI disks
2975     when there are none!!!".
2976    
2977     This is what we have:
2978    
2979     root partition home partition swap partition
2980     Old system /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdb2 /dev/sdb3
2981     New system /dev/hda1 /dev/hda2 /dev/hda3
2982    
2983     Fixing /etc/fstab
2984     ---------------------
2985     Since we are still in Clonezilla Live, right after the restore procedure
2986     has finished, we will use it to mount our restored root partition, and
2987     edit its /etc/fstab. We issue the commands:
2988    
2989     mkdir /new-root
2990     mount /dev/hda1 /new-root
2991     vi /new-root/etc/fstab
2992    
2993     The contents of /etc/fstab could be something like
2994    
2995     /dev/sdb1 / reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 1
2996     /dev/sdb2 /home reiserfs defaults 1 2
2997     /dev/sdb3 swap swap defaults 0 0
2998    
2999     and we have to change ti to
3000    
3001     /dev/hda1 / reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 1
3002     /dev/hda2 /home reiserfs defaults 1 2
3003     /dev/hda3 swap swap defaults 0 0
3004    
3005     Finally, we unmount the partition, and we are ready to reboot
3006    
3007     umount /new-root
3008     reboot
3009    
3010     Reinstalling GRUB
3011     ---------------------
3012     When Clonezilla-SysRescCD menu appears, we select Tools > Super Grub Disk
3013    
3014     Then we select Super Grub Disk > Super Grub Disk (WITH HELP) > English
3015     Super Grub Disk > Gnu/Linux > Fix Boot of Gnu/Linux (GRUB). From this
3016     entry we will be able to reinstall GRUB to our hard disk.
3017    
3018     You may also want to have a look at Super Grub Disk "documentation {{
3019     http://www.supergrubdisk.org/wiki/SuperGrubDiskDocumentation }}".
3020    
3021    
3022    
3023    
3024     Fixing boot problems
3025     ==============================================================================
3026    
3027     Intro
3028     ****************************************
3029     Boot problems are probably the most feared computer problems. Without an
3030     operating system you can't access your data, get the work done or even
3031     google for help. That's why it's often a good idea to have an alternative
3032     operating system available for searching help if the main OS doesn't
3033     work. Also a copy of Clonezilla-SysRescCD can be invaluable help.
3034    
3035     Actually, the initial reason why I (Jyrki) installed GNU/Linux at all was
3036     that I wanted to be able to fix Windows boot problems if they occur. I
3037     installed both GNU/Linux and GRUB to my external hard drive, completely
3038     separating operating systems. Even if either bootloader stopped working,
3039     I'd still be able to boot one of my OSes.
3040    
3041     But such configuration is not easy to create, and when I installed GNU/Linux,
3042     I knew very little about it. If I didn't read the instructions I found
3043     here and there very carefully, I probably would have done a common mistake:
3044     installing GRUB to my internal hard drive. Such mistake would have caused
3045     two problems:
3046    
3047     * Inability to boot GNU/Linux at any computer expect the one which was
3048     used for installing
3049     * Inability to boot Windows when the external drive isn't connected
3050    
3051     In this page, I simulate that situation in a virtual machine and fix
3052     both problems.
3053    
3054     Symptoms
3055     ****************************************
3056     What happens when I try to boot the external hard drive on another computer
3057     depends on the BIOS of the computer. For example, on my computer I see a
3058     Black Screen of Death {{ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Screen_of_Death
3059     }} when I try booting from a disk with empty Master Boot Record. Other
3060     BIOSes may boot the local operating system or display an error message
3061     (for example "Disk boot failure", "Missing operating system" or "Operating
3062     system not found").
3063    
3064     The other problem is very easy to determine. When external drive is
3065     disconnected and I try to boot, I'll see this:
3066    
3067     [[ error-21.png ]]
3068    
3069     Goals
3070     ****************************************
3071     Because I still want to separate my operating systems completely,
3072     I try to restore NTLDR to the Master Boot Record of the internal disk,
3073     if possible. If that's not possible, I install there another bootloader
3074     that chainloads Windows.
3075    
3076     I could reinstall GNU/Linux completely and make sure that the GRUB is
3077     installed to the right disk this time, but it's not a good idea if I only
3078     need to overwrite the first 446 bytes (yes, bytes, not kilo- or megabytes)
3079     of the disk. So, I only install GRUB to the external disk, by using Super
3080     Grub Disk.
3081    
3082     Your problem (if you have one at all) most likely is different, but goals
3083     are often the same.
3084    
3085     You need to restore NTLDR if you...
3086    
3087     * ...just installed GNU/Linux, but the boot menu doesn't mention Windows
3088     at all. You're not willing to learn how Windows can be added to the boot
3089     menu, you just need to make your computer to boot Windows again right now.
3090     * ...cloned your Windows partition to your brand new computer but didn't
3091     clone the Master Boot Record.
3092     * ...are about to uninstall GNU/Linux and aren't willing to use GRUB as
3093     your bootloader.
3094    
3095     You need to install GRUB if you...
3096    
3097     * ...just installed Windows and want to make GNU/Linux bootable again.
3098     * ...cloned your GNU/Linux partition to your brand new computer but didn't
3099     clone the Master Boot Record.
3100     * ...just installed GNU/Linux but installed GRUB to a non-first hard drive
3101     by accident. (The symptom is that your computer still boots to the operating
3102     system you had installed already.)
3103    
3104     [[ info.png ]]
3105     The following pressentation has been made usingSuper Grub Disk v0.9799
3106    
3107     Restoring NTLDR
3108     ****************************************
3109     There are a lot of ways to restore NTLDR. However, sometimes there is no
3110     legal way to restore it, and I'm NOT telling about the illegal ones. The
3111     last resort is using syslinux to chainload Windows; there is usually no
3112     way to notice that syslinux is used instead of NTLDR.
3113    
3114     I've listed here the most important options in order I'd use them.
3115    
3116     Restoring NTLDR from a backup
3117     ---------------------
3118     If you've been smart enough to use Clonezilla Live to create a disk image
3119     of your first hard drive, it's very easy to restore NTLDR.
3120    
3121     Your NTLDR is safe in a file called hda-mbr or sda-mbr. You can use dd to
3122     overwrite your existing Master Boot Record.
3123    
3124     [[ important.png ]]
3125     Don't restore all 512 bytes of your Master Boot Record.The MBR contains
3126     your partition table and restoring it afterrepartitioning your disk erases
3127     all the data on the disk.
3128    
3129     If you normally use GNU/Linux, open terminal and run these commands as root:
3130    
3131     mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/usb
3132     dd if=/mnt/usb/Backup/sda-mbr of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1
3133    
3134     Note: In the commands I have assumed that your first hard drive is /dev/sda
3135     and that your disk image resides in the folder Backup in partition
3136     /dev/sdc1. You will have to replace them with the correct pieces of
3137     information.
3138    
3139     Note: How a command can be run as root depends on the GNU/Linux distribution
3140     you use. If it's Ubuntu or a distro based on it, simply put "sudo" above
3141     the command. For example, the latter of the above commands can be executed
3142     by typing "sudo dd if=/mnt/usb/Backup/sda-mbr of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1"
3143    
3144     If you normally use another operating system, boot into SystemRescueCD and
3145     run the above commands. In SystemRescueCD all commands are run as root,
3146     so you don't need to add any prefix to the commands.
3147    
3148     If you don't know the name of the partition, run this command as root:
3149    
3150     fdisk -l
3151    
3152     It tells how many hard drives you have, how many partitions they contain
3153     and what filesystems the partitions use. If you know, for example, that
3154     the disk where you've saved the disk image contains only one partition,
3155     look for such disks.
3156    
3157     Using Bootrec.exe (Windows Vista/7 only)
3158     ---------------------
3159     You need Windows Vista/7 install disc for this. If you don't have one (for
3160     example, if you bought a laptop that was bundled with preinstalled Windows
3161     and manufacturer's recovery disc), download a recovery disc from here.
3162    
3163     Then boot from the disc. After selecting language, time, currency and
3164     keyboard, click Repair your computer. You'll get a list of operating systems
3165     you're able to repair. Choose any of them; that choice doesn't matter.
3166    
3167     After that, you'll see a dialog box named System Recovery Options. Click
3168     Command Prompt. Then you only need to execute one command:
3169    
3170     Bootrec /FixMbr
3171    
3172     Note: The command is case-insensitive. You can type, for example,
3173     "bootrec /fixmbr".
3174    
3175     Using FIXMBR (Windows XP only)
3176     ---------------------
3177     You need Windows XP install disc. Boot from it, and when you see the screen
3178     "Windows XP Home Edition Setup" or "Windows XP Professional Setup", press
3179     R to enter the Recovery Console. Then choose the Windows installation you
3180     want to log onto. If you have only one copy of Windows installed, press
3181     1 and ENTER. After that, enter the administator password and press ENTER.
3182    
3183     There is only one command to run:
3184    
3185     FIXMBR
3186    
3187     Note: The command is case-insensitive. You can type, for example, "fixmbr".
3188    
3189     Using FDISK (Windows 95/98/Me only)
3190     ---------------------
3191     For this, you need a floppy drive. You also need to run a Windows-only
3192     program, so your first challenge is to boot Windows without NTLDR.
3193    
3194     Don't worry, Super Grub Disk makes it possible. Boot into it.
3195    
3196     [[ supergrubdisk-01.png ]]
3197     Just choose the option "!WIN! :(((" and press ENTER.
3198    
3199     When you have Windows up and running, download the boot disk
3200     image appropriate to your version of Windows from Bootdisk.Com {{
3201     http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm }}. Then put a floppy to your floppy
3202     drive.
3203    
3204     If the floppy isn't already formatted, open My Computer, right-click the
3205     floppy drive and select Format....
3206    
3207     At the format window, choose the capacity of 1,44 megabytes and Full format
3208     type. You can enter any label (it means the name of the floppy you can see
3209     next to the floppy drive letter) and disable the summary if you wish. Keep
3210     the Copy system files option disabled.
3211    
3212     When you have a formatted floppy in your drive, double-click the boot disk
3213     image you downloaded. When it's done, shut Windows down and check your
3214     BIOS settings to be able to boot from the floppy. Some BIOSes contain a
3215     boot menu, others require editing settings pernamently. Details can be
3216     found on the manual of the motherboard or laptop.
3217    
3218     Then boot from the floppy. When you're given three boot options, choose
3219     the option 2. Start computer without CD-ROM support. Wait a moment to
3220     enter command line and run this command:
3221    
3222     FDISK /MBR
3223    
3224     Note: The command is case-insensitive. You can type, for example,
3225     "fdisk /mbr".
3226    
3227     Installing syslinux using Super Grub Disk
3228     ---------------------
3229     The above four are the only legal ways I know to restore NTLDR to the
3230     Master Boot Record. Unfortunately, sometimes none of them can be used. If
3231     that's the case, it's time to switch bootloader. GRUB can be configured to
3232     chainload Windows, and usually it even does that automatically, but this
3233     page isn't intended to help configuring GRUB. I assume that if you're
3234     primarily a Windows user and reading this page, you don't want to learn
3235     how to use GNU/Linux, you just want to make Windows bootable again.
3236    
3237     Maybe the easiest way to do so is installing syslinux using Super Grub
3238     Disk. Super Grub Disk configures it automatically to chainload the first
3239     active partition. The partition should contain Windows, Windows can't boot
3240     if its partition isn't active.
3241    
3242     Boot into Super Grub Disk.
3243    
3244     [[ supergrubdisk-01a.png ]]
3245     Choose the option "WIN => MBR & !WIN! :(((((((((((((((((((((" and
3246     press ENTER. Windows will be booted automatically right after installing
3247     syslinux.
3248    
3249     Installing GRUB
3250     ****************************************
3251     Contrary to various ways to restore NTLDR, there is only one way to install
3252     GRUB I recommend. That's Super Grub Disk, because it contains GRUB no
3253     matter what has happened to the hard drive(s). First, I boot into it.
3254    
3255     [[ supergrubdisk-01b.png ]]
3256     I select "Choose Language & HELP :-)))" and press ENTER.
3257    
3258     Screen "S.G.D. Language Selection."
3259     ---------------------
3260     [[ supergrubdisk-02.png ]]
3261     I select "English Super Grub Disk" and press ENTER.
3262    
3263     [[ supergrubdisk-03.png ]]
3264     I press ENTER...
3265    
3266     [[ supergrubdisk-04.png ]]
3267     ...and then ENTER again...
3268    
3269     [[ supergrubdisk-05.png ]]
3270     ...and then ENTER once again...
3271    
3272     [[ supergrubdisk-06.png ]]
3273     ...and finally ENTER one more time.
3274    
3275     Screen "English Super Grub Disk (Help)"
3276     ---------------------
3277     [[ supergrubdisk-07.png ]]
3278     I select "Advanced".
3279    
3280     Screen "Advanced (Help)"
3281     ---------------------
3282     [[ supergrubdisk-08.png ]]
3283     I select "GRUB" and press ENTER.
3284    
3285     Screen "GRUB (Help)"
3286     ---------------------
3287     [[ supergrubdisk-09.png ]]
3288     I select "Restore GRUB in Hard Disk (MBR)" and press ENTER...
3289    
3290     [[ supergrubdisk-10.png ]]
3291     ...and ENTER.
3292    
3293     Screen "Restore GRUB in Hard Disk (MBR) (Help)"
3294     ---------------------
3295     [[ supergrubdisk-11.png ]]
3296     I select "Manual Restore GRUB in Hard Disk (MBR)" and press ENTER. If you
3297     want to install GRUB to the Master Boot Record of the first hard drive,
3298     "Automatically Install" is a better choice. If you don't know if you
3299     want GRUB to the first or some other disk, you most likely want it to the
3300     first disk.
3301    
3302     Screen "Manual Restore GRUB in Hard Disk (MBR) (Help)"
3303     ---------------------
3304     [[ supergrubdisk-12.png ]]
3305     I confirm my decision by selecting "Manual Restore GRUB in Hard Disk (MBR)"
3306     again and pressing ENTER.
3307    
3308     Screen "Partition of GRUB"
3309     ---------------------
3310     [[ supergrubdisk-13.png ]]
3311     In this screen I can select the disk that contains the partition that
3312     contains the files needed by GRUB. In this case, that disk is the external
3313     hard drive. As you can see, the disk is only three megabytes in size -
3314     because the computer used for screenshots is still virtual. Actually, the
3315     "disk" where I'm installing GRUB is just a file.
3316    
3317     Next Screen
3318     ---------------------
3319     [[ supergrubdisk-14.png ]]
3320     This is where I choose the partition where GRUB files reside. This disk
3321     contains only one partition.
3322    
3323     Screen "Restore to MBR of Hard Disk"
3324     ---------------------
3325     [[ supergrubdisk-15.png ]]
3326     I select the external hard drive to install GRUB to its Master Boot Record.
3327    
3328     [[ supergrubdisk-12.png ]]
3329     Some text scrolled in the screen (too fast to read or take a screenshot)
3330     and I was back at this screen. I rebooted the computer. (In this situation,
3331     you can safely do a "hard reboot" by pressing reset button once or power
3332     button twice.)
3333    
3334     [[ grub-loading.png ]]
3335     GRUB booted successfully.
3336    
3337    
3338    
3339    
3340     Booting an old PC
3341     ==============================================================================
3342    
3343     Intro
3344     ****************************************
3345     Have you ever tried to boot an old PC off a CD-ROM, and found out it
3346     wouldn't, because its BIOS does not support it, or it's faulty or for any
3347     other reason? Well, I have. So this page is an effort to solve this problem.
3348    
3349     The only way to do it, is to boot of a floppy disk which will help me
3350     "load" whatever operation system I want from a CD. This means that I will
3351     have to write a boot loader to the floppy disk.
3352    
3353     The software I will use is Smart Boot Manager {{
3354     http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/ }}, a small boot manager with a
3355     nice TUI (Text User Interface). Its floppy image, already accessible from
3356     the "Tools" menu, can be found in the bootdisk folder of the CD under the
3357     name sbm.img.
3358    
3359     Writing the image to a floppy disk
3360     ****************************************
3361     All you have to do is get to a PC equipped with a floppy drive, get a
3362     floppy disk which is in excellent condition (no bad sectors/blocks),
3363     and copy the image file to it.
3364    
3365     1. From Linux
3366     ---------------------
3367     You can either boot Clonezilla Live or SystemRescueCD, and when the system
3368     is fully up, execute the command:
3369    
3370     dd if=/path/to/sbm.img of=/dev/fd0
3371    
3372     where /path/to is
3373     /live/image/bootdisk for Clonezilla Live
3374     /mnt/livecd/bootdisk for SystemRescueCD
3375    
3376     2. From DOS
3377     ---------------------
3378     You can get into any DOS (boot FreeDOS from the CD, for example), and use
3379     any of the following programs found in the rawrite folder of the CD:
3380    
3381     * rawrite.exe: is just here for completeness, as it may be needed for someone
3382     * rawrite2.exe: should be the fastest
3383     * rawrite3.com: should work if rawrite2 fails for some reason
3384     * fdimage.exe: rawrite alternative
3385    
3386     I found these programms at the FreeDOS web site {{
3387     http://www.fdos.org/ripcord/rawrite/ }}, where the following info is
3388     included:
3389    
3390     Basic Usage (Rawrite):
3391     Depending on the exact version, the output and command line support may
3392     vary, i.e. not work
3393     Usage:
3394     MS-DOS prompt> RAWRITE
3395     and follow the prompts, -or-
3396    
3397     MS-DOS prompt> RAWRITE [-f ] [-d ] [-n(owait)] [-h(elp)]
3398     where: -f - name of disk image file
3399     -d - diskette drive to use, must be A or B
3400     -n - don't prompt for user to insert diskette
3401     -h - print usage information to stdout
3402    
3403     The diskette must be formatted or rawrite will not work.
3404     The contents of the disk do not matter and will be overwritten.
3405     When ran interactively (without command line options) you will be prompted
3406     for the disk image filename (you must remember this as there is no file
3407     chooser).
3408     You will also be prompted for the target/destination drive, either A or
3409     B for A: or B: respectively.
3410     Basic Usage (FDImage):
3411     fdimage is an updated DOS program meant to replace rawrite. It does not
3412     require a pre-formatted floppy diskette.
3413    
3414     FDIMAGE - Write disk image to floppy disk
3415     Version 1.5 Copyright (c) 1996-7 Robert Nordier
3416    
3417     Usage: fdimage [-dqsv] [-f size] [-r count] file drive
3418    
3419     -d Debug mode
3420     -f size Specify the floppy disk format by capacity, eg:
3421     160K, 180K, 320K, 360K, 720K, 1.2M, 1.44M, 2.88M
3422     -q Quick mode: don't format the disk
3423     -r count Retry count for format/write operations
3424     -s Single-sector I/O
3425     -v Verbose
3426    
3427     In order to write the image file to a pre-formatted diskette, execute
3428     the commands:
3429    
3430     X:
3431     cd rawrite
3432     rawrite2 -f X:bootdisksbm.img -d b:
3433    
3434     In order to write the image file and format the diskette at the same time,
3435     execute the commands:
3436    
3437     X:
3438     cd rawrite
3439     fdimage -f 1.44M X:bootdisksbm.img b:
3440    
3441     where X: is the drive name in DOS
3442    
3443     3. From Windows
3444     ---------------------
3445     The final alternative is to use Windows program rawwritewin.exe (found in
3446     the utils\rawrite folder of the CD), as shown in the following image:
3447    
3448     [[ rawwritewin.png ]]
3449    
3450    
3451    
3452    
3453     Using SystemRescueCD
3454     ==============================================================================
3455    
3456     Intro
3457     ****************************************
3458     SystemRescueCD is an excellent Live CD. It contains cloning software too
3459     (FSArchiver {{ http://www.fsarchiver.org/Main_Page }} and partimage,
3460     to be spesific), but is unable to clone a whole disk, instead of only
3461     individual partitions.
3462    
3463     Clonezilla Live is a great cloning solution, but it is unable to do anything
3464     but clone. For general system administration, you need a lot more functions
3465     - like these offered by SystemRescueCD.
3466    
3467     Clonezilla-SysRescCD has all of the functions of both discs. It's a
3468     multi boot CD, so switching between CDs requires a reboot, but using
3469     both individual discs requires switching the physical disc - in addition
3470     to rebooting.
3471    
3472     But, of course, to be able to use SystemRescueCD's functions, you need to
3473     know how to use them. We don't have permission to redistribute SystemRescueCD
3474     documentation, so this page contains only just enough information to allow
3475     you to look for more help in SystemRescueCD documentation.
3476    
3477     Which boot option to pick?
3478     ****************************************
3479     You may be confused because of the number of boot options you have. After
3480     choosing "CD 2: System Rescue CD" you have a total of 15 options to boot
3481     SystemRescueCD. Here is a table of them.
3482    
3483     kernel Normal To RAM Graphical Environment VESA Mini Shell
3484     32-bit xxx +++
3485     32-bit (alt)
3486     64-bit xxx +++
3487    
3488     In the table, I have marked the options you most likely need. You should
3489     choose either of the options marked with a '+++' if you have no idea and/or
3490     time to read the next sections.
3491    
3492     Choosing the column
3493     ---------------------
3494     If you're accustomed to graphical environment, choose Graphical
3495     Environment. In Graphical Environment you're able to use graphical programs,
3496     like GParted and Mozilla Firefox. Terminals are also available, so using
3497     Graphical Environment doesn't prevent using command line. The only negative
3498     thing of Graphical Environment is that it slows booting process down a bit -
3499     and it's often just plain unneeded.
3500    
3501     Try VESA, if normal Graphical Environment doesn't work. VESA uses Xvesa
3502     graphical environment instead of X.Org that sometimes doesn't work. The
3503     drawbacks of Xvesa compared to X.Org are that Xvesa isn't optimized to
3504     any hardware (which means poorer performance) and Xvesa requires 32-bit
3505     kernel. Thus, if you use this option, do NOT choose 64-bit kernel, the
3506     combination leaves you at command line.
3507    
3508     If you're accustomed to command line and know already that you're not going
3509     to use any graphical program, choose one of the normal options (just below
3510     "System Rescue CD Menu"). Booting to command line is a bit faster process
3511     than booting to graphical environment, and you can start X manually later.
3512    
3513     You need the option To RAM if you plan to burn discs while using
3514     SystemRescueCD. The option copies the whole SystemRescueCD to the memory of
3515     the computer during the boot process, allowing you to put another disc to
3516     your CD/DVD writer while using SystemRescueCD. The negative thing is that
3517     reading all the contents of the disc slows boot process down a lot. There
3518     is no option which copies the disc to the memory and starts graphical
3519     environment automatically, but you can easily start it manually.
3520    
3521     Mini Shell is probably the least used option. It enters BusyBox
3522     shell after booting. BusyBox is an application that "combines
3523     tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single small
3524     executable." However, SystemRescueCD contains most of these utilities
3525     anyway, so there is not much need to use this option. some information {{
3526     http://www.busybox.net/about.html }} about BusyBox
3527    
3528     Choosing the row (kernel)
3529     ---------------------
3530     After having chosen the column of the above table, you still have three
3531     options. Now you need to choose the kernel.
3532    
3533     The optimal kernel depends on the processor of your computer. If it's an
3534     IA-32 processor, like Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon XP, you should choose
3535     32-bit kernel, because 64-bit kernel doesn't work at all. If you have
3536     a x86-64 processor, like AMD Athlon 64 or Intel Core 2, you can choose
3537     any kernel - the processor can run all of them. 64-bit kernel should be
3538     preferred, because it allows chrooting on an existing GNU/Linux partition
3539     containing 64-bit programs. Note, though, that you can't use 64-bit kernel
3540     with VESA option.
3541    
3542     If you don't know your processor architecture, try 64-bit kernel. If your
3543     processor architecture is IA-32, you'll see the following error message:
3544    
3545     This kernel requires an x86-64 CPU, but only detected an i686 CPU. Unable
3546     to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU.
3547    
3548     At this stage, simply press Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot and use always 32-bit
3549     kernel on the machine.
3550    
3551     There is one more kernel - 32-bit kernel (alternative). It's designed to
3552     support more recent hardware than the regular kernel. Try it if standard
3553     32-bit kernel doesn't work.
3554    
3555     After booting
3556     ****************************************
3557     HELP!!! Where are the desktop and Start menu?
3558     ---------------------
3559     You should have read this section if you're looking for them. However,
3560     you don't need to reboot in order to enter graphical environment. Simply
3561     type this command and press ENTER:
3562    
3563     wizard
3564    
3565     The command asks you to choose a graphical environment. Try first X.Org,
3566     and if it fails, run the command again and choose Xvesa.
3567    
3568     Connecting to the Internet
3569     ---------------------
3570     The CD doesn't contain any SystemRescueCD documentation, because we don't
3571     have permission to redistribute it. In addition, our time is limited and
3572     we can't rewrite it all. So, you need to connect to the Internet to be
3573     able to read SystemRescueCD's official online documentation.
3574    
3575     Luckily, establishing Internet connection should be easy, if you're in a
3576     network using DHCP. Nowadays, most people are. If you're using graphical
3577     mode and terminal isn't already open, open it via the menu that opens when
3578     you click the leftmost icon in the bottom pane.
3579    
3580     Then, type this command and press ENTER:
3581    
3582     dhcpcd eth0
3583    
3584     If the network doesn't use DHCP, you can also configure Internet settings
3585     by hand. You should be able to do so if you've previously configured your
3586     settings in the operating system you normally use. The command to run is
3587    
3588     net-setup
3589    
3590     When you're done
3591     ****************************************
3592     When you're done, you naturally want to either shut the computer down or
3593     reboot. Wait! Don't do it yet!
3594    
3595     Both I and Spiros have found out that letting a live CD to automatically
3596     unmount partitions is often a bad idea. It can damage the filesystems
3597     of the partitions which were mounted when the computer was shut down and
3598     destroy any files in the partitions, even them you didn't use within the CD.
3599    
3600     So, I recommend unmounting them refore shutdown or reboot. Just run these
3601     commands when you're done.
3602    
3603     If you want to reboot:
3604    
3605     cd
3606     umount -a
3607     reboot
3608    
3609     If you want to shut down:
3610     cd
3611     umount -a
3612     poweroff
3613    
3614     More info
3615     ****************************************
3616     Here are some links to the official SystemRescueCD resources.
3617    
3618     SystemRescueCD - http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page
3619     Detailed packages list- http://www.sysresccd.org/Detailed-packages-list
3620     Manual - http://www.sysresccd.org/Online-Manual-EN
3621     FAQ - http://www.sysresccd.org/FAQ
3622     Howto - http://www.sysresccd.org/Howto
3623     Forum - http://www.sysresccd.org/forums/
3624    
3625    
3626    
3627    
3628     Managing partitions
3629     ==============================================================================
3630    
3631     Intro
3632     ****************************************
3633     One of the most important maintenance tasks that can only be done by using
3634     a live CD is partitioning. No operating system allows partitioning the
3635     same disk where the OS itself resides. Trying to do so is like attempting
3636     to repair a car while its engine is turned on.
3637    
3638     Of course, SystemRescueCD contains multiple programs that are related to
3639     partitioning. Most important are GParted (graphical partitioning program),
3640     GNU Parted (text-based partitioning program), fdisk and sfdisk (partition
3641     table editors) and various filesystem tools (like ntfsprogs and e2fsprogs).
3642    
3643     This page contains some theory about partitions and filesystems, advice for
3644     choosing the right filesystem and a partitioning example by using GParted.
3645    
3646     [[ important.png ]]
3647     While partitioning, an user error or a bug can damage your
3648     partitions.Creating a disk image of the disk to bepartitioned beforehand
3649     is highly recommended.
3650    
3651     [[ info.png ]]
3652     The following pressentation has been made usingSystemRescueCD v 1.4.0
3653    
3654     Some theory
3655     ****************************************
3656     What is a partition?
3657     ---------------------
3658     A partition is a logical division of a hard disk created so that you can
3659     have different operating systems on the same hard disk or to create the
3660     appearance of having separate hard drives for file management, multiple
3661     users, or other purposes.
3662    
3663     In Windows, a one-partition hard disk is labelled the "C:" drive ("A:" and
3664     "B:" are typically reserved for diskette drives). A two-partition hard drive
3665     would typically contain "C:" and "D:" drives. (CD-ROM drives typically are
3666     assigned the last letter in whatever sequence of letters have been used
3667     as a result of hard disk formatting, or typically with a two-partition,
3668     the "E:" drive.).
3669    
3670     In UNIX-based systems, a partition is used to host the / (root) file system,
3671     and optionally the /opt, /usr and /home file systems. There may also be
3672     a swap partition, which doesn't host any file system.
3673    
3674     Each operatin system provides some kind of tool to create and manage
3675     partitions. Examples of such tools are fdisk in DOS/Windows, fdisk, sfdisk
3676     and parted in Linux, etc.
3677    
3678     What is the difference between primary, extended and logical partitions?
3679     ---------------------
3680     Information about partitions is saved in so-called partition table
3681     in Master Boot Record. MBR itself is only 512 bytes in size,
3682     and only 64 bytes are reserved for partition table. That's not
3683     enough, and there are many workarounds to bypass limitations
3684     caused by the size, for example logical block addressing {{
3685     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_block_addressing#LBA.2C_ATA_devices_and_Enhanced_BIOS
3686     }}. Extended partitions are another workaround.
3687    
3688     Partition table can only store information about four partitions. If one
3689     has, for example, two GNU/Linux distributions on the same disk, both of
3690     them having separate root partitions, shared /home and shared swap, the
3691     partition number limit has been hit already.
3692    
3693     A partition that is mentioned in the partition table is called primary
3694     partition. Because of the limit, one disk can only contain 1-4 primary
3695     partitions.
3696    
3697     An extended partition fixes the problem simply by containing more boot
3698     records, called Extended Boot Records (EBR). Each EBR contains information
3699     about one logical partition and, if the extended partition contains multiple
3700     logical partitions, link to the next EBR. Thus, an extended partition can
3701     contain unlimited amount of logical partitions.
3702    
3703     Extended partition contains only EBRs and logical partitions (and maybe
3704     unallocated space). Extended partition doesn't contain any filesystem and
3705     files can't be stored in it. Of course, logical partition can contain any
3706     filesystem (or be unformatted).
3707    
3708     Extended partition itself must be primary partition: an extended partition
3709     can't be within another extended partition. In addition, a disk can contain
3710     only one extended partition.
3711    
3712     Logical partitions can always be used for storing data: any operating system
3713     can see logical partitions. GNU/Linux distributions can be installed to
3714     logical partitions as well, but Windows requires a lot of tweaking. See
3715     this outdated guide {{ http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/index.htm }}.
3716    
3717     What is LVM?
3718     ---------------------
3719     LVM means "Logical Volume Manager". It allows creating volume groups on top
3720     of hard drives and logical volumes within volume groups. Logical volumes
3721     are NOT the same thing as logical partitions!
3722    
3723     Volume groups can be created very flexibly: a volume group can allocate,
3724     for example, the first half of the first hard drive and the second half
3725     of the third drive. One can even create a massive volume group containing
3726     all storage he/she has.
3727    
3728     The computer sees a logical volume as a partition: logical volume can be
3729     left unformatted or contain any filesystem.
3730    
3731     LVM has many benefits: for example, if one has three hard drives 60 gigabytes
3732     each, he/she can create a 160-gigabyte partition for storing massive files
3733     and/or saving some disk space. In addition, logical volumes can be resized
3734     even when they're in use, so when creating logical volumes one doesn't need
3735     to worry if they're too small or big - if they are, he/she can resize them
3736     at any time.
3737    
3738     However, resizing a logical volume doesn't resize the filesystem in
3739     it, so using a filesystem that can be resized in use (online resizing)
3740     is recommended. Very few filesystems can be shrinked online, but most
3741     GNU/Linux filesystems (including ext3/4, ReiserFS, XFS and btrfs) can be
3742     grown online. It's generally a good idea to leave unallocated space within
3743     volume group, so logical volumes can later be grown without shrinking any
3744     other logical volume.
3745    
3746     Here come bad news for people who dualboot: Windows doesn't support LVM, it
3747     sees volume groups as unformatted partitions. If you try to access volume
3748     group within Windows, you're just prompted to format the partition. That
3749     prompt is annoying at best and dangerous at worst.
3750    
3751     More information about LVM can be found here (almost everything about LVM
3752     in a single page) and here (official SystemRescueCD documentation about LVM).
3753    
3754     What is a file system?
3755     ---------------------
3756     A file system is the way in which files are named and where they are placed
3757     logically for storage and retrieval. The DOS, Windows, OS/2, Macintosh,
3758     and UNIX-based operating systems all have file systems in which files are
3759     placed somewhere in a hierarchical (tree) structure. A file is placed in
3760     a directory (folder in Windows) or subdirectory at the desired place in
3761     the tree structure.
3762    
3763     The most important difference between filesystems is operating system
3764     support. Some filesystems are supported by all modern operating systems,
3765     but especially the newest filesystems are very rarely supported. Other
3766     important limits are maximum file size, journaling support and file
3767     permission metadata support.
3768    
3769     The reason that file size limits exist is that all filesystems reserve a
3770     fixed number of bits for storing the file size. If the size of the file,
3771     in bytes, is bigger than the biggest number that can be stored in file
3772     size bits, the operating system must refuse to store the file at all in
3773     order to prevent data corruption.
3774    
3775     File permission metadata means that the filesystem stores in the metadata
3776     of the file, among other things, information about who owns the file and
3777     what different users are allowed to do with the file. That metadata is
3778     especially useful in multi-user environment because it mostly prevents
3779     users from reading each other's files. Permissions can be bypassed, however.
3780    
3781     What is journaling?
3782     ---------------------
3783     Ideally, data in a partition never corrupts. But, in the real world,
3784     there are power failures and operating system freezes. And if a computer
3785     is forcefully shut down while something is written to the drive, the write
3786     operation can't be finished. That can damage the filesystem and destroy
3787     any files in the partition.
3788    
3789     Journaling partially fixes that problem by writing most changes to the
3790     disk twice: first to a special area called journal and, after that, to
3791     the filesystem itself. If power is lost while writing to the journal was
3792     in progress, the partial change is just ignored and never committed to the
3793     filesystem itself. If power failure or OS freeze happened while writing to
3794     filesystem itself, the write operation is finished by using the information
3795     in journal.
3796    
3797     Journaling helps most of the time when the computer has been forcefully
3798     shut down, but not always. Due to performance reasons, only some
3799     write operations are written to the journal, mostly the biggest
3800     operations. Of course, journaling doesn't help if that particular
3801     operation that was in progress while power was lost didn't go
3802     through the journal. Journaling also doesn't protect from everything:
3803     for example, using ext4 filesystem in conjuction with programs that
3804     write a lot of files in a short time can result in massive data loss {{
3805     http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Possible-data-loss-in-Ext4-740467.html
3806     }}, regardless if journaling is enabled or not.
3807    
3808     In addition, journaling reduces performance. It causes more writes to
3809     the disk. That's not a big problem on mechanical hard drives, but on SSDs
3810     (Solid State Drives) and thumb drives write speed is much slower than read
3811     speed. They also have a limited number of writing cycles, so journaling
3812     reduces their lifetime. I (Jyrki) actually use ext2 and FAT32 filesystems
3813     on my external SSD drive because they do NOT support journaling at all.
3814    
3815     What are the differences between most popular filesystems?
3816     ---------------------
3817     The following table quickly describes the most important differences
3818     between them.
3819    
3820     Operating system support
3821     #############################################################################
3822     Under Under Maximum Journaling Permissions
3823     Windows GNU/Linux file size
3824     #############################################################################
3825     FAT32 Native Built-in 4 GB No No
3826     NTFS Native Included 16 EB Yes Yes
3827     ext2 3rd party driver Native 16 GB-2 TB* No Yes
3828     ext3 3rd party driver Native 16 GB-2 TB* Yes Yes
3829     ext4 No Native 16 GB-16 TB* Yes Yes
3830     exFAT Native (Vista/7)** No 64 ZB No Yes
3831    
3832     * Depends on cluster size
3833     ** This update {{ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955704 }} adds exFAT
3834     support to Windows XP
3835    
3836     Operating system support:
3837    
3838     * "Native" means that the kernel supports the filesystem and the OS can
3839     boot from a partition using that FS.
3840     * "Built-in" means that the kernel supports the filesystem, but booting
3841     from a partition containing such FS is very difficult.
3842     * "Driver included" means that ntfs-3g (the driver that adds NTFS support
3843     to Linux) comes with most GNU/Linux distributions.
3844     * "3rd party driver" means that drivers to add filesystem support are
3845     available, but must be downloaded and installed separately. The drivers
3846     are Ext2 IFS and Ext2fsd.
3847     * "No" means that there is no way to use the filesystem within the
3848     operating system.
3849    
3850     Filesystems
3851     ****************************************
3852     This section contains more information about most popular filesystems.
3853    
3854     FAT32
3855     ---------------------
3856     The initial version of FAT (File Allocation Table), now referred as
3857     FAT12, was designed for floppy disks. A FAT12 partition can only be up
3858     to 32 megabytes in size. After that, PCs equipped with hard drives were
3859     introcuded by IBM and the sizes of hard drives began growing. Microsoft
3860     answered the need by developing first initial FAT16 and then final FAT16.
3861    
3862     FAT16 partition can be up to two gigabytes in size. In the middle of 1990s,
3863     that limit was becoming a problem. Microsoft pushed the limit up by updating
3864     FAT again.
3865    
3866     FAT32 was first introduced with Windows 95 OSR2. Windows 98,
3867     Windows Me, Windows 2000 and newer support FAT32 too. Linux
3868     kernel has supported FAT32 almost as long as Windows, but
3869     booting GNU/Linux from FAT32 partition is difficult and actually
3870     requires DOS to be installed in the partition as well. (more information {{
3871     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAT_filesystem_and_Linux#Installing_Linux_on_and_booting_it_from_FAT_volumes_using_umsdos
3872     }})
3873    
3874     FAT32 partition can be up to two terabytes in size. As of now (March 2010),
3875     there are hard drives that hit the limit, but don't exceed it. A single
3876     file within FAT32 partition can be up to four gigabytes in size.
3877    
3878     Because FAT32 is, in the end, based on FAT12, it has very few features. It
3879     doesn't support file permissions, hard/symbolic links, encryption,
3880     compression, alternative data streams, journaling... It lacks support for
3881     nearly anything that defines a modern filesystem. However, due to very
3882     few features, FAT32 is very fast filesystem if it's not fragmented or on
3883     a Flash-based drive. Mind you, FAT32 fragments very fast.
3884    
3885     Due to excellent operating system support, I recommend FAT32 for storing
3886     files which should be accessible in both Windows and GNU/Linux. FAT32
3887     is also a good filesystem on Solid State Drives and thumb drives due to
3888     its performance.
3889    
3890     ext2
3891     ---------------------
3892     Ext2 or ext2fs is the successor of extfs (extended file system). Extfs
3893     didn't support separated timestamps for access, data modification and inode
3894     modification. In order to add support for them, and make the filesystem
3895     extendable, a new filesystem had to be created.
3896    
3897     Ext2 was developed in January 1993, earlier than any other filesystem
3898     mentioned in this page.
3899    
3900     Because ext2 is designed for GNU/Linux, support in Linux kernel was
3901     implemented immediately. The first Windows driver supporting ext2,
3902     Ext2fsd 0.01, was released on 25 January 2002. Both Windows drivers
3903     for ext2 work only on Windows NT operating systems (NT 4.0 up to Vista,
3904     7 isn't supported yet).
3905    
3906     The best property of ext2 is extensibility. The superblock contains
3907     information about which version the filesystem is (ext2, ext3 or ext4)
3908     and which extensions and features are in use. By using these pieces of
3909     information, the operating system or driver can decide whether or not
3910     mounting the partition is safe. That's the most important reason why most
3911     GNU/Linux distributions still use successors of ext2 as default filesystems.
3912    
3913     Depending on cluster size, ext2 partition can be up to 2-32 terabytes in
3914     size. File size limit is 16 GB-2 TB.
3915    
3916     Ext2 supports file permissions, both hard and symbolic links and extended
3917     file attributes. Encryption, compression and journaling are unsupported.
3918    
3919     Due to lack of journaling support and existence of Windows drivers, I
3920     recommend using ext2 if you're going to install GNU/Linux on a SSD drive
3921     and want to be able to access files within Windows too. In fact, that's
3922     exactly the setup I have.
3923    
3924     However, lack of journaling support is the worst limitation of ext2. And
3925     what was done in order to get rid of the limitation?
3926    
3927     ext3
3928     ---------------------
3929     Ext3, the successor of ext2, was introduced in Linux kernel on November
3930     2001. It supports journaling, can be grown online and indexes large
3931     directories.
3932    
3933     Ext2 IFS and Ext2fsd can mount ext3 partition as ext2 if the journal
3934     is empty. (If it's not, something is wrong - journal is always emptied
3935     when the partition is unmounted or the computer is shut down.) Thus,
3936     ext3 support under Windows is just as good/bad as ext2 support.
3937    
3938     Partition and file size limits are the same as in ext2: partition size
3939     limit is 2-32 TB and file size limit 16 GB-2 TB, depending on cluster size.
3940    
3941     Due to journaling support and existence of Windows drivers, ext3 is a good
3942     choice if you're going to install GNU/Linux on a mechanical hard drive
3943     and want to be able to access files within Windows.
3944    
3945     ext4
3946     ---------------------
3947     Linux kernel support for ext4, the successor of ext3, was marked stable
3948     code on October 2008. Ext4 contains multiple performance and stability
3949     improvements over ext3.
3950    
3951     The most important new feature is extents. An extent is a contiguous area of
3952     storage that has been reserved for a file. When a process starts to write
3953     to a file, the whole extent is allocated even before the write operation
3954     begins. The idea is that even if the file is larger than expected, it
3955     doesn't fragment if it doesn't exceed the size of the extent.
3956    
3957     Another important improvement is larger partition size limit: an ext4
3958     partition can be even one exabyte in size. (An exabyte is a million
3959     terabytes.) In addition, a directory within an ext4 partition can contain up
3960     to 64 000 subdirectories (instead of 32 000, as in ext2/3) and timestamps
3961     are much more accurate. The file size limit is 16 GB-16 TB, depending on
3962     cluster size.
3963    
3964     Unfortunately, Ext2 IFS and Ext2Fsd don't support ext4 and are unable
3965     to mount ext4 partition if extents are enabled. They can be disabled,
3966     but other improvements of ext4 aren't that important for most people -
3967     using ext2 or ext3 is just easier.
3968    
3969     Due to its features, ext4 is a good filesystem on computers that only have
3970     GNU/Linux installed. Because journaling can be disabled, it is suitable
3971     for Solid State Drives and thumb drives too.
3972    
3973     NTFS
3974     ---------------------
3975     At the end of 1980s, IBM and Microsoft were developing OS/2 operating
3976     system. Both companies expected OS/2 1.1, released on 1988, to be the first
3977     popular operating system having a GUI, Presentation Manager. Even though it
3978     didn't become too popular during its first years, Microsoft didn't complain:
3979     Windows 2 didn't sell any better.
3980    
3981     But on May 1990, Microsoft released Windows 3.0. Millions of copies of it
3982     were sold during its first year, and Microsoft began to believe that OS/2
3983     had failed due to decisions of IBM. At autumn 1990, Microsoft stopped
3984     cooperating with IBM, recasted OS/2 3.0 as Windows NT and continued
3985     developing it alone, leaving IBM alone with OS/2.
3986    
3987     Windows NT was targeted for network file servers, and there were already
3988     competition, most importantly Novell NetWare and OS/2. Among other things,
3989     the filesystem of Windows NT had to be fast, space efficient and reliable.
3990    
3991     NTFS (New Technology File System) was introcuded with Windows NT 3.1. Newer
3992     versions of NTFS have been introduced with newer versions of Windows NT,
3993     and the filesystem is most likely still under development. All versions
3994     of Windows NT support NTFS, but support in Linux kernel was implemented
3995     as late as on December 2003.
3996    
3997     NTFS is still, in my opinion, the most feature-filled filesystem around. It
3998     supports file permissions, both hard and symbolic links, encryption,
3999     compression, alternative data streams, journaling... There are very few
4000     features NTFS doesn't support.
4001    
4002     Depending on cluster size, a NTFS partition can be up to 8 ZB-1 YB in
4003     size. (A zettabyte (ZB) is a milliard terabytes and a yottabyte (YB)
4004     a billion terabytes.) File size limit is 16 EB.
4005    
4006     Windows 7 can only be installed on a NTFS
4007     partition, and Vista requires a work-around {{
4008     http://www.computersplace.com/install-windows-vista-on-a-fat32-partition/windows-vista
4009     }} if one wants to install it on a FAT32 partition. Of course NTFS partitions
4010     can be used for data storage as well: due to features of NTFS, I recommend
4011     doing so on mechanical hard drives on Windows-only computers.
4012    
4013     exFAT
4014     ---------------------
4015     NTFS is a great filesystem, but due to its complexity and journaling, it's
4016     not suitable for Flash-based drives. Even Microsoft itself has recommended
4017     using FAT32 on removable Flash media.
4018    
4019     However, FAT32 only allows files up to four gigabytes in size. The limit
4020     is already becoming too small, for example a DVD disc image can exceed
4021     that limit. In addition, FAT32 lacks file permission support. In order
4022     to get rid of these limitations, Microsoft took FAT from its grave and
4023     updated it one more time.
4024    
4025     ExFAT (extended FAT), also known as FAT64, was introduced with Windows CE
4026     6.0, on November 2006. Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7 and newer support exFAT
4027     too, and by installing this update {{ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955704
4028     }} Windows XP can be extended to support exFAT as well. Unfortunately,
4029     the only read-write exFAT driver for GNU/Linux (Tuxera exFAT for Embedded
4030     Systems) is payware.
4031    
4032     The partition and file size limits of exFAT are the same: 64
4033     zettabytes. Another important improvement is file permission support that,
4034     oddly, is lacking in Windows Vista. In addition, a directory within an
4035     exFAT partition can contain up to 2 796 202 files (instead of 65 536,
4036     as in FAT32) and timestamps have become more accurate.
4037    
4038     No operating system can be installed to an exFAT partition, so such
4039     partitions can only be used for data storage. Due to lack of journaling
4040     and support for huge files, exFAT is a good filesystem on Solid State
4041     Drives and thumb drives that are only used within Windows Vista and/or 7.
4042    
4043     Partition list
4044     ---------------------
4045     The following table presents known partition types along with their IDs:
4046    
4047     0 Empty 80 Old Minix
4048     1 FAT12 81 Minix / old Linux
4049     2 XENIX root 82 Linux swap / Solaris
4050     3 XENIX usr 83 Linux
4051     4 FAT16 <32M 84 OS/2 hidden C: drive
4052     5 Extended 85 Linux extended
4053     6 FAT16 86 NTFS volume set
4054     7 HPFS/NTFS 87 NTFS volume set
4055     8 AIX 88 Linux plaintext
4056     9 AIX bootable 8e Linux LVM
4057     a OS/2 Boot Manager 93 Amoeba
4058     b W95 FAT32 94 Amoeba BBT
4059     c W95 FAT32 (LBA) 9f BSD/OS
4060     e W95 FAT16 (LBA) a0 IBM Thinkpad hibernation
4061     f W95 Ext'd (LBA) a5 FreeBSD
4062     10 OPUS a6 OpenBSD
4063     11 Hidden FAT12 a7 NeXTSTEP
4064     12 Compaq diagnostics a8 Darwin UFS
4065     14 Hidden FAT16 <32M a9 NetBSD
4066     16 Hidden FAT16 ab Darwin boot
4067     17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS b7 BSDI fs
4068     18 AST SmartSleep b8 BSDI swap
4069     1b Hidden W95 FAT32 bb Boot Wizard hidden
4070     1c Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA) be Solaris boot
4071     1e Hidden W95 FAT16 (LBA) bf Solaris
4072     24 NEC DOS c1 DRDOS/sec (FAT-12)
4073     39 Plan 9 c4 DRDOS/sec (FAT-16
4074     3c PartitionMagic recovery c6 DRDOS/sec (FAT-16)
4075     40 Venix 80286 c7 Syrinx
4076     41 PPC PReP Boot da Non-FS data
4077     42 SFS db CP/M / CTOS / ...
4078     4d QNX4.x de Dell Utility
4079     4e QNX4.x 2nd part df BootIt
4080     4f QNX4.x 3rd part e1 DOS access
4081     50 OnTrack DM e3 DOS R/O
4082     51 OnTrack DM6 Aux1 e4 SpeedStor
4083     52 CP/M eb BeOS fs
4084     53 OnTrack DM6 Aux3 ee EFI GPT
4085     54 OnTrackDM6 ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
4086     55 EZ-Drive f0 Linux/PA-RISC boot
4087     56 Golden Bow f1 SpeedStor
4088     5c Priam Edisk f4 SpeedStor
4089     61 SpeedStor f2 DOS secondary
4090     63 GNU HURD or SysV fd Linux raid autodetect
4091     64 Novell Netware 286 fe LANstep
4092     65 Novell Netware 386 ff BBT
4093     70 DiskSecure Multi-Boot
4094     75 PC/IX
4095    
4096     The partitions you are most likely to see in use, are:
4097    
4098     * FAT16 (ID = 6)
4099     This is the old DOS partition type
4100     You may still find it in pure DOS installations, like vendor diagnostics
4101     tool partitions, and small USB sticks (128 - 250 MB)
4102    
4103     * HPFS/NTFS (ID = 7)
4104     This is the Windows XP partition, also known as NTFS
4105    
4106     * W95 FAT32 (LBA) (ID = c)
4107     This is the Windows 95 - 98 partition
4108     It is used in any kind of disk and large USB devices (1 GB and more)
4109    
4110     * W95 Ext'd (LBA) (ID = f)
4111     Extended partition. It acts as a container for other partitions
4112     There is one more extended partition type (ID = 5), but it does not seem
4113     to be in use as much
4114    
4115     * Linux swap / Solaris (ID = 82)
4116     Swap partition, acting as Virtual Memory
4117     Modern computers with 1 - 2 GB of memory may not use it at all
4118    
4119     * Linux (ID = 83)
4120     Linux partitions, such as ext2, ext3 and reiserfs
4121    
4122     Partitioning example
4123     ****************************************
4124     This section contains a partitioning example. I simulate the following
4125     situation in a virtual machine:
4126    
4127     I have two partitions in my disk: /dev/sda1 that contains a GNU/Linux
4128     distribution, and /dev/sda2 that is a swap partition. Here we can see the
4129     output of fdisk:
4130    
4131     root@sysresccd /root % fdisk -l
4132    
4133     Disk /dev/sda: 2097 MB, 2097152000 bytes
4134     64 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1015 cylinders
4135     Units = cylinders of 4032 * 512 = 2064384 bytes
4136     Disk identifier: 0x00058a4a
4137    
4138     Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
4139     /dev/sda1 * 1 812 1636960+ 83 Linux
4140     /dev/sda2 813 1015 409248 82 Linux swap / Solaris
4141    
4142     Now I'm going to install another distribution on the same disk. First of
4143     all, I need one more partition, because only one distro can be installed on
4144     one partition. In addition, I want to separate /home to its own partition
4145     in order to be able to share it between distributions.
4146    
4147     Because the whole disk is already allocated, I must shrink at least one
4148     existing partition in order to create new partitions. I'll shrink both of
4149     them to half (/dev/sda1 from 1,6 gigabytes to 800 megabytes, and /dev/sda2
4150     from 400 MB to 200 MB). In addition, I'll move /dev/sda2 right next to
4151     /dev/sda1 to keep the partitions in order.
4152    
4153     But how many partitions there will be in total? One, two,
4154     three... four! Phew, I was near to paint myself into a corner. If I created
4155     only primary partitions, I'd be unable to create any more partitions on
4156     the disk. Thus, I'll create an extended partition instead and two logical
4157     partitions within it. Then I'll be able to create more logical partitions
4158     later if required.
4159    
4160     There is one more challenge: moving /home to a separate partition. It's
4161     very easy to move the folder itself, but the distro in /dev/sda1 will
4162     surely be confused if it doesn't find /home when it boots next time. Thus,
4163     I must edit its /etc/fstab and configure it to mount the /home partition
4164     automatically - before booting the distro itself.
4165    
4166     Now there are only two decisions left: the numbers and sizes of the new
4167     partitions. I decide to install the new distro to /dev/sda5 and move /home
4168     to /dev/sda6. Let /dev/sda5 be 800 megabytes and /dev/sda6 200 MB in size.
4169    
4170     Now it's time to boot into SystemRescueCD. Graphical mode is required
4171     this time.
4172     [[ systemrescuecd.png ]]
4173     I close the terminal and open GParted by clicking the third icon in the
4174     bottom pane.
4175     [[ gparted-00.png ]]
4176     I right-click the partition /dev/sda1 and select Resize/Move.
4177     [[ gparted-01.png ]]
4178     I enter 799 MB as the new size, click the Free Space Following (MiB)
4179     combo box and press Resize/Move.
4180     [[ gparted-02.png ]]
4181     I right-click now /dev/sda2 and select Resize/Move.
4182     [[ gparted-03.png ]]
4183     I enter 0 MB as preceding free space and 200 MB as partition size, click
4184     the Free Space Following (MiB) combo box and press Resize/Move.
4185     [[ gparted-04.png ]]
4186     I right-click the unallocated area and select New.
4187     [[ gparted-05.png ]]
4188     I select Extended Partition as the partition type. The size was already
4189     998 megabytes (the maximum) and as said, an extended partition doesn't
4190     contain any filesystem. I click Add.
4191     [[ gparted-06.png ]]
4192     I right-click the unallocated area within the extended partition and
4193     select New.
4194     [[ gparted-07.png ]]
4195     I choose the ext4 filesystem and enter 798 MB as the partition size. After
4196     that, I click first the Free Space Following (MiB) combo box and then Add.
4197     [[ gparted-08.png ]]
4198     I right-click the remaining unallocated space and select New one more time.
4199     [[ gparted-09.png ]]
4200     I choose the ext4 filesystem again. The partition size setting was already
4201     201 megabytes (the whole available space), so I just press Add.
4202     [[ gparted-10.png ]]
4203     [[ important.png ]]
4204     The next step is to commit the changes.After that some operations, for
4205     examplepartition deletion, can no longer be undone.
4206    
4207     Finally I commit the changes by pressing the rightmost icon in the main bar.
4208     [[ gparted-11.png ]]
4209     After slowly reading the warning, I confirm my decisions by pressing Apply.
4210     [[ gparted-12.png ]]
4211     GParted begins to commit the changes...
4212     [[ gparted-13.png ]]
4213     ...and when everything is done, it shows me this window that I close.
4214     [[ gparted-14.png ]]
4215     Then I can see the brand new partitions.
4216    
4217     Moving /home
4218     ---------------------
4219     I close GParted and launch Terminal by pressing the second icon in the
4220     bottom pane.
4221    
4222     I create directories as mount points:
4223    
4224     mkdir /mnt/sda1
4225     mkdir /mnt/sda6
4226    
4227     Then I mount the partitions:
4228    
4229     mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
4230     mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/sda6
4231    
4232     I move the directory:
4233    
4234     mv /mnt/sda1/home/* /mnt/sda6/
4235    
4236     After that, I unmount /dev/sda6, because it no longer needs to be mounted:
4237    
4238     sync
4239     umount /dev/sda6
4240     [[ terminal.png ]]
4241     As you can see, under Linux it's perfectly normal that the terminal doesn't
4242     answer to the commands. Don't worry - they are really executed.
4243    
4244     Now I close Terminal and launch Geany by pressing the fourth icon in the
4245     bottom pane.
4246     [[ geany-00.png ]]
4247     I select File -> Open.
4248     [[ geany-01.png ]]
4249     I press File System and navigate to folder /mnt/sda1/etc.
4250     [[ geany-02.png ]]
4251     I double-click the file fstab.
4252     [[ geany-03.png ]]
4253     I add the following line:
4254    
4255     /dev/sda6 /home ext4 defaults 0 2
4256    
4257     Finally, I select File -> Save.
4258     [[ geany-04.png ]]
4259     It's a good idea to reboot the computer now and check if the distribution
4260     in /dev/sda1 still works. Anyway, the disk should now be ready for the
4261     new distro.
4262    
4263    
4264    
4265    
4266     Data Recovery
4267     ==============================================================================
4268    
4269     Intro
4270     ****************************************
4271     Deleted or "lost" files can be recovered from failed or formatted drives
4272     and partitions, cdroms and memory cards using the software available in
4273     SystemRescueCD.
4274    
4275     Unless you can rule out hardware failure, you must not write to the failed
4276     device. The following software will passively try to recover your data
4277     from failed or failing hardware. If your data is not replaceable, do not
4278     attempt to write to the failed device if the following applications do
4279     not work but seek professional advice instead.
4280    
4281     If your device is damaged, it is advisable to image the device and work on
4282     the image file for data recovery. If hardware failure is not the problem,
4283     you can recover data directly from the device.
4284    
4285     To recover data from a failed device, you will need another device of equal
4286     or greater storage capacity onto which to save your data. If you need to make
4287     an image of the failed device, you will need yet another quantity of space.
4288    
4289     I should state here, that I haven't used any of these tools recently (other
4290     than plain and simple dd, a long time ago, which I found to be very slow),
4291     so I couldn't recommend any of them. Any comments on a tool's usability
4292     found in this page, is just what I found on the Net.
4293    
4294     Partition recovery
4295     ****************************************
4296     If you made a mistake while partitioning and the partition no longer appears
4297     in the partition table, so long as you have not written data in that space,
4298     all your data is still there and can be restored.
4299    
4300     When changing the partition table on your hard drive, you must ensure that
4301     no partition on the disk is mounted. This includes swap space. In order
4302     to restore your partition, execute:
4303    
4304     swapoff -a
4305     parted /dev/old_disk
4306    
4307     Then, use the rescue option:
4308    
4309     rescue START END
4310    
4311     where START is the area of the disk where you believe the partition began
4312     and END is it's end. If parted finds a potential partition, it will ask
4313     you if you want to add it to the partition table.
4314    
4315     Note: TestDisk can also be used to recover a "lost" partition.
4316    
4317     Disk / files recovery
4318     ****************************************
4319     Using dd
4320     ---------------------
4321     In order to duplicate a disk to another disk, execute
4322    
4323     dd if=/dev/old_disk of=/dev/new_disk conv=noerror,sync
4324    
4325     or to create an image file
4326    
4327     dd if=/dev/old_disk of=image_file conv=noerror
4328    
4329     Be careful, if you are copying a disk, the destination must also be a disk,
4330     not a partition. If you are copying a partition, the destination partition
4331     must be large enough. Copying the whole disk is recommended.
4332    
4333     To speed up the copy process, you can append bs=8k, it will read/write
4334     the disk by 16 sectors at a time.
4335    
4336     Using dd_rescue
4337     ---------------------
4338     Like dd, dd_rescue {{ http://www.garloff.de/kurt/linux/ddrescue/ }} does
4339     copy data from one file or block device to another. You can specify file
4340     positions (called seek and skip in dd). There are several differences:
4341    
4342     * dd_rescue does not provide character conversions.
4343     * The command syntax is different. Call dd_rescue -h.
4344     * dd_rescue does not abort on errors on the input file, unless you specify a
4345     maximum error number. Then dd_rescue will abort when this number is reached.
4346     * dd_rescue does not truncate the output file, unless asked to.
4347     * You can tell dd_rescue to start from the end of a file and move backwards.
4348     * It uses two block sizes, a large (soft) block size and a small (hard)
4349     block size. In case of errors, the size falls back to the small one and
4350     is promoted again after a while without errors.
4351     * It does not (yet) support non-seekable in- or output.
4352    
4353     In order to duplicate a disk to another disk, execute
4354    
4355     dd_rescue -A -v /dev/old_disk /dev/new_disk
4356    
4357     or to create an image file
4358    
4359     dd_rescue -A -v /dev/old_disk image_file
4360    
4361     The copying should go very quickly until it hits a bad sector and then it
4362     will slow down to take smaller chunks of data. People have reported very
4363     good results with this technique.
4364    
4365     Using GNU ddrescue
4366     ---------------------
4367     The GNU site describes GNU ddrescue as a data recovery tool, and lists
4368     these features:
4369    
4370     * It copies data from one file or block device (hard disc, CD-ROM, etc)
4371     to another, trying hard to rescue data in case of read errors.
4372     * It does not truncate the output file if not asked to, so every time you
4373     run it on the same output file, it tries to fill in the gaps.
4374     * It is designed to be fully automatic.
4375     * If you use the log file feature of GNU ddrescue, the data is rescued very
4376     efficiently (only the needed blocks are read). Also you can interrupt the
4377     rescue at any time and resume it later at the same point.
4378     * The log file is periodically saved to disc. So in case of a crash you
4379     can resume the rescue with little recopying.
4380     * If you have two or more damaged copies of a file, CD-ROM, etc, and run
4381     GNU ddrescue on all of them, one at a time, with the same output file,
4382     you will probably obtain a complete and error-free file. The probability
4383     of having damaged areas at the same places on different input files is
4384     very low. Using the log file, only the needed blocks are read from the
4385     second and successive copies.
4386     * The same log file can be used for multiple commands that copy different
4387     areas of the file, and for multiple recovery attempts over different subsets.
4388    
4389     The algorithm of GNU ddrescue is as follows:
4390    
4391     * Optionally read a log file describing the status of a multi-part or
4392     previously interrupted rescue.
4393     * Read the non-damaged parts of the input file, skipping the damaged areas,
4394     until the requested size is reached, or until interrupted by the user.
4395     * Try to read the damaged areas, splitting them into smaller pieces and
4396     reading the non-damaged pieces, until the hardware block size is reached,
4397     or until interrupted by the user.
4398     * Try to read the damaged hardware blocks until the specified number of
4399     retries is reached, or until interrupted by the user.
4400     * Optionally write a log file for later use.
4401    
4402     Note: GNU ddrescue is considered to be the best recovery tool available.
4403    
4404     In order to duplicate a disk to another disk, execute
4405    
4406     ddrescue -vr3 /dev/old_disk /dev/new_disk logfile
4407    
4408     or to create an image file
4409    
4410     ddrescue -vr3 /dev/old_disk image_file logfile
4411    
4412     If the disk is failing fast and you want to get the most data out of it
4413     on the first try, you should probably use "-n" on the first run. This
4414     will avoid splitting error areas. Subsequent runs can use "-r1" or "-r3",
4415     without "-n", to retry those error areas.
4416    
4417     To summarise, we execute:
4418    
4419     ddrescue -vn /dev/old_disk image_file logfile
4420     ddrescue -v -r3 -C /dev/old_disk image_file logfile
4421    
4422     Note: When working with CD-ROMs you should probably specific "-b 2048"
4423    
4424     Using Foremost
4425     ---------------------
4426     Foremost {{ http://foremost.sourceforge.net/ }} is a console program
4427     to recover files based on their headers, footers, and internal data
4428     structures. This process is commonly referred to as data carving. Foremost
4429     can work on image files, such as those generated by dd, Safeback, Encase,
4430     etc, or directly on a drive. The headers and footers can be specified
4431     by a configuration file or you can use command line switches to specify
4432     built-in file types. These built-in types look at the data structures of
4433     a given file format allowing for a more reliable and faster recovery.
4434    
4435     It can be run on an image file created with any of the above tools, to
4436     extract files:
4437    
4438     foremost -i image -o /recovery/foremost
4439    
4440     Foremost can be instructed to recover only specific file types, using the
4441     -t command line parameter. In the following example Foremost will extract
4442     only jpg files:
4443    
4444     foremost -t jpg -i image -o /recovery/foremost
4445    
4446     Available types are: jpg, gif, png, bmp, avi, exe (Windows binaries and
4447     DLLs), wav, riff, wmv (will extract wma also), mov, pdf, ole (will extract
4448     any file using the OLE file structure; this includes PowerPoint, Word,
4449     Excel, Access, and StarWriter), doc, zip (will extract .jar files and Open
4450     Office docs as well; this includes SXW, SXC, SXI, and SX? for undetermined
4451     OpenOffice files), rar, html and cpp.
4452    
4453     Using TestDisk
4454     ---------------------
4455     TestDisk {{ http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk }} was primarily
4456     designed to help recover "lost" partitions and/or make non-booting disks
4457     bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain
4458     types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally deleting a Partition
4459     Table). Partition table recovery using TestDisk is really easy.
4460    
4461     TestDisk can
4462    
4463     * Fix partition table, recover deleted partition
4464     * Recover FAT32 boot sector from its backup
4465     * Rebuild FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 boot sector
4466     * Fix FAT tables
4467     * Rebuild NTFS boot sector
4468     * Recover NTFS boot sector from its backup
4469     * Fix MFT using MFT mirror
4470     * Locate ext2/ext3 Backup SuperBlock
4471    
4472     Some great tutorials are available at TestDisk's site: "TestDisk Step
4473     By Step {{ http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step }}",
4474     "Running TestDisk", "Data Recovery Examples" etc.
4475    
4476     Using PhotoRec
4477     ---------------------
4478     PhotoRec {{ http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec }} is file data recovery
4479     software designed to recover "lost" files including video, documents
4480     and archives from Hard Disks and CDRom and "lost" pictures (thus, its
4481     'Photo Recovery' name) from digital camera memory. PhotoRec ignores the
4482     filesystem and goes after the underlying data, so it will still work even
4483     if your media's filesystem has been severely damaged or re-formatted.
4484    
4485     For more safety, PhotoRec uses read-only access to handle the drive or
4486     memory support you are about to recover "lost" data from.
4487    
4488     Important: As soon as a pic or file is accidentally deleted, or you discover
4489     any missing, do NOT save any more pics or files to that memory device or
4490     hard disk drive; otherwise you may overwrite your "lost" data. This means
4491     that even using PhotoRec, you must not choose to write the recovered files
4492     to the same partition they were stored on.
4493    
4494     A great tutorial titled "PhotoRec Step By Step {{
4495     http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec_Step_By_Step }}" can be found at
4496     PhotoRec's site.
4497    
4498     Links & resources
4499     ****************************************
4500     This page is a compilation of the following pages:
4501    
4502     DataRecovery
4503     https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery
4504    
4505     Hard Drive Recovery, Ubuntu-Style
4506     http://blogs.sun.com/superpat/tags/ddrescue
4507    
4508     Recover Data and (deleted) Partition with Linux from Hard Drives, CD-ROMs
4509     or DVDs
4510     http://sysblogd.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/data-recovery-with-linux-from-hard-drives-cd-roms-or-dvds/
4511    
4512     dd_rescue
4513     http://www.garloff.de/kurt/linux/ddrescue/
4514    
4515     gddrescue: a tool for recovering data from damaged media
4516     http://debaday.debian.net/2007/12/12/gddrescue-a-tool-for-recovering-data-from-damaged-media/
4517    
4518     Foremost
4519     http://foremost.sourceforge.net/
4520    
4521     TestDisk
4522     http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
4523    
4524     PhotoRec
4525     http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
4526    
4527    
4528    
4529    
4530     Clonezilla-SysRescCD own scripts
4531     ==============================================================================
4532    
4533     Intro
4534     ****************************************
4535     In this page I will present the scripts I have ever written for
4536     Clonezilla-SysRescCD
4537    
4538     what-cd
4539     ****************************************
4540     Included in: SystemRescueCD
4541    
4542     This script determines the device names for your CDs/DVDs, and whether
4543     they can read/write CD/DVD-ROMs
4544    
4545     Its help screen is the following:
4546    
4547     # what-cd -h
4548     what-cd - v 1.0.0 - S. Georgaras <sng@hellug.gr>
4549    
4550     what-cd will try to identify your CD/DVDs
4551     You can use it to identify the device name of your CD-Reader (default),
4552     CD-Writer, DVD-Reader, and DVD-Writer.
4553    
4554     Usage: what-cd [options]
4555     Availabe options are:
4556     d Print info about DVDs
4557     w Print info about writers
4558     b Batch mode. Only print one device name.
4559     If more than one device is found, print
4560     nothing. For use with scripts
4561     e deviceID Eject device deviceID
4562     Accecpable values: -1...num of devices
4563     Use -1 when in batch mode
4564     v Print version info and exit
4565     h Print this screen and exit
4566    
4567     Its typical usage would be to identify the DVD writer:
4568    
4569     # what-cd -dw
4570     Device /dev/hdd (id=0) can not write DVDs
4571     Device /dev/hdc (id=1) can write DVDs
4572    
4573     When used in batch mode, it will only print a device name. This is
4574     especially useful in scripts, but also in the command line, as shown in
4575     section "Burning the DVD".
4576    
4577     # what-cd -dwb
4578     /dev/hdc
4579    
4580     continue-multi-cd
4581     ****************************************
4582     Included in: SystemRescueCD
4583    
4584     continue-multi-cd helps you append data to a multi session CD; that is
4585     it helps you prepare and burn any consecutive sessions to it. It may lack
4586     some of the functionality you would have had if you used the command line
4587     tools themselves (mksiofs and cdrecord), but because of it, it keeps you
4588     away from writing a lot of parameters.
4589    
4590     You could use it for example, to burn some extra documentation to
4591     Clonezilla-SysRescCD CD, but you cannot use it to change the configuration
4592     files of isolinux, as it just reads the first session when booting.
4593    
4594     Its help screen is the following:
4595    
4596     # continue-multi-cd -h
4597     continue-multi-cd - v 2.0.0 - S. Georgaras <sng@hellug.gr>
4598    
4599     Usage: continue-multi-cd [options] <path to be added to CD>
4600    
4601     Available options are:
4602     d Specify write device (in case auto detection does
4603     not work)
4604     c Close the CD. No more burning will be possible
4605     Default is to leave it open
4606     l Don't burn the CD after image creation
4607     o <image name> Save the image file as <image name>
4608     r Remove the image file after burning
4609     f On the fly burning of the CD. No image file will
4610     be created
4611     v Print version info and exit
4612     h Print this screen and exit
4613    
4614     You have to note one thing though: the folder <path to be added to CD>
4615     will not be present on the CD; only its contents will.
4616    
4617     Let's suppose that you want to add to the CD the folder extra-doc,
4618     which contains q-a.html and faq.html, and that its full path is
4619     /home/user/extra-doc. If you issue the command
4620    
4621     continue-multi-cd -mwr /home/user/extra-doc
4622    
4623     you will not have a extra-doc folder on the root of your CD, but the files
4624     q-a.html and faq.html will be present there.
4625    
4626     In order to have extra-doc on the CD, you have to copy it to a temporary
4627     location and pass that path to continue-multi-cd. Let's see how it's done:
4628    
4629     mkdir -p /tmp/for-the-cd
4630     cp -r /home/user/extra-doc /tmp/for-the-cd
4631     continue-multi-cd -r /tmp/for-the-cd
4632     rm -rf /tmp/for-the-cd
4633    
4634    
4635    
4636    
4637     Identifying devices in Linux
4638     ==============================================================================
4639    
4640     Intro
4641     ****************************************
4642     This page is intended to help new Linux users and Windows users identify
4643     their hard disks / CD ROMs in a Linux box.
4644    
4645     Linux disks and partition names may be different from other operating
4646     systems. You need to know the names that Linux uses when you format,
4647     mount or select partitions or disks.
4648    
4649     Linux uses the so called device name to access disks and partitions. You
4650     can think of it as a link to the actual driver of the disk. All available
4651     devices have a corresponding file in /dev (e.g. /dev/hda1).
4652    
4653     In general, each disk / CD-ROM has a three letter name, for example hda. Each
4654     partition in such a disk has a number associated with it, starting from 1. So
4655     the first partition of disk hda would be hda1, the second hda2 and so on.
4656    
4657     Depending on the device type, Linux gives the following names to devices:
4658    
4659     * IDE (ATA) floppies
4660     The first floppy drive is named /dev/fd0.
4661     The second floppy drive is named /dev/fd1.
4662    
4663     * IDE (ATA) disks /CD-ROMs
4664     The master disk on IDE primary controller is named /dev/hda.
4665     The slave disk on IDE primary controller is named /dev/hdb.
4666     The master and slave disks of the secondary controller can be called
4667     /dev/hdc and /dev/hdd, respectively.
4668    
4669     Linux represents the primary partitions as the drive name, plus the numbers
4670     1 through 4. For example, the first primary partition on the first IDE
4671     drive is /dev/hda1. The logical partitions are numbered starting at 5,
4672     so the first logical partition on that same drive is /dev/hda5. Remember
4673     that the extended partition, that is, the primary partition holding the
4674     logical partitions, is not usable by itself. This applies to SCSI disks
4675     as well as IDE disks.
4676    
4677     * SCSI disks
4678     The first SCSI disk (SCSI ID address-wise) is named /dev/sda.
4679     The second SCSI disk (address-wise) is named /dev/sdb, and so on.
4680    
4681     * SCSI CD-ROMs
4682     The first SCSI CD-ROM is named /dev/scd0, also known as /dev/sr0.
4683     The second SCSI CD-ROM is named /dev/scd1, also known as /dev/sr1, and so on.
4684    
4685     * USB disks
4686     They are named just like SCSI disks. The only difference is that the
4687     partition number has to do with the file system on the disk. If it's
4688     /dev/sdx4, then it's a VFAT file system and if it's /dev/sdx1 it's probably
4689     a linux (ext2, ext3) file system.
4690    
4691     Examples
4692     ****************************************
4693     In order to identify the disks of a system you have to work with, a basic
4694     knowledge of its configuration (how many disks it has, whether it's a
4695     dual-boot system etc.) is welcomed but not required. A more experienced
4696     user will not have to worry about it, though.
4697    
4698     Linux systems based on a 2.6.x kernel (like Clonezilla Live and
4699     SystemRescueCD) provide all the necessary support to identify a system's
4700     disk configuration, with just a couple of commands.
4701    
4702     Example 1
4703     ---------------------
4704     The first system I have to work with is a dual-boot system (Windows -
4705     Linux), with two disks and two DVD-ROMs.
4706    
4707     The first command will tell me what disks and partitions exist in the
4708     system. So here it is:
4709    
4710     # cat /proc/partitions
4711     major minor #blocks name
4712    
4713     3 0 312571224 hda
4714     3 1 23446836 hda1
4715     3 2 40957717 hda2
4716     3 3 245240257 hda3
4717     3 4 2923830 hda4
4718     3 64 244198584 hdb
4719     3 65 41945683 hdb1
4720     3 66 2104515 hdb2
4721     3 67 1 hdb3
4722     3 68 125909437 hdb4
4723     3 69 74236333 hdb5
4724    
4725     The output of this command tells me that the system has two disks (hda
4726     and hdb) which are the primary master and slave devices.
4727    
4728     The first disk contains four primary partitions (hda1-hda4) and the second
4729     one four primary partitions (hdb1-hdb4) and a logical one (hdb5). Wait a
4730     minute!!! this can't be right... In order to have a logical partition, I
4731     must have a primary that contains it, which means that in this case I can't
4732     have four primary partitions. So what is really happening here is that I have
4733     two primary and two logical, plus an extended primary which contains them.
4734    
4735     What remains to be found is what type of partitions they are. I will find
4736     that out by executing the following commands:
4737    
4738     # fdisk -l /dev/hda
4739    
4740     Disk /dev/hda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
4741     255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
4742     Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
4743    
4744     Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
4745     /dev/hda1 * 1 2919 23446836 7 HPFS/NTFS
4746     /dev/hda2 2920 8018 40957717+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
4747     /dev/hda3 8019 38549 245240257+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
4748     /dev/hda4 38550 38913 2923830 82 Linux swap / Solaris
4749    
4750     # fdisk -l /dev/hdb
4751    
4752     Disk /dev/hdb: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
4753     255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
4754     Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
4755    
4756     Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
4757     /dev/hdb1 * 1 5222 41945683+ 83 Linux
4758     /dev/hdb2 5223 5484 2104515 82 Linux swap / Solaris
4759     /dev/hdb3 5485 14726 74236365 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
4760     /dev/hdb4 14727 30401 125909437+ 83 Linux
4761     /dev/hdb5 5485 14726 74236333+ 83 Linux
4762    
4763     Ok, this clears things up. The first disk contains three Windows XP
4764     partitions (NTFS) and a Linux Swap partition. In fact, /dev/hda1 is the
4765     system "disk" for Windows, since Windows will always be installed in the
4766     first partition of the primary master disk.
4767    
4768     The second disk, on the other hand, contains a Linux partition (/dev/hdb1),
4769     a Linux Swap partition /dev/hdb2, and an extended partition /dev/hdb3
4770     which contains two more Linux partitions (/dev/hdb4 and /dev/hdb5).
4771    
4772     The final thing we need to know about this system is what CD/DVD-ROMs it
4773     has. So I execute the command:
4774    
4775     # cat /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info
4776     CD-ROM information, Id: cdrom.c 3.20 2003/12/17
4777    
4778     drive name: hdd hdc
4779     drive speed: 0 126
4780     drive # of slots: 1 1
4781     Can close tray: 1 1
4782     Can open tray: 1 1
4783     Can lock tray: 1 1
4784     Can change speed: 1 1
4785     Can select disk: 0 0
4786     Can read multisession: 1 1
4787     Can read MCN: 1 1
4788     Reports media changed: 1 1
4789     Can play audio: 1 1
4790     Can write CD-R: 0 1
4791     Can write CD-RW: 0 1
4792     Can read DVD: 1 1
4793     Can write DVD-R: 0 1
4794     Can write DVD-RAM: 0 1
4795     Can read MRW: 1 0
4796     Can write MRW: 1 0
4797     Can write RAM: 0 1
4798    
4799     The system has two DVD-ROMs, hdc which is the secondary master and is a
4800     DVD writer, and hdd which is the secondary slave and is a DVD reader.
4801    
4802     At this point I will connect my USB stick, wait for a while and execute
4803     the command:
4804    
4805     # cat /proc/partitions
4806     major minor #blocks name
4807    
4808     3 0 312571224 hda
4809     3 1 23446836 hda1
4810     3 2 40957717 hda2
4811     3 3 245240257 hda3
4812     3 4 2923830 hda4
4813     3 64 244198584 hdb
4814     3 65 41945683 hdb1
4815     3 66 2104515 hdb2
4816     3 67 1 hdb3
4817     3 68 125909437 hdb4
4818     3 69 74236333 hdb5
4819     8 0 1007615 sda
4820     8 4 1006576 sda4
4821    
4822     As you can see, we have two more lines here, that reflect the changes to
4823     our system (the connection of the USB device). So my USB stick is recognized
4824     by the system as sda, and the disk itself contains a VFAT file system.
4825    
4826     Example 2
4827     ---------------------
4828     The second system is a Linux box with one SCSI disk and a CD-ROM. Again
4829     I issue the command:
4830    
4831     # cat /proc/partitions
4832     major minor #blocks name
4833    
4834     8 0 156290904 sda
4835     8 1 64228 sda1
4836     8 2 15735667 sda2
4837     8 3 15735667 sda3
4838     8 4 124744725 sda4
4839    
4840     From its output I see I only have one disk sda, which contains four
4841     partitions.
4842    
4843     Then I execute fdisk, which shows me that the disk contains one DOS and
4844     three Linux partitions.
4845    
4846     # fdisk -l /dev/sda
4847     Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
4848     255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
4849     Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
4850    
4851     Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
4852     /dev/sda1 1 8 64228+ 6 FAT16
4853     /dev/sda2 9 1967 15735667+ 83 Linux
4854     /dev/sda3 1968 3926 15735667+ 83 Linux
4855     /dev/sda4 3927 19456 124744725 83 Linux
4856    
4857     Finally I query its CD-ROMs, by executing the command:
4858    
4859     # cat /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info
4860     CD-ROM information, Id: cdrom.c 3.20 2003/12/17
4861    
4862     drive name: hda
4863     drive speed: 0
4864     drive # of slots: 1
4865     Can close tray: 1
4866     Can open tray: 1
4867     Can lock tray: 1
4868     Can change speed: 1
4869     Can select disk: 0
4870     Can read multisession: 1
4871     Can read MCN: 1
4872     Reports media changed: 1
4873     Can play audio: 1
4874     Can write CD-R: 1
4875     Can write CD-RW: 1
4876     Can read DVD: 1
4877     Can write DVD-R: 0
4878     Can write DVD-RAM: 0
4879     Can read MRW: 1
4880     Can write MRW: 1
4881     Can write RAM: 0
4882    
4883     Which tells me that I only have an IDE CD-ROM, (hda), which is actually
4884     a CD writer.
4885    
4886     Then I connect my USB stick, and I get:
4887    
4888     # cat /proc/partitions
4889     major minor #blocks name
4890    
4891     8 0 156290904 sda
4892     8 1 64228 sda1
4893     8 2 15735667 sda2
4894     8 3 15735667 sda3
4895     8 4 124744725 sda4
4896     8 16 1007615 sdb
4897     8 20 1006576 sdb4
4898    
4899     Although it's the same stick I used with the previous system, which was
4900     recognized as sda there, now its name is sdb. So, its name depends on the
4901     system it is connected to, and will not always be the same.
4902    
4903     SCSI disks when there are none!!!
4904     ****************************************
4905     I am confused!!! I am on a disk with two ATA (PATA) disks, but when I
4906     query the partition list, this is what I get:
4907    
4908     # cat /proc/partitions
4909     major minor #blocks name
4910    
4911     3 0 312571224 sda
4912     3 1 23446836 sda1
4913     3 2 40957717 sda2
4914     3 3 245240257 sda3
4915     3 4 2923830 sda4
4916     3 64 244198584 sdb
4917     3 65 41945683 sdb1
4918     3 66 2104515 sdb2
4919     3 67 1 sdb3
4920     3 68 125909437 sdb4
4921     3 69 74236333 sdb5
4922    
4923     According to what's discussed up to now, the system seems to have two SCSI
4924     disks, but I know it actually has two ATA (PATA) disks. What's going on?.
4925    
4926     What is really happening here is that you have one of the newest Linux
4927     kernels (using the libata disk driver), which shows ALL disks as SCSI. That
4928     does not mean that the system thinks it has SCSI disks, it just names them
4929     as such.
4930    
4931     To make is clear, execute the commands:
4932    
4933     # hdparm -i /dev/sda
4934    
4935     /dev/sda:
4936    
4937     Model=WDC WD3200AAJB-00TYA0, FwRev=00.02C01, SerialNo= WD-WCAPZ0648927
4938     Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }
4939     RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=50
4940     BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?16?
4941     CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=268435455
4942     IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
4943     PIO modes: pio0 pio3 pio4
4944     DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
4945     UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
4946     AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
4947     Drive conforms to: Unspecified: ATA/ATAPI-1,2,3,4,5,6,7
4948    
4949     * signifies the current active mode
4950    
4951     # hdparm -i /dev/sdb
4952    
4953     /dev/sdb:
4954    
4955     Model=WDC WD2500JB-00GVC0, FwRev=08.02D08, SerialNo= WD-WCAL76141931
4956     Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }
4957     RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=57600, SectSize=600, ECCbytes=74
4958     BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?16?
4959     CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=268435455
4960     IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
4961     PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
4962     DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
4963     UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
4964     AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
4965     Drive conforms to: Unspecified: ATA/ATAPI-1,2,3,4,5,6
4966    
4967     * signifies the current active mode
4968    
4969     This is also valid for the CDs/DVDs of the system:
4970    
4971     # cat /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info
4972     CD-ROM information, Id: cdrom.c 3.20 2003/12/17
4973    
4974     drive name: sr1 sr0
4975     drive speed: 0 126
4976     drive # of slots: 1 1
4977     Can close tray: 1 1
4978     Can open tray: 1 1
4979     Can lock tray: 1 1
4980     Can change speed: 1 1
4981     Can select disk: 0 0
4982     Can read multisession: 1 1
4983     Can read MCN: 1 1
4984     Reports media changed: 1 1
4985     Can play audio: 1 1
4986     Can write CD-R: 0 1
4987     Can write CD-RW: 0 1
4988     Can read DVD: 1 1
4989     Can write DVD-R: 0 1
4990     Can write DVD-RAM: 0 1
4991     Can read MRW: 1 0
4992     Can write MRW: 1 0
4993     Can write RAM: 0 1
4994    
4995     While the hdparm shows they are ATA devices:
4996    
4997     # hdparm -i /dev/sr0
4998    
4999     /dev/sr0:
5000    
5001     Model=HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H42L, FwRev=SL01 , SerialNo=K286CQF2231
5002     Config={ Fixed Removeable DTR10Mbs nonMagnetic }
5003     RawCHS=0/0/0, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0
5004     BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=0
5005     (maybe): CurCHS=0/0/0, CurSects=0, LBA=yes, LBAsects=0
5006     IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
5007     PIO modes: pio0 pio3 pio4
5008     DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
5009     UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 *udma2 udma3 udma4
5010     AdvancedPM=no
5011     Drive conforms to: unknown: ATA/ATAPI-4,5,6,7
5012    
5013     * signifies the current active mode
5014    
5015    
5016    
5017    

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