www/2doc/README.txt

Installing on USB
==============================================================================

Installation to USB made easy
****************************************
Until recently installing Clonezilla-SysRescCD on a USB disk would not
be such a great idea, because of its size. But since USB devices become
cheaper and cheaper, it is an interesting alternative.

Starting with version 3.1.0, Clonezilla-SysRescCD provides an iso
file that's ISO-Hybrided. This means (as we read at the isolynux site {{
http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Doc/isolinux#HYBRID_CD-ROM.2FHARD_DISK_MODE
}}) that

"the iso file can be booted from either CD-ROM or from a device which BIOS
considers a hard disk or ZIP disk, e.g. a USB key or similar. This image can
then be copied using any raw disk writing tool (on Unix systems, typically
"dd" or "cat") to a USB disk, or written to a CD-ROM using standard CD
burning tools.

The ISO 9660 filesystem is encapsulated in a partition (which starts at
offset zero, which may confuse some systems.) This makes it possible for
the operating system, once booted, to use the remainder of the device for
persistent storage by creating a second partition."

[[ important.png ]]
Incorrect use of any raw disk writing tool could cause your operating system
(GNU/Linux / Windows) not to boot. Confirm the command before you run it.

So, from any linux box, assuming Clonezilla-SysRescCD iso file is in
your home directory, and your USB device name is sdc4, you just execute
the commands:

umount /dev/sdc4
dd if=~/clonezilla-sysresccd-full-mod-"myVersion".iso of=/dev/sdc bs=512

And that's it. Your usb device is ready to boot!!!

Using the extra space
---------------------
If your usb device is more than 400MB in size, the above command will
leave the remaining space unused. To verify it, execute the command:

fdisk -l /dev/sdc

You should get something similar to this:

Disk /dev/sdc: 1048 MB, 1048576000 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 1000 cylinders, total 2048000 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x77a5188f

   Device Boot  Start  End  Blocks  Id  System
/dev/sdc1    *      1  384  393216  17  Hidden HPFS/NTFS

As you can see, we are currently using 348 out of 1000 cylinders of the
disk. The remaining disk space (~600MB) can still be used, executing the
following commands:

fdisk /dev/sdc
command (m for help): n (create new partition)
command action
 e extended
 p primary partition (1-4)
p
partition number (1-4): 4 (create partition sdc4)
first cylinder (385-1000, default 385):
using default value 385
last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{k,m,g} (385-1000, default 1000):
using default value 1000

command (m for help): p (display partition table)

disk /dev/sdc: 1048 mb, 1048576000 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 1000 cylinders
units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
i/o size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
disk identifier: 0x77a5188f

   device boot  start   end  blocks   id  system
/dev/sdc1   *       1   384  393216   17  hidden hpfs/ntfs
/dev/sdc4         385  1000  630784   83  linux

command (m for help): t (change partition type)
partition number (1-4): 4
hex code (type l to list codes): b
changed system type of partition 4 to b (w95 fat32)

command (m for help): p (display partition table)

disk /dev/sdc: 1048 mb, 1048576000 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 1000 cylinders
units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
i/o size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
disk identifier: 0x77a5188f

   device boot  start   end  blocks   id  system
/dev/sdc1   *       1   384  393216   17  hidden hpfs/ntfs
/dev/sdc4         385  1000  630784    b  w95 fat32

command (m for help): w (write partition table to disk and exit)
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or
resource busy.
The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at
the next reboot or after you run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)
Syncing disks.

At this point you should disconnect and reconnect your usb device. When
it's recognised, you can format the partition you've just created

mkdosfs -F 32 /dev/sdc4

The partition is now ready for use!!!

Installing the "hard" way
****************************************
If the "easy" way does not work there is an alternative; you will use
the Clonezilla-SysRescCD ISO file (or CD) to copy and modify a couple of
files on the USB disk, and finally make it bootable, using syslinux {{
http://syslinux.zytor.com }} and its configuration file syslinux.cfg.

[[ important.png ]]
Incorrect use of syslinux could cause your operating system (GNU/Linux /
Windows) not to boot. Confirm the command before you run it.

The only thing that's important is that your USB disk must contain a VFAT
(Windows 98 or DOS) file system. If this is not the case, refer to the
section "Troubleshooting", to find out how you can format it, before
copying files to it.

The bootable USB disk creation procedure can be performed either from
Linux or Windows.

[[ info.png ]]
If you want to create a bootable USB flash drive for this version
or later, remember to use the syslinux command from syslinux
3.71 or later. Otherwise the boot menu won't work.

Installation from Linux
---------------------
There are two ways you can proceed, if you are going to use Linux to
perform the USB installation, either using a running linux box, or using
Clonezilla-SysRescCD.

I will assume that you have saved clonezilla-sysresccd-full-mod-3.1.0.iso
in your home directory (~).

Using a linux box
---------------------
If you already have a linux box up and running, you can use it to create
your Clonezilla-SysRescCD USB, without even having to burn it to CD
beforehand. The only thing here is that you have to have syslinux {{
http://syslinux.zytor.com }} installed.

I will assume that your CD drive is /dev/sr0 and that your USB device
is /dev/sdc4. You may have to change any of them to reflect your system
configuration.

Boot into linux, connect your USB device and execute the following commands:
mkdir /mnt/mycd
mount ~/clonezilla-sysresccd-full-mod-3.1.0.iso /mnt/mycd -o loop
mkdir /mnt/usbdevice
mount /dev/sdc4 /mnt/usbdevice
cp -r /mnt/mycd/* /mnt/usbdevice
umount /mnt/mycd; rmdir /mnt/mycd
cd /mnt/usbdevice
rm isolinux/*.cfg
mv isolinux/* .
rmdir isolinux
cd; umount /dev/sdc4
rmdir /mnt/usbdevice

Finally make your USB device bootable, by executing
syslinux /dev/sdc4
and you are done.

> Using Clonezilla-SysRescCD
If you already burnt Clonezilla-SysRescCD to CD, you can use it to create
your Clonezilla-SysRescCD USB.

I will assume that your CD drive is /dev/sr0 and that your USB device
is /dev/sdc4. You may have to change any of them to reflect your system
configuration.

Boot SystemRescueCD using the option To RAM, and when it is fully loaded,
execute the following commands:
mkdir /mnt/mycd
mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/mycd
mkdir /mnt/usbdevice
mount /dev/sdc4 /mnt/usbdevice
cp -r /mnt/mycd/* /mnt/usbdevice
umount /mnt/mycd
cd /mnt/usbdevice
rm isolinux/*.cfg
mv isolinux/* .
rmdir isolinux
cd; umount /dev/sdc4

Finally make your USB device bootable, by executing
syslinux /dev/sdc4
and you are done.

Installation from Windows
---------------------
Installing Clonezilla-SysRescCD from Windows is as easy as
it is in Linux. You have to burn Clonezilla-SysRescCD to CD
or use a CD/DVD ROM emulator software like Daemon Tools {{
http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/announcements.php }} to mount the ISO file.

I will assume that your USB device is drive K: and your CD drive or mounted
ISO file is drive
D:. You may have to change any of them, in order to reflect your system
configuration.

You will have to

* Copy all files from drive D: (CD or mounted ISO file) to drive K:
(USB disk)
* Delete all cfg files from K:isolinux
* Move all files from K:isolinux to K:
* Delete folder K:isolinux

Now all you have to do is make your USB disk bootable. In order to do
that you have to open a DOS window (in Windows XP press "Start / Run "
and type cmd). Then type at DOS prompt:
K:
cd bootprog
syslinux -ma K:

Booting from USB
---------------------
Before trying to boot from your USB device, you have to set your boot device
at your BIOS. This means you have to reboot having your USB device connected,
get into your BIOS (usually pressing DEL) and make the appropriate settings
in the BOOT section.

Booting Clonezilla Live should not be a problem. Just select the desired
option and press ENTER to boot.

Booting SystemRescueCD has been made equally simple with SystemRescueCD
v 1.0.0, so you shouldn't have any problem (option cdroot is not required
any more).

If you have any problems here, you may try adding any of these boot
parameters:
usbstick
doscsi

Troubleshooting
---------------------
Whether you can successfully boot from a USB disk or not, depends mainly on
your BIOS. Chances are that you will not be able to boot on an old computer,
with an old (and possibly buggy) BIOS. So I would recommend testing your
Clonezilla-SysRescCD USB on a new computer.

* I can't boot (I don't even see the splash screen)
or Clonezilla Live does not boot

The first thing you should do is double check your BIOS settings. Reboot
having your USB device connected, get into your BIOS (usually pressing DEL)
and make the appropriate settings in the BOOT section.

If you are on linux, check that the partition on the USB disk is active
(bootable), executing:
fdisk -l /dev/sdc
You should get something similar to this:

Disk /dev/sdc: 1031 MB, 1031798272 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 983 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

   Device  Boot  Start  End   Blocks  Id  System
/dev/sdc4     *      1  983  1006576   6  FAT16

If the partition is not active (no astrisk), execute:
fdisk /dev/sdc
and issue "Command: " a (toggle a bootable flag) and "Partition number:"
4 (for /dev/sdc4).

If you are on Windows, this is taken care of by syslinux (parameters -ma).

If you still have problems booting, you should try to execute
syslinux -s /dev/sdc4
from Linux, or
syslinux -sma K:
from Windows (from folder K:syslinux).

syslinux man page reads:

(Option) -s
Install a "safe, slow and stupid" version of syslinux. This version may work
on some very buggy BIOSes on which syslinux would otherwise fail. If you find
a machine on which the -s option is required to make it boot reliably, please
send as much info about your machine as you can, and include the failure
mode.

* I still can't boot
In this case you will have to format your USB disk.

If you are using linux to perform the installation, execute the command:

mkdosfs -F 16 /dev/sdc4

to create a FAT16 file system, or

mkdosfs -F 32 /dev/sdc4

to create a FAT32 file system.

When you are done go back to section "Installation from Linux".

If you are on Windows, you should download the HP-USB Format tool {{
http://h50178.www5.hp.com/local_drivers/17550/SP27608.exe }}, install it
and format your USB drive using the Fat or Fat32 option. This program can
be used to format USB devices that won't boot properly when formatted with
Windows format tool.

When you are done go back to section "Installation from Windows".

* I still can't boot (after formating)
Things are getting tough!!! Try to format your USB disk using the option you
did not use previously. So, if you have created a FAT32 file system, create
a FAT16 file system this time, and recreate Clonezilla-SysRescCD on USB.

If nothing works, you are out of luck; you will not be able to use
Clonezilla-SysRescCD USB on this computer... If you do manage to boot it,
please send me a message.

* SystemRescueCD does not boot
Ok, you have managed to get to the splash screen and successfully booted
Clonezilla Live. But you still can't boot SystemRescueCD.

Refer to section Booting from USB to find out the boot parameters you can
use with SystemRescueCD.

Customizing sysresc.cfg
---------------------
As stated previously, Clonezilla-SysRescCD USB is booted by syslinux through
its configuration file syslinux.cfg. This file loads sysresc.cfg in order
to boot SystemRescueCD.

If you have to specify any additional boot parameters for SystemRescueCD,
you may want to write these changes to the configuration file, so that
you don't have to insert them by hand every time.

The procedure to do that is the following:

Boot SystemRescueCD (or if that's not possible yet, bot Clonezilla Linux
and get to the command line) using the option To RAM, and when it is fully
loaded, execute the following commands:
mkdir /mnt/usbdevice
mount /dev/[device] /mnt/usbdevice
cd /mnt/usbdevice
cp sysresc.cfg sysresc.bak
sed 's|scandelay=5|scandelay=x [additional params]|'
 sysresc.cfg > sys.cfg
mv sys.cfg sysresc.cfg
cd; umount /dev/[device]
syslinux /dev/[device]
reboot

where x is a number from 1 to 10.

After executing these commands, you will have a new sysresc.cfg file,
and a backup file called sysresc.bak (in case things go wrong).

If, for example, you want to increase the device scan delay to maximum,
the above commands would become:
mkdir /mnt/usbdevice
mount /dev/sdc4 /mnt/usbdevice
cd /mnt/usbdevice
cp sysresc.cfg sysresc.bak
sed 's|scandelay=5|scandelay=10|' sysresc.cfg > sys.cfg
mv sys.cfg sysresc.cfg
cd; umount /dev/sdc4
syslinux /dev/sdc4
reboot

If, in addition to that, you had to use the boot parameter usbstick,
then it would be:
mkdir /mnt/usbdevice
mount /dev/sdc4 /mnt/usbdevice
cd /mnt/usbdevice
cp sysresc.cfg sysresc.bak
sed 's|scandelay=5|scandelay=10 usbstick|' sysresc.cfg > sys.cfg
mv sys.cfg sysresc.cfg
cd; umount /dev/sdc4
syslinux /dev/sdc4
reboot

In case something goes wrong with your new settings, you can always rename
sysresc.bak to sysresc.cfg, either from linux or Windows.


Boot parameters
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
Booting a linux system means loading a kernel, which is actually the
operating system. Well, this is not exactly true, and it is not the only
thing that happens during boot up phase, but it is not my intension to
explain it here.

The kernel is loaded by Isolinux (the CD boot manager), which is able to pass
a number of parameters to it, through its configuration file isolinux.cfg.

These parameters, called boot parameters, are documented by the kernel
itself, and can differentiate its behavior dramatically. In our case,
each CD (SystemRescueCD and Clonezilla Live) accept a different set of
parameters, because they are based on gentoo {{ http://www.gentoo.org/ }}
and debian, respectively.

While in the splash screen of Clonezilla-SysRescCD, you can edit the boot
parameters by pressing TAB. They will be presented to you, and you can
add or remove what you want. You must be careful not to change or remove
the parameters that are dedicated to the CD itself, as altering them will
certainty make it unbootable. When you are done, just press ENTER to boot.

SystemRescueCD boot parameters
****************************************
[[ info.png ]]
The following info applies to SystemRescueCD v. 1.5.5. In case
 you need to get info for a more recent version of SystemRescueCD
please see the page "Sysresccd-manual-en Booting the CD-ROM {{
http://www.sysresccd.org/Sysresccd-manual-en_Booting_the_CD-ROM }}"

A typical sysresccd isolinux entry is:

kernel rescuecd
append initrd=initram.igz video=ofonly

The kernel used is rescuecd, and anything after the word append is a
boot parameter.

Available kernels (boot images):

* rescuecd Default for 32bit systems, with Framebuffer disabled, best choice.
* rescue64 Default 64 bit kernel. Use it if you want to chroot to a 64bit
linux system installed on your hard disk, or if you have to run 64 bits
programs. This kernel is able to boot with 32bit programs, and it requires
a processor with 64bit instructions (amd64 / em64t).
* altker32 an alternative kernel for 32bit systems. Boot with this kernel
if you have problems with rescuecd
* altker64 an alternative kernel for 64bit systems. Boot with this kernel
in case you have problems with rescue64.

The boot parameters you can use are:

 General boot options
Press <TAB> to add additional options (in SystemRescueCd-1.5 and more recent)

* docache: causes the CD-ROM will be fully loaded into memory. A slower
start but once complete, programs start faster and the CD drive will be
released allowing normal access to other CDs. This requires 400MB of memory
to cache everything (including the bootdisks and isolinux directories). Add
lowmem if you have less that 400MB of memory of to prevent these directories
to be copied.
* setkmap=kk: which defines the keymap to load where kk (example: setkmap=de
for German keyboards). This way you won't be prompted for the keyboard
configuration during the boot.
* root=/dev/xdnp: the root=<device> option boots an existing linux
system. For example, if you have linux Gentoo installed on /dev/sda6,
use rescuecd root=/dev/sda6 to start it. Keep in mind that you must use a
64bit kernel if your system is made of 64bit programs. This option works
with LVM volumes. Use rescuecd root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00. Support
is also provided for root=auto, which scans all the block devices tfor
a linux system. The first linux system found will be started. So with
root=auto let you start the system installed from the CD-ROM in case
you have problem with your boot loader or kernel. It's also possible
to specify a partition using its filesystem label or filesystem
uuid. If the label of the partition where linux is installed is
mylinux, then boot it using rescuecd root=LABEL=mylinux. Similarly
root=UUID=b3d3bec5-997a-413e-8449-0d0ec41ccba7. See more details.
* initscript=service:action: This options allows start/stop a service
at boot time. For instance if you need the samba service to be started,
you can boot with: initscript=samba:start. This does the same thing as
/etc/init.d/samba start. Use this option multiple times for different
services. All the actions that are supported by an initscript can be used.
* backstore=xxx: SystemRescueCd comes with support for the backing-stores. A
backing-store saves all the changes you can make. so that you keep these
changes the next time you boot it. By default, sysresccd automatically
scan removable devices (eg: USB sticks) at boot time and uses the first
backing-store it finds. A backing-store is not mandatory and it the
scan fails it will store the files which change in memory. To disable
the disks scan at boot time specify backstore=off on the boot command
line. If you want to save your backing-store file on an harddisk, boot with
backstore=alldev to scan all devices (not just removable devices). The
default location for backing-stores file is any file named sysrcd.bs
located at the root of a disk which is often an USB stick. Change the path
by using backstore=/sysrcd/mybackstore.bs. See backing-stores.
* isoloop=xxx: Grub2 (currently in development: grub-1.98) provides a new
feature to boot from an ISO image which is stored from the hard disk. If you
put a copy of systemrescuecd-x86-x.y.z.iso on a partition that Grub2 can read
then you can boot SystemRescueCd directly from the ISO image stored on your
hard drive. This is very convenient if you frequently update SystemRescueCd
and you want to boot it directly from Grub2. Grub2 knows what an ISO image
is and it will load the kernel image (rescuecd/rescue64) and the initramfs
(initram.igz) from the ISO into memory. It will then do its normal job and
execute the kernel. The SystemRescueCd init script must then be aware that
its sysrcd.dat file is in an ISO and not directly on the partition. For that
reason, this isoloop=xxx boot option is required so you must use it in your
grub.cfg. This option is only supported in SystemRescueCd-1.4.0 and more
recent. This option specifies the path of the ISO image in the partition that
grub considers as its root partition. It's important to understand that the
path of the ISO image may be different from the path on your linux system. If
you have a separate boot partition mounted on /boot and if you copy this
ISO image to /boot/sysrcd/systemrescuecd-x86-x.y.z.iso then the option has
to be isoloop=/sysrcd/systemrescuecd-x86-x.y.z.iso. This is because the
boot partition is what Grub2 will consider as its root partition during
the boot process. Please read the section about isoloop for more details.

 Hardware, drivers and troubleshooting options
* dodebug: Enables verbose messages in linuxrc

* doload=xxx: loads needed kernel modules, multiple comma separated
occurrences are permitted (example: doload=3c59x,e1000)
* noload=xxx: prevents loading kernel modules, multiple comma separated
occurrences are permitted (example: noload=3c59x,e1000). Use this option
if you have a problem when the system loads a particular module.
* nonet: this will disable the network auto detection at startup

* scandelay=x: pauses x seconds during the startup to allow slow devices
to initialize. This is required when you boot an USB device. A delay of
only few seconds should be enough.

* doxdetect: Since version 0.3.5 the auto-configuration is done in X.Org
itself, mkxf86config is disabled by default. This option forces the system to
run the mkxf86config startup script and to run the hardware auto-detection
from this script. Use this option if you have problems with the graphical
environment configuration. This option replaces the option noxdetect that
was useful in previous versions.
* nodetect: prevents generic hardware auto-detection. Use this option if
you have problems with the hardware auto-detection.

* dostartx: load the X.Org graphical environment.
* forcevesa: Forces X.Org to use the safe VESA driver instead of the best
video driver detected for your video card. Use this option if you cannot
get the graphical environment working with the default options.
* forcevesa=xxx: The startx command will load the Xvesa server instead
of Xorg, and use the screen resolution given as parameter (eg: 1024x768,
1280x1024x32).

* all-generic-ide: In case of problems related to your hard disk, try to
enable this option (eg rescuecd all-generic-ide)
* nodmraid: Disable dmraid, for some motherboards with built-in RAID
controller.
* nomdadm: Disable mdadm, for software RAID.

* acpi-off / noapic / irqpool: use these options if you have problem when
the kernel boots: if it hangs on a driver or if it crashes, ...

* lowmem: For systems with smaller memory, some daemons are not started
including sshd and nfsd.

* skipmount=/dev/xxx: The system mounts all the storage devices at boot
time to find the sysrcd.dat file. If your hard disk is broken it should
be mounted. Boot with skipmount=/dev/sda1 skipmount=/dev/sda2 to ignore
these two partitions.

 Network configuration and remote access
* nonm: to disable the Network-Manager service that conflicts with the
standard network command line tools such as ifconfig and ip. You can use
this option if you want to configure the network using these commands. This
option is not necessary when SystemRescueCd is booting from the network
since the service is automatically stopped in that case. This option
requires SystemRescueCd-1.5.5 or more recent.
* dodhcp: to request a DHCP server provide network attributes including
an IP address, gateway...
* nodhcp: never run the dhcp client in the initramfs boot
script. May be useful if you use PXE boot on a computer with
several ethernet interfaces. Support for this option is available in
SystemRescueCd-1.5.5-beta2 and more recent
* ethx=ipaddr/cidr: Sets the static IP address of all the ethernet
interfaces on the system. The /cidr extension is optional. For instance,
if you use option ethx=192.168.0.1 on a machine with two ethernet adapters,
both eth0 and eth1 will be configured with 192.168.0.1. You can use the
format ethx=10.0.0.1/24 (using the cidr notation) if you don't use the
default netmask.
* eth0=ipaddr/cidr: This option is similar to ethx=ipaddr/cidr but it
configures only one interface at a time. To configure the network on a
server that has two interfaces, use: eth0=192.168.10.1/24 eth1=192.168.20.1.
* dns=ipaddr: Sets the static IP address of the DNS nameserver you want
to use to resolve the names. For instance dns=192.168.0.254 means that
you want to use 192.168.0.254 as the DNS server.
* gateway=ipaddr: Sets the static IP address of the default route on your
network. For instance gateway=192.168.0.254 means that the computer can
connect to a computer outside of the local network via 192.168.0.254.
* dhcphostname=myhost: Sets the hostname that the DHCP client will send
to the DHCP server. This may be required if the default hostname cannot
be used with your DHCP configuration. This option has been introduced
in SystemRescueCd-1.3.5.
* rootpass=123456: Sets the root password of the system running on the
livecd to 1234. That way you can connect from the network and ssh on the
livecd and give 123456 password as the root password.
* vncserver=x:123456: The vncserver boot option has been introduced in
SystemRescueCd-1.0.2. This options forces the system to configure the
VNC-server and to start it automatically at boot time. You have to replace
x with the number of displays you want, and 123456 with your password The
password must be between 5 and 8 characters, else the boot option will be
ignored. In other words the vncserver=2:MyPaSsWd option will give you access
to two displays (display=1 on tcp/5901 and display=2 on tcp/5902). Display
0 is reserved for X.Org since SystemRescueCd-1.1.0.
* nameif=xxx: You can can specify what interface name to give to a
particular interface using the mac address. You need SystemRescueCd-1.1.0
or newer to do that. Here is how you can specify which interface
is using which mac address on a machine with two network interfaces:
nameif=eth0!00:0C:29:57:D0:6E,eth1!00:0C:29:57:D0:64. Be careful, you have
to respect the separator (comma between the interfaces and exclamation
marks between the name and the mac address). You can also use the magic
keyword BOOTIF with SystemRescueCd-1.5.4 and more recent when you boot from
pxelinux. The pxeboot loader will set BOOTIF to the name of the interface
used to boot. You can then use something like nameif=eth0!BOOTIF if you
want the boot interface to be called eth0 on a computer with several
Ethernet interfaces.

 Network boot using PXE
SystemRescueCd provides several options for booting from the network
using PXE.
These options can be combined with other network boot options such as ethx
(cf previous section). See PXE network booting to get a global overview
of SystemRescueCd and PXE and Manage remote servers using PXE.
The second stage downloads the kernel + initramfs using DHCP/TFTP.
The third stage of the PXE boot process acquires the root files system.
Several protocols are available.

* netboot=tftp://ip/path/sysrcd.dat: from a TFTP server. The filesystem
is loaded into memory. As a consequence computers with less than 400MB of
memory won't be able to boot this way. The system will continue to work
if the network is disconnected after the boot process.
* netboot=http://ip:port/path/sysrcd.dat: from a Web server. The file system
is loaded into memory. Computers with smaller memory won't be able to boot
this way. The the system continues to work if the network is disconnected
after the boot process.
* netboot=nfs://ip:/path: mount an NFSv3 directory. The NFS url must be
the path of the directory that contains sysrcd.dat. Only NFSv3 can be used,
NFSv4 is not supported. NFS it allows computers with smaller memory to boot
SystemRescueCd from the network. After the boot process, the connection
is required or you will loose the access to the root file system.
* netboot=nbd://ip:port: connect to an NBD server configured with sysrcd.dat
on ip:port. NBD is easier to configure than NFS (only one TCP port involved)
and it allows computers with smaller memort to boot SystemRescueCd from
the network. After the boot process, the connection is required the access
to the root system.

For information on activating speakup, see the speakup info page.

 Options provided for autorun
* ar_source=xxx: place where the autorun are stored. It may
be the root directory of a partition (/dev/sda1), an nfs
share (nfs://192.168.1.1:/path/to/scripts), a samba share
(smb://192.168.1.1/path/to/scripts), or an http directory
(http://192.168.1.1/path/to/scripts).
* autoruns=[0-9]: comma separated list of the autorun scrip to be run. For
example autoruns=0,2,7 the autorun sc autorun0, autorun2, autorun7 are
run. Use autoruns=no to disable all the autorun scripts with a number.
* ar_ignorefail: continue to execute the scripts chain even if a script
failed (returned a non-zero status)
* ar_nodel: do not delete the temporary copy of the autorun scripts located
in /var/autorun/tmp after execution
* ar_disable: completely disable autorun, the simple autorun script will
not be executed
* ar_nowait: do not wait for a keypress after the autorun script have
been executed.

Clonezilla Live boot parameters
****************************************
[[ info.png ]]
The following info applies to Clonezilla Live v. 1.2.5-17
In case you need to get info for a more recent version of Clonezilla Live
please see the page "The boot parameters for Clonezilla live {{
http://www.clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live/doc/fine-print.php?path=./99_Misc/00_live-initramfs-manual.doc#00_live-initramfs-manual.doc
}}"

A typical Clonezilla Live isolinux entry is:

 kernel /live/vmlinuz1
 append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
 ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general"
 ocs_live_extra_param="" ocs_live_keymap="" ocs_live_batch="no" ocs_lang=""
 vga=791 nolocales

The kernel used is vmlinuz, and anything after the word append is a boot
parameter.

The following info comes from the
page titled The boot parameters for Clonezilla live {{
http://www.clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live/doc/fine-print.php?path=./99_Misc/00_live-initramfs-manual.doc#00_live-initramfs-manual.doc
}}.

Clonezilla live is based on Debian live with clonezilla installed. Therefore
there are 2 kinds of boot parameters:

* Boot parameters from live-initramfs. You can refer to this manual of
live-initramfs.
* Boot parameters specially for Clonezilla. All of them are named as
"ocs_*", e.g. ocs_live_run, ocs_live_extra_param, ocs_live_batch, ocs_lang.
 * ocs_live_run is the main program to run in Clonezilla live to save
 or restore. or other command. Available program: ocs-live-general,
 ocs-live-restore or any command you write. Use the Absolute path in
 Clonezilla live.
 e.g. ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general"
 //NOTE// You might have to use "sudo" command inside your own script,
 or you can assign it like: ocs_live_run="sudo bash /my-clonezilla"
 * ocs_live_extra_param will be used only when ocs_live_run=ocs-live-restore
 (not for ocs-live-general or any other), then it will be passed to
 ocs-sr. Therefore these parameters are actually those of ocs-sr.
 e.g. ocs_live_extra_param="-b -c restoredisk sarge-r5 hda"
 * ocs_live_keymap is for keymap used in Clonezilla live. Man install-keymap
 for more details.
 e.g. ocs_live_keymap="NONE" (won't change the default layout)
 ocs_live_keymap="/usr/share/keymaps/i386/azerty/fr-latin9.kmap.gz"
 (French keyboard)
 * batch mode or not (yes/no), if no, will run interactively.
 e.g. ocs_live_batch="no"
 * ocs_lang is the language used in Clonezilla live. Available value:
 en_US.UTF-8, zh_TW.UTF-8... (see $DRBL_SCRIPT_PATH/lang/bash/)
 e.g. ocs_lang="en_US.UTF-8"
 * ocs_debug (or ocs-debug) is for you to enter command line prompt before
 any clonezilla-related action is run. This is easier for you to debug.
 * ocs_daemonon, ocs_daemonoff, ocs_numlk, ocs_capslk.
Ex. for the first 2 parameters, ocs_daemonon="ssh", then ssh service will
be turned on when booting. For the last 2 parameters, use "on" or "off",
e.g. ocs_numlk=on to turn on numberlock when booting.
 * ocs_prerun, ocs_prerun1, ocs_prerun2... is for you to run a shell script
 before Clonezilla is started. E.g. ocs_prerun="/live/image/myscript.sh". If
 you have more commands to run, you can assign them in the order:
 ocs_prerun=..., ocs_prerun1=..., ocs_prerun2=.... If more than 10
 parameters, remember to use ocs_prerun01, ocs_prerun02..., ocs_prerun11
 to make it in order.
 * ocs_live_run_tty. This option allows you to specify the tty where
 $ocs_live_run is run. By default $ocs_live_run is run on /dev/tty1
 only. (It was also on /dev/ttyS0 before, but since Clonezilla live >=
 1.2.3-22 no more this due to a problem). If you want to use ttyS0, for
 example, add live-getty and console=ttyS0,38400n81 in the boot parameter.
 //NOTE//
 * This parameter was added in Clonezilla live 1.2.3-22 or later.
 * If "live-getty console=$tty,38400n81" are assigned in the boot parameters,
 ocs_live_run_tty will honor $tty, even other value is assigned to
 ocs_live_run_tty in boot parameter.
 * It's recommended to assign ocs_lang and ocs_live_keymap in the boot
 parameters too.
 * ip, this option allows you to specify the network parameters for
 network card. In Clonezilla live a patched live-initramfs is used, which
 is different from the original live-initramfs so that you can assign
 DNS server, too. Its format is: ip=ethernet port,IP address, netmask,
 gateway, DNS. E.g. If you want to assing eth0 with IP address 10.0.100.1,
 netmask 255.255.255.0, gateway 10.0.100.254, DNS server 8.8.8.8, you can
 assign the following in the boot parameter:
ip=eth0,10.0.100.1,255.255.255.0,10.0.100.254,8.8.8.8
If more than one network card, you can use ":" to separate them, e.g.:
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,,
 * Besides, "live-netdev" (yes, not ocs_live_netdev) can be used when
 using PXE booting, you can force to assign the network device to get
 filesystem.squashfs. This is useful when there are two or more NICs are
 linked. E.g. live-netdev="eth1" allows you to force the live-initramfs
 to use eth1 to fetch the root file system filesystem.squashfs.

With the above options, we have the following examples:

* A PXE config example for you to boot Clonezilla live via PXE, and ssh
service is on, the password of account "user" is assigned:
----------------------------------------
label Clonezilla Live
 MENU LABEL Clonezilla Live
 MENU DEFAULT
 kernel vmlinuz1
 append initrd=initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs noswap noprompt vga=788
 fetch=tftp://192.168.120.254/filesystem.squashfs usercrypted=bkuQxLqLRuDW6
 ocs_numlk="on" ocs_daemonon="ssh"
----------------------------------------
The usercrypted password is created by:
echo YOUR_PASSWORD | mkpasswd -s
("mkpasswd" is from package "whois" in Debian or Ubuntu. Check your
GNU/Linux to see which package provides this command if you are not using
Debian or Ubuntu. Replace YOUR_PASSWORD with your plain text password,
and remember do not put any " in the boot parameters of live-initramfs
(while it's ok for those ocs_* boot parameters), i.e. do NOT use something
like usercrypted="bkuQxLqLRuDW6").
//NOTE// If you do not assign salt to mkpasswd, the encrypted password
will not be the same every time you create it.
For more about usercrypted discussion, please check the here.

* How to put your own binary driver in Clonezilla live without modifying
/live/filesystem.squashfs:

* Boot clonezilla live
* Become root by running "sudo su -"
* Copy the dir lsi, which contains a precompiled kernel module matching
the running kernel in Clonezilla live and a script to run it, to a working
dir, e.g.:
 cp -r /live/image/lsi /home/partimag
* cd /home/partimag
* /opt/drbl/sbin/ocs-live-dev -c -s -i lsi -u lsi -x
"ocs_prerun=/live/image/lsi/prep-lsi.sh"
* /opt/drbl/sbin/ocs-iso -s -i lsi -u lsi -x
"ocs_prerun=/live/image/lsi/prep-lsi.sh"
* ///NOTE/// In this example, the 2 files in dir lsi are: megasr.ko (the
binary driver) and prep-lsi.sh. The contents of prep-lsi.sh:

------------------------
#!/bin/bash
cp -f /live/image/lsi/megasr.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/block/
chown root.root /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/block/megasr.ko
depmod -a modprobe megasr
sleep 1
------------------------
* To put your customized script with a PXE version of Clonezilla live
(You have to use Clonezilla live version 1.2.2-2 or later):
In this example, we assume (1) The IP address of your PXE server is
192.168.120.254, (2) the customized script (custom-ocs-2) is put on
your PXE server's tftpd root dir (E.g. On DRBL server, the path is
/tftpboot/nbi_img/. It might be different in your case if you are not use
DRBL server as a PXE server).
Therefor your pxelinux.cfg/default file is like:
------------------------
label Clonezilla Live
 MENU DEFAULT
 # MENU HIDE
 MENU LABEL Clonezilla Live
 # MENU PASSWD
 kernel vmlinuz1
 append initrd=initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs noswap noprompt vga=788
 ip=frommedia fetch=tftp://192.168.120.254/filesystem.squashfs
 ocs_prerun="busybox tftp -g -b 10240 -r custom-ocs-2 -l
 /tmp/custom-ocs-2 192.168.120.254" ocs_live_run="bash /tmp/custom-ocs-2"
 ocs_live_keymap="NONE" ocs_live_batch="no" ocs_lang="en_US.UTF-8" nolocales
 TEXT HELP
 Boot Clonezilla live via network
 ENDTEXT
------------------------
The content of custom-ocs-2 can be like:

------------------------
#!/bin/bash
. /opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-conf-functions
. /opt/drbl/sbin/ocs-functions
. /etc/ocs/ocs-live.conf

# Load language file
ask_and_load_lang_set en_US.UTF-8

# 1. Mount the clonezilla image home.
# Types: local_dev, ssh_server, samba_server, nfs_server
prep-ocsroot -t nfs_server

# 2. Restore the image
if mountpoint /home/partimag/ &>/dev/null; then
 ocs-sr -l en_US.UTF-8 -c -p choose restoredisk ask_user ask_user
else
 [ "$BOOTUP" = "color" ] & $SETCOLOR_FAILURE
 echo "Fail to find the Clonezilla image home /home/partimag!"
 echo "Program terminated!"
 [ "$BOOTUP" = "color" ] & $SETCOLOR_NORMAL
fi
------------------------
live-initramfs manual
---------------------
This is the manual of live-initramfs {{
http://www.clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live/live-initramfs-param.php }}

live-initramfs(7)
=================

Name
----
live-initramfs - Debian Live initramfs hook

Synopsis
--------
BOOT=live

as kernel parameter at boot prompt.

Description
-----------

live-initramfs is a hook for the initramfs-tools, used to generate
a initramfs
capable to boot live systems, such as those created by *live-helper*(7).
This includes the Debian Live isos, netboot tarballs, and usb stick images.

At boot time it will look for a (read-only) media containing a "/live"
directory where a root filesystems (often a compressed filesystem image like
squashfs) is stored. If found, it will create a writable environment, using
aufs, for Debian like systems to boot from.

You probably do not want to install this package onto a non-live system,
although it will do no harm.

live-initramfs is a fork of casper.
casper was originally written by Tollef Fog Heen
&lt;tfheen@canonical.com&amp;gt;
and Matt Zimmerman &lt;mdz@canonical.com&amp;gt;.

Boot options
------------

Here is the complete list of recognized boot parameters by live-initramfs.

 access=*ACCESS*::

Set the accessibility level for physically or visually impared users. ACCESS
must be one of v1, v2, v3, m1, or m2. v1=lesser visual impairment,
v2=moderate
visual impairment, v3=blindness, m1=minor motor difficulties, m2=moderate
motor
difficulties.

 console=*TTY,SPEED*::

Set the default console to be used with the "live-getty" option. Example:
"console=ttyS0,115200"

 debug::

Makes initramfs boot process more verbose.

 fetch=*URL*::

Another form of netboot by downloading a squashfs image from a given url,
copying to ram and booting it.

 hostname=*HOSTNAME*, username=*USER*, userfullname=*USERFULLNAME*::

Those parameters lets you override values read from the config file.

 ignore_uuid

Do not check that any UUID embedded in the initramfs matches the discovered
medium. live-initramfs may be told to generate a UUID by setting
LIVE_GENERATE_UUID=1 when building the initramfs.

 integrity-check::

If specified, an MD5 sum is calculated on the live media during boot and
compared to the value found in md5sum.txt found in the root directory of the
live media.

 ip=**[CLIENT_IP]:[SERVER_IP]:[GATEWAY_IP]:[NETMASK]:[HOSTNAME]:
 [DEVICE]:[AUTOCONF]
 [,[CLIENT_IP]:[SERVER_IP]:[GATEWAY_IP]:[NETMASK]:[HOSTNAME]:
 [DEVICE]:[AUTOCONF]]***::

Let you specify the name(s) and the options of the interface(s) that
should be
configured at boot time. Do not specify this if you want to use dhcp
(default).
It will be changed in a future release to mimick official kernel boot param
specification
(e.g. ip=10.0.0.1::10.0.0.254:255.255.255.0::eth0,:::::eth1:dhcp).

 ip[=**frommedia**]::

If this variable is set, dhcp and static configuration are just skipped
and the
system will use the (must be) media-preconfigured /etc/network/interfaces
instead.

 {keyb|kbd-chooser/method}=**KEYBOARD**,
 {klayout|console-setup/layoutcode}=**LAYOUT**,
 {kvariant|console-setup/variantcode}=**VARIANT**,
 {kmodel|console-setup/modelcode}=
 **CODE**, koptions=**OPTIONS**::

Configure the running keyboard as specified, if this one misses
live-initramfs
behaves as if "keyb=us" was specified. It will be interfered from
"locale=" if
locale is only 2 lowecase letters as a special case. You could also specify
console layout, variant, code, and options (no defaults).

 live-getty::

This changes the auto-login on virtual terminals to use the (experimental)
live-getty code. With this option set the standard kernel argument
"console=" is
parsed and if a serial console is specified then live-getty is used to
autologin
on the serial console.

 {live-media|bootfrom}=**DEVICE**::

If you specify one of this two equivalent forms, live-initramfs will
first try
to find this device for the "/live" directory where the read-only root
filesystem should reside. If it did not find something usable, the
normal scan
for block devices is performed.

 {live-media-encryption|encryption}=**TYPE**::

live-initramfs will mount the encrypted rootfs TYPE, asking the passphrase,
useful to build paranoid live systems :-). TYPE supported so far are
"aes" for
loop-aes encryption type.

 live-media-offset=**BYTES**::

This way you could tell live-initramfs that your image starts at offset
BYTES in
the above specified or autodiscovered device, this could be useful to
hide the
Debian Live iso or image inside another iso or image, to create "clean"
images.

 live-media-path=**PATH**::

Sets the path to the live filesystem on the medium. By default, it is set to
'/live' and you should not change that unless you have customized your media
accordingly.

 live-media-timeout=**SECONDS**::

Set the timeout in seconds for the device specified by "live-media="
to become
ready before giving up.

 {locale|debian-installer/locale}=**LOCALE**::

Configure the running locale as specified, if not present the live-media
rootfs
configured locale will be used and if also this one misses live-initramfs
behave
as "locale=en_US.UTF-8" was specified. If only 2 lowercase letter are
specified
(like "it"), the "maybe wanted" locale is generated (like en:EN.UTF-8),
in this
case if also "keyb=" is unspecified is set with those 2 lowercase letters
(keyb=us). Beside that facility, only UTF8 locales are supported by
live-initramfs.

 module=**NAME**::

Instead of using the default optional file "filesystem.module" (see below)
another file could be specified without the extension ".module"; it should be
placed on "/live" directory of the live medium.

 netboot[=**nfs**|**cifs**]::

This tells live-initramfs to perform a network mount. The parameter
"nfsroot="
(with optional "nfsopts="), should specify where is the location of the root
filesystem. With no args, will try cifs first, and if it fails nfs.

 nfsopts=::

This lets you specify custom nfs options.

 noautologin::

This parameter disables the automatic terminal login only, not touching
gdk/kdm.

 noxautologin::

This parameter disables the automatic login of gdm/kdm only, not touching
terminals.

 nofastboot::

This parameter disables the default disabling of filesystem checks in
/etc/fstab. If you have static filesystems on your harddisk and you want
them to
be checked at boot time, use this parameter, otherwise they are skipped.

 nopersistent::

disables the "persistent" feature, useful if the bootloader (like syslinux)
has
been installed with persistent enabled.

 noprompt

Do not prompt to eject the CD on reboot.

 nosudo::

This parameter disables the automatic configuration of sudo.

 swapon::

This parameter enables usage of local swap partitions.

 nouser::

This parameter disables the creation of the default user completely.

 noxautoconfig::

This parameter disables Xorg auto-reconfiguration at boot time. This
is valuable
if you either do the detection on your own, or, if you want to ship a custom,
premade xorg.conf in your live system.

 persistent[=nofiles]::

live-initramfs will look for persistent and snapshot partitions or files
labeled
"live-rw", "home-rw", and files called "live-sn*", "home-sn*" and will
try to,
in order: mount as /cow the first, mount the second in /home, and just
copy the
contents of the latter in appropriate locations (snapshots). Snapshots
will be
tried to be updated on reboot/shutdown. Look at live-snapshot(1) for more
informations. If "nofiles" is specified, only filesystems with matching
labels
will be searched; no filesystems will be traversed looking for archives
or image
files. This results in shorter boot times.

 {preseed/file|file}=**FILE**::

A path to a file present on the rootfs could be used to preseed debconf
database.

 package/question=**VALUE**::

All debian installed packages could be preseeded from command-line that way,
beware of blanks spaces, they will interfere with parsing, use a preseed
file in
this case.

 quickreboot::

This option causes live-initramfs to reboot without attempting to eject the
media and without asking the user to remove the boot media.

 showmounts::

This parameter will make live-initramfs to show on "/" the ro filesystems
(mostly compressed) on "/live". This is not enabled by default because could
lead to problems by applications like "mono" which store binary paths on
installation.

 textonly

Start up to text-mode shell prompts, disabling the graphical user interface.

 timezone=**TIMEZONE**::

By default, timezone is set to UTC. Using the timezone parameter, you can
set it
to your local zone, e.g. Europe/Zurich.

 todisk=**DEVICE**::

Adding this parameter, live-initramfs will try to copy the entire read-only
media to the specified device before mounting the root filesystem. It
probably
needs a lot of free space. Subsequent boots should then skip this step
and just
specify the "live-media=DEVICE" boot parameter with the same DEVICE used this
time.

 toram::

Adding this parameter, live-initramfs will try to copy the whole read-only
media
to the computer's RAM before mounting the root filesystem. This could need
a lot
of ram, according to the space used by the read-only media.

 union=**aufs**|**unionfs**::

By default, live-initramfs uses aufs. With this parameter, you can switch to
unionfs.

 utc=**yes**|**no**::

By default, Debian systems do assume that the hardware clock is set to
UTC. You
can change or explicitly set it with this parameter.

 xdebconf::

Uses xdebconfigurator, if present on the rootfs, to configure X instead
of the
standard procedure (experimental).

 xvideomode=**RESOLUTION**::

Doesn't do xorg autodetection, but enforces a given resolution.

Files
-----

 /etc/live.conf

Some variables can be configured via this config file (inside the live
system).

 /live/filesystem.module

This optional file (inside the live media) contains a list of white-space or
carriage-return-separated file names corresponding to disk images in the
"/live"
directory. If this file exists, only images listed here will be merged
into the
root aufs, and they will be loaded in the order listed here. The first entry
in this file will be the "lowest" point in the aufs, and the last file in
this list will be on the "top" of the aufs, directly below /cow. Without
this file, any images in the "/live" directory are loaded in alphanumeric
order.

 /etc/live-persistence.binds

This optional file (which resides in the rootfs system, not in the live
media)
is used as a list of directories which not need be persistent: ie. their
content does not need to survive reboots when using the persistence features.

This saves expensive writes and speeds up operations on volatile data such as
web caches and temporary files (like e.g. /tmp and .mozilla) which are
regenerated each time. This is achieved by bind mounting each listed
directory
with a tmpfs on the original path.

See also
--------

live-snapshot(1), initramfs-tools(8), live-helper(7), live-initscripts(7),
live-webhelper(7)

Bugs
----

Report bugs against live-initramfs
http://packages.qa.debian.org/live-initramfs.

Homepage
--------

More information about the Debian Live project can be found at
http://debian-live.alioth.debian.org/ and
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLive/.

Authors
-------

live-initramfs is maintained by Daniel Baumann &lt;daniel@debian.org&amp;gt;
for the Debian project.

live-initramfs is a fork of casper.
casper was originally written by Tollef Fog Heen
&lt;tfheen@canonical.com&amp;gt;
and Matt Zimmerman &lt;mdz@canonical.com&amp;gt;.


About Clonezilla Live
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
The DRBL-based PXEBoot Clonezilla is used to clone many computers
simultaneously. It is an extremely useful tool, however, it does have several
limitations. In order to use it, you must first prepare a DRBL server AND
the machine to be cloned must boot from a network (e.g. PXE/Etherboot).

To address these limitations, the Free Software Lab at the NCHC has combined
Debian Live {{ http://debian-live.alioth.debian.org/ }} with Clonezilla
to produce "Clonezilla Live", a new software that can be used to easily
clone individual machines.

Clonezilla Live provides two modes of operation:

* device-image
In this mode of operation, a disk/partition can be saved to an
image file. This image file can be used to restore the original
disk/partition. With Clonezilla-SysRescCD, it can also be used to create an
automated restore CD/DVD. This is the mode of operation we will discuss here.

* device-device (cloning)
This mode of operation creates an exact copy of the original disk/partition
on the fly.

When working in device-image mode, you will always have to specify three
things:

* The location of the image file
* The working parameters for the operation
* The disk/partition that will be saved/restored

Clonezilla Live provides a user friendly interface in order to insert
this data.

When Clonezilla Live is booted up, either normally or copied to RAM, the
contents of the whole CD/DVD can be found in folder /live/image. This
is where you will find any extra files, such as the restorecd and the
doc folders.

Starting and stopping Clonezilla Live
****************************************
When you boot into Clonezilla Live, the program (actually a script) starts
automatically. There are many places where you can stop it, by selecting
Cancel or answering N(o) to a question. When you do that you will probably
get the following:
Now you can choose to:
(0) Poweroff
(1) Reboot
(2) Enter command line prompt
(3) Start over
[2]

Select Poweroff or Reboot, only if you haven't already mounted a disk
partition. I found out by experience, it is not always safe to let any live
CD automatically unmount my partitions. So if you have already specified
the image partition and/or the partition to save/restore, you should enter
command line prompt and type:
sudo su -
mount | grep /dev/[sh]d
and then unmount the partitions shown by the last command. So if the
results of this command is for example:
/dev/hda1 on /home/partimag type vfat (rw)
just type the command:
umount /dev/hda1
and it's now safe to Poweroff of Reboot.

If, on the other hand, you just want to restart the program, type:
ocs-live

About the Image file
****************************************
One thing should be made clear about the image file: it is not a file,
it is a folder, containing the actual image file and some data about the
disk/partition it is associated with. So when you insert the image file name,
you actually insert the folder name where the image will be saved/restored.

Before you are able to insert the image file name, a list of partitions
will be presented to you, so that you can choose where it should be
saved/found. When you select one of them, it will be mounted and a list
of folders will be presented to you, so you can select the base image
directory (first level directory within the partition), which will then
be mounted under /home/partimag. This way you can, for example, create a
folder called all_my_images in one of your disk partitions, and move all
your image files in there; Clonezilla Live will be able to find them!!!

Another thing that should be pointed out is that only unmounted partitions
will be included in the above list. This means that if you have stopped
the program at some point after specifying the partition where the image
file resides, and it has been mounted, it will not be present in the list
the next time it is presented to you, and you will not be able to use it.

There are two things you can do in this case; either unmount the partition,
as stated above, or select
skip        Use existing /home/partimag

instead of any other option, when you restart the program. The later of
course means that you still want to use the previously specified partition
as the image file location.

Fianlly I should say that Clonezilla Live is able to use a remote
disk/partition as the location of the image file, mounted through ssh,
samba or nfs. Using any of these options is a more advanced topic, way
beyond the scope of this presentation.

Scripts' options
****************************************
This section presents the options which are available at the "Clonezilla
advanced extra parameters" screens, if the "Expert" mode is selected. For
other options, see Getting backups and Restoring data.

Backup options
---------------------
> Imaging program priority

-q2        Priority: partclone > partimage > dd
-q1        Priority: Only dd (supports all filesystem, but inefficient)
-q         Priority: ntfsclone > partimage > dd
           Priority: partimage > dd (no ntfsclone)

This option chooses which imaging programs are preferred. By default,
Clonezilla Live uses partclone for nearly all filesystems, including
ext2/3/4, NTFS and FAT32. If a filesystem isn't supported by partclone,
but is supported by partimage (spesifically: if the filesystem is HFS,
HPFS or JFS), it is cloned by partimage. If it isn't supported by either
(for example Linux swap, though it doesn't make any sense to clone swap
partitions), it is cloned by dd. Unlike partclone or partimage, dd copies
all blocks of the partition instead of only used, resulting in slower
imaging process and bigger images.

Normally the default option -q2 should be preferred. Try another option
if you have problems and believe they are caused by the imaging program used.

> Various parameters

These options are available at the second "Clonezilla advanced extra
parameters" screen.
-c Client waits for confirmation before cloning
This option causes Clonezilla Live to ask if you really want to clone the
disk/partition just before it starts cloning. It is enabled by default.

-j2 Clone the hidden data between MBR and 1st partition
If this option is set, the 15 hidden sectors between Master Boot Record
and the first partition are copied. This area usually contains some data
necessary for booting. The option is enabled by default and should be kept
enabled if you are cloning a bootable disk.

-nogui Use text output only, no TUI/GUI output
Causes Clonezilla Live to force the used programs to use only command-line
interface even if text-based or graphical user interface is available.

-a Do NOT force to turn on HD DMA
Prevents Clonezilla Live from using DMA for communicating with hard
drives. Slows cloning down but in some conditions cloning without this
option can be impossible.

-rm-win-swap-hib Remove page and hibernation files in Win if exists
This option prevents Clonezilla Live from cloning your page file if you
are cloning a partition containing Windows. Often the page file is big
and unneeded, and skipping it may speed cloning up without causing any
harm. Mind you, this option is disabled by default because sometimes the
page file may be necessary.

-ntfs-ok Skip checking NTFS integrity, even bad sectors (ntfsclone only)
This option works only if you selected the -q option and you're cloning
a NTFS partition. It prevents the integrity check of NTFS partitions and
speeds the cloning process up a little. However, if the check is disabled,
there is a risk that the filesystem is damaged and the image created from
it is useless.

-rescue Continue reading next one when disk blocks read errors
If this option is set, Clonezilla Live continues cloning even if a read
error occurs. If there is one, the disk image will be corrupted, but
failing hard drives can only be cloned with this option enabled.

-fsck-src-part Check and repair source file system before saving
This option causes Clonezilla Live to check the integrity of the partition(s)
to be cloned. If the filesystem of the partition is damaged, Clonezilla Live
also attempts to repair it automatically. Enabling this option reduces the
risk that the image contains a damaged filesystem. However, the option is
disabled by default because the automatic filesystem repair attempt may
cause data loss.

-gm Generate image MD5 checksums
Causes Clonezilla Live to calculate MD5 checksum(s) of image(s) created. If
the image gets corrupted afterwards, the checksum allows to notice the
corruption before the image is restored. Mind you, calculating the checksum
takes some time and slows the process down a little.

-gs Generate image SHA1 checksums
This option is identical to the above, but creates SHA1 checksum(s) instead
of MD5. SHA1 is considered to be more accurate checksum algorithm than MD5,
but MD5 is more popular.

> Compression method

-z1p       Use parallel gzip compression (testing), for multicore/CPU
-z1        gzip compression (fast with a smaller image)
-z2p       Use parallel bzip2 compression (testing), for multicore/CPU
-z2        bzip2 compression (slowest but smallest image)
-z3        lzo compression (faster with image size approx. to that of
gzip)(NOTE!!)
-z4
lzma_compression_(slowest_but_also_small_image,_faster_decompression_than_bzip2)
-z5p       Use_parallel_xz_compression_(testing),_for_multicore/CPU
-z5
xz_compression_(slowest_but_also_small_image,_faster_decompression_than_bzip2)
-z6p       Use_parallel_lzip_compression_(testing),_for_multicore/CPU
-z6
lzip_compression_(slowest_but_also_small_image,_faster_decompression_than_bzip2)
-z0        No compression (fastest but largest image size)

This option chooses the method which is used to compress the image while
creating it.

If no compression is used at all, there won't be any negative speed impact
caused by compression. However, the image file size is the size of all the
data backed up - for example, if you clone a 160 GB hard drive containing
60 gigabytes of data, the resulting disk image will be 60 gigabytes in size.

Gzip and lzop are fast compression methods. Lzop is many times faster than
gzip, but creates slightly larger images. Clonezilla Live warns that lzop
requires good-quality RAM, but I (the contributor who wrote this chapter)
think other compression methods require good RAM too.

Bzip2, lzma, xz and lzip are powerful compression methods. Lzma creates a
little smaller images than bzip2, and decompressing lzma-compressed images
is faster than decompressing bzip2 images. But there is no free lunch:
lzma compression method is very slow compared even to bzip2, which isn't
fast method either.

Lzma method is becoming obsolete, and both xz and lzip are attempting to
become its successor. They are a bit less powerful compression methods than
lzma, but much faster. The differences between xz and lzip are virtually
non-existent.

If you don't use the i486 version of Clonezilla-SysRescCD and your
processor contains multiple cores and/or supports Hyper-Threading, parallel
gzip, bzip2, xz and lzip compression methods are also available. Parallel
compression means that each processor core compresses a different part of the
image at a time. Without parallel compression one core compresses everything.

The speed impact caused by parallel compression depends on the number
of processor cores available. In addition, Hyper-Threading increases the
speed by about 30 % if parallel compression is used. For example, if your
processor contains four cores and supports Hyper-Threading, speed with
parallel compression is nearly 5,2 times as high as without. However,
parallel compression is currently an experimental feature.

> Splitting

This option (command line: -i [number]) decides if the created image files
are splitted into smaller pieces, and if yes, how large the pieces are. This
setting doesn't usually matter, but some filesystems (most importantly
FAT32) don't allow files larger than four gigabytes. If you're saving the
disk image to a FAT32 partition, enter 4000 or less. (Value 0 disables
splitting, so don't use it in that case.) If the filesystem allows files
big enough, enter any value which isn't too small (you don't want to split
the image into too many pieces, do you?)

Clonezilla Live warns that it is no longer safe to disable splitting because
value 0 can confuse init. I (the contributor) don't know what the warning
exactly means and haven't been able to reproduce the problem. Anyway,
entering a very big value, for example 999999999999, is a safe way to keep
the image in one piece.

> Postaction

-p true        Do nothing when the clone finishes
-p reboot      Reboot client when the clone finishes
-p poweroff    Shutdown client when the clone finishes

In this screen you can decide what Clonezilla Live does when the
disk/partition is cloned.

Spiros told above that he has found out that it's not always safe to allow
Live CDs automatically unmount partitions, and I have lost data when trying
auto-unmount with a script. So, avoid -p reboot and -p poweroff options
if possible. You have been warned.

Restore options (script ocs-sr)
---------------------
> Various parameters

These options are available at the first "Clonezilla advanced extra
parameters" screen.
-g auto Reinstall grub in client disk MBR (only if grub config exists)
Causes Clonezilla Live to reinstall GRUB into the Master Boot Record
of the disk if at least one partition contains GRUB config file
(/boot/grub/menu.lst). The option is enabled by default and shouldn't
cause any harm. However, it should be disabled if you for example have
another bootloader in MBR and chainload GRUB with it.

-e1 auto Automatically adjust filesystem geometry for a NTFS boot partition
if exists
The NTLDR bootloader used by Windows isn't able to determine automatically
where the files it needs are stored. It only knows their physical locations,
which sometimes change when the disk or partition is copied. If the locations
are changed and this option is selected, the location information of the
files is changed accordingly. This option is enabled by default and if
it's disabled, the cloned Windows will fail to boot.

-e2 sfdisk uses CHS of hard drive from EDD(for non-grub boot loader)
This option requires that the -e1 auto option is selected. It causes
Clonezilla Live to use disk read interface named EDD for determining the
physical locations of the files when updating the location information
used by NTLDR. The option is enabled by default because it reduces the
risk that Windows doesn't boot.

-hn0 PC Change MS Win hostname (based on IP address) after clone
If this option is selected and a partition containing Microsoft Windows is
cloned, its IP address -based hostname is changed after cloning. Computers
which are on any network simultaneously need to have different hostnames,
so this option is needed if a Windows system is cloned to another computer
and the original computer is still used in addition to the one where the
image was restored to.

-hn1 PC Change MS Win hostname (based on MAC address) after clone
This option causes the MAC address -based hostname of Windows to change. This
option needs also be enabled in the above condition.

-v Prints verbose messages (especially for udpcast)
Causes Clonezilla Live to tell more information of what it does.

-nogui Use text output only, no TUI/GUI output
Causes Clonezilla Live to force the used programs to use only command-line
interface even if text-based or graphical user interface is available.

-b Run clone in batch mode (DANGEROUS!)
Causes Clonezilla Live to run in batch mode. According to Clonezilla
Live reference card, this option is dangerous, though I (the contributor)
don't know why.

-c Client waits for confirmation before cloning
This option causes Clonezilla Live to ask if you really want to clone the
disk/partition just before it starts cloning. It is enabled by default.

-t Client does not restore the MBR (Mater Boot Record)
Do NOT restore the MBR (Mater Boot Record) when restoring image. If this
option is set, you must make sure there is an existing MBR in the current
restored harddisk. Default is Yes.

-t1 Client restores the prebuilt MBR from syslinux (For Windows only)
If this option is set, the MBR is overwritten by prebuilt one which
chainloads Windows. Use this option if you have to restore Windows and
make it bootable, but don't have the original MBR or backup of it.

-r Try to resize the filesystem to fit partition size
This option is useful if you are cloning a small disk to larger one. It
tries to resize the restored filesystem to the size of the partition where
it was restored to. It allows you to use the whole size of your new disk
without resizing the partition afterwards. The option requires that the
disk where the image is copied already contains a partition where the
image is restored or that the option -k1 is enabled.

-e sfdisk uses the CHS value of hard drive from the saved image
Force to use the saved CHS (cylinders, heads, sectors) when using sfdisk. Of
cource, there is no use of it when using any of -j0, -k or -k2 options.

-icrc Ignore CRC checking of partclone
This option causes partclone to skip checking the CRC32 checksums of
the image. Enabling this option speeds the restore process up. However,
if this option is enabled and the -cm and -cs options are disabled, there
is no way to notice if the image has corrupted.

-j1 Write MBR (512 B) again after image is restored. Not OK for partition
table diffe
When a disk image is restored, the partition table must be updated to
reflect the actual partitions in the disk. If you don't want it to happen,
enable this option. Then the Master Boot Record (including the partition
table) is restored again after restoring the image. Note that using this
option can destroy all the data in the target drive.

-j2 Clone the hidden data between MBR and 1st partition
If this option is set, the 15 hidden sectors between Master Boot Record
and the first partition are restored. This area usually contains some data
necessary for booting. The option is enabled by default and should be kept
enabled if you are cloning a bootable disk.

-cm Check image by MD5 checksums
If the image folder contains MD5 checksum(s), this option causes Clonezilla
Live to check if the image has corrupted by calculating its checksum and
comparing it to the precalculated one. Mind you, calculating the checksum
takes some time and slows the process down a little.

-cs Check image by SHA1 checksums
This option is identical to the above, but checks SHA1 checksum(s) instead
of MD5.

-a Do NOT force to turn on HD DMA
Prevents Clonezilla Live from using DMA for communicating with hard
drives. Slows cloning down but in some conditions cloning without this
option can be impossible.

-o0 Run script in $OCS_PRERUN_DIR before clone starts
Run the scripts in the directory $OCS_PRERUN_DIR before clone is
started. The location of the directory can be determined by editing the
file drbl-ocs.conf. By default it is /opt/drbl/share/ocs/prerun.

-o1 Run script in $OCS_POSTRUN_DIR as clone finishes
Run the scripts in the directory $OCS_POSTRUN_DIR when clone is
finished. The location of the directory can be determined by editing the
file drbl-ocs.conf. By default it is /opt/drbl/share/ocs/postrun. The
command will be run before that assigned in -p.

The scripts will be executed by the program "run-parts". run-parts only
accepts that the name of the scripts must consist entirely of upper and
lower case letters, digits and underscores. So if your file name has an
illegal character ".", run-parts won't run it. You can test which files
will be executed by entering the command:
run-parts --test /opt/drbl/share/ocs/postrun

> Partition table

This option decides what is done to the partition table of the target drive.
 Use the partition table from the image
This option causes Clonezilla Live to copy the partition table from the
image. Use this option if you are cloning a whole disk or somehow know that
the partition tables are identical (for example, if you are restoring a
partition to the same disk where it was copied from and haven't repartitioned
the drive after creating the backup). This is the default option.

-k Do NOT create a partition table on the target disk
Do NOT create partition in target harddisk. If this option is set,
you must make sure there is an existing partition table in the current
restored harddisk.

-k1 Create partition table proportionally (OK for MRB format, not GPT)
Causes Clonezilla Live to create the partition table automatically using
sfdisk after restoring the images. This option works nearly always, but
sometimes cloned Windows don't boot. Note that this option doesn't work if
you have GUID Partition Table on your disk. (Most likely you don't have one.)

-k2 Enter command line prompt to create partition manually later
Like the -k option, this option doesn't create the partition table
automatically. However, after restoring the image you are led to command
line prompt where you can create the partition table manually. Don't use
this option if you don't know how the partition table can be created.

-j0 Use dd to create partition (NOT OK if logical drives exist)
Use dd to dump the partition table from saved image instead of sfdisk.

We read in DRBL FAQ/Q&A {{
http://drbl.sourceforge.net/faq/fine-print.php?path=./2_System/23_Missing_OS.faq#23_Missing_OS.faq
}}:

When I use clonezilla to clone M$ windows, there is no any problem
when saving an image from template machine. However, after the image
is restored to another machine, it fails to boot, the error message is
"Missing Operating System". What's going on ?

Usually this is because GNU/Linux and M$ windows interpret the CHS (cylinder,
head, sector) value of harddrive differently. Some possible solutions:
  1. Maybe you can change the IDE harddrive setting in BIOS, try to use
  LBA instead of auto mode.
  2. Try to choose
    [ ] -j0 Use dd to create partition table instead of sfdisk
  and
    [ ] -t1 Client restores the prebuilt MBR from syslinux (For Windows only)
  when you restore the image.
  3. You can try to boot the machine with MS Windows 9x bootable floppy,
  and in the DOS command prompt, run: "fdisk /mbr".
  4. You can try to boot the machine with MS Windows XP installation
  CD, enter recovery mode (by pressing F10 key in MS XP, for example),
  then in the console, run "fixmbr" to fix it. Maybe another command
  "fixboot" will help, too. For more info, refer to this doc {{
  http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B314058&x=7&y=14 }}
  5. Use ntfsreloc to adjust FS geometry on NTFS partitions. For more info,
  refer to http://www.linux-ntfs.org/doku.php?id=contrib:ntfsreloc

It has been confirmed that activating the -j0 option, fixes the problem.

This option doesn't work if you use LVM (Logical Volume Manager).

exit Exit
This option ends the restore process and enters command line prompt.

> Postaction

-p true        Do nothing when the clone finishes
-p reboot      Reboot client when the clone finishes
-p poweroff    Shutdown client when the clone finishes

When image restoration finishes, do one of the following: choose action
(default), poweroff or reboot.

Saving image files in NTFS partitions
****************************************
Although not recomended, you may find yourself having to save your image
file in a NTFS (Windows XP) partition. You may never have a problem doing
this, but you may get a message like the following one, when the partition
gets mounted:
Volume is scheduled for check
Please boot into Windows TWICE, or use 'force' mount option"
and the backup procedure fails. There are two things you can do here:

* Exit the program, reboot and use Windows XP Recovery Console to fix the
NTFS file system. From Recovery Console
prompt, execute the command:
chkdsk /f X:

where X: is the drive letter of the disk. When done, boot back into
Clonezilla Live and repeat the backup procedure.

If the disk/partition you are trying to backup is not the Windows System
disk (usually C:), you can boot Windows, and execute the command in a DOS
window. To open a DOS window click Start / Run... and at the prompt Open:
type cmd.

If the Windows version you use is not XP and you're trying to backup the
Windows System drive, boot into SystemRescueCD (graphical mode is not
needed) and run the following command:
ntfsfix /dev/hda1

where /dev/hda1 is the partition name in GNU/Linux. When done, boot back
into Clonezilla Live and repeat the backup procedure.

* If Windows XP Recovery Console is not available, you don't have the time
to execute the procedure described above, or even if you have executed it
but you still get the same message, and you are absolutely sure that you
get this message because the NTFS partition is really scheduled for check,
and it's not because Windows crushed or have become corrupt, you can mount
the patririon by hand and tell Clonezilla Live to use it. Assuming the
partition is /dev/hda1, exit the program and execute the commands:
sudo su -
ntfs-3g -o force /dev/hda1 /home/partimag
ocs-live

and when you get to the screen "Mount clonezilla image directory", select
skip        Use existing /home/partimag


Getting backups
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
In this page I will demonstrate the creation of an image file by getting
a backup of a virtual partition (/dev/sdb1). The image file will be saved
in another virtual partition (/dev/sda1).

The first thing you do when you want to get a backup of a disk/partition,
is make sure both the souce (to be backed up) and target (to hold the
image file) partitions are in excellent condition (error free). This is the
logical thing to do, cause I wouldn't want to backup a corrupt partition,
or end up with a corrupt image file.

There is one more step I would want to take: I should check that my BIOS
boot settings are correct, in order to boot from my CD/DVD drive.

Having done all of the above, I am ready to boot from Clonezilla-SysRescCD.

[[ info.png ]]
The following pressentation has been made usingClonezilla Live v 1.2.5-17

Getting the backup
****************************************
Clonezilla-SysRescCD starting screen
---------------------
If you're fine with US keymap and English language (available languages are
English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese and Chinese [both simplified
and traditional]) or don't mind editing the boot parameters, just select
Clonezilla Live at the starting screen and press ENTER. When the system
comes up, it will load the program that will preform the backup. After
that continue from this step.

If you need to change these settings, select one of the available Clonezilla
Live menu entries, and press TAB. The current boot parameters will be
displayed.

The default parameters for booting Clonezilla Live on a 1024x768 screen,
are the following:

append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
  ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param=""
  ocs_prerun="/live/image/restorecd/prerun.normal" ocs_live_batch="no"
  ocs_lang="en_US.UTF-8" ocs_live_keymap="NONE" vga=791 nolocales

By deleting the words in red, you instruct Clonezilla Live to ask you the
values of these parameters. When the appropriate changes have been done
(as shown bellow), just press ENTER to boot.

append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
  ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param=""
  ocs_prerun="/live/image/restorecd/prerun.normal" ocs_live_batch="no"
  ocs_lang="" ocs_live_keymap="" vga=791 nolocales

Screen "Choose Language"
---------------------
[[ backup-00.png ]]
I select "en_US.UTF-8 English" and press ENTER.

Screen "Configuring console-data"
---------------------
[[ backup-01.png ]]
I select "Select keymap from full list" and press ENTER. If you're using
US keymap, the default option "Don't touch keymap" is a better choice.

Screen "Configuring console-data"
---------------------
[[ backup-02.png ]]
As I (the contributor who wrote a great deal of this page) use Finnish
keyboard, I select "pc / qwerty / Finnish / Standard / Standard". Because
you most likely use a different keyboard, choose the one you use.

Screen "Start Clonezilla"
---------------------
[[ backup-03.png ]]
I select "Start Clonezilla" and press ENTER.

Screen "Clonezilla"
---------------------
[[ backup-04.png ]]
I select "device-image" and press ENTER.

Screen "Mount clonezilla image directory"
---------------------
In this screen I can select the way the image file directory will be saved.
Available options are local directory, remote directory through ssh,
samba or nfs and skip, to use the previously used directory. More info
about the image file can be found at section "About the Image file".

[[ backup-05.png ]]
I select "local_dev" and press ENTER.

Next screen
---------------------
This is where I choose the location of the image file. It will be saved
at the root directory of the selected partition.

[[ backup-06.png ]]
I select partition sda1 and press ENTER.

[[ backup-07.png ]]
and then ENTER again.

[[ backup-08.png ]]
This screen displays the mounting result.
As we can see, /dev/sda1 has been successfully mounted under /tmp/local-dev.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ backup-09.png ]]
I select Beginer mode to accept the default backup options. If you select
Expert mode, you can choose the options yourself. More details can be
found here.

Screen "Select mode"
---------------------
Here I can select the desired operation.

[[ backup-10.png ]]
I select "savedisk" and press ENTER.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ backup-11.png ]]
In this screen I select the image name.
I type "Backup_22-2010_sdb", which in my opinion is more informative name
than the default.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ backup-12.png ]]
Finally I am asked to select the partition to save.
I just press ENTER again.

Starting the backup
---------------------
[[ backup-13.png ]]
Then the program will display the command that will be executed and will
ask me to press ENTER.
Then I will be asked to confirm the operation by pressing y and ENTER.

[[ backup-14.png ]]
After that, the backup begins

[[ backup-15.png ]]
and when it's successfully completed, I press ENTER to get to the
shell. Then, I execute the commands:
sudo su -
cd
umount -a
reboot

to reboot the system.


Getting backups on Samba
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
What if you don't have a spare local disk or partition or a USB disk? How
will you be able to get a backup of your system? Well, if your PC is on
the same LAN with another PC running Windows (or linux), you can use Samba
to save your image file on that remote PC (which we will call Samba server
from now on).

Using Samba you will be able to mount a Windows share resource (or
Samba share resource), from within Clonezilla Live, and save the image
file there. Then you can boot that PC using SystemRescueCD and create a
restore DVD.

In this page I will demonstrate the creation of an image file by getting
a backup of my second disk (/dev/sdb). The image file will be save in my
Samba server which is my laptop (ip: 10.0.0.3, Windows share resource name:
all_my_images).

What is Samba?
---------------------
We read at http://us1.samba.org/samba/:

Samba is an Open Source/Free Software suite that provides seamless file
and print services to SMB/CIFS clients. Samba is freely available, unlike
other SMB/CIFS implementations, and allows for interoperability between
Linux/Unix servers and Windows-based clients.

Samba is software that can be run on a platform other than Microsoft
Windows, for example, UNIX, Linux, IBM System 390, OpenVMS, and other
operating systems. Samba uses the TCP/IP protocol that is installed on the
host server. When correctly configured, it allows that host to interact
with a Microsoft Windows client or server as if it is a Windows file and
print server.

Gathering info
****************************************
Before you can use this approach to get a backup, you have to get some
info about the Samba server.

The Samba server I have used for this example was my laptop, so I already
knew most of the info required. If this is not the case for you, just ask
the owner, user or system admin.

The info required is:

* The IP address of the Samba server
* The domain on the Samba server
This may exist if your PC is connected to a larger LAN (a corporation
network, for example). In my case this is empty.
* The user name and password you can use
* The directory on the Samba server you can use to save your backup
This is the name of the Windows share resource (Samba share resource)
as it is known in the network, which is not necessarily the same as the
local directory name. The user whose account will be used to login to the
Samba server, must have write permission to this directory.

Getting the backup
****************************************
If you're fine with US keymap and English language (available languages are
English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese and Chinese [both simplified
and traditional]) or don't mind editing the boot parameters, just select
Clonezilla Live at the starting screen and press ENTER. When the system
comes up, it will load the program that will preform the backup.

If you need to change these settings, go to the Getting backups page for
instructions .

Screen "Start Clonezilla"
---------------------
[[ backup-03.png ]]
I select "Start Clonezilla" and press ENTER.

Screen "Clonezilla"
---------------------
[[ backup-04.png ]]
I select "device-image" and press ENTER.

Screen "Mount clonezilla image directory"
---------------------
In this screen I can select the way the image file directory will be saved.
Available options are local directory, remote directory through ssh,
samba or nfs and skip, to use the previously used directory. More info
about the image file can be found at section "About the Image file".

[[ backup-smb-05.png ]]
I select "samba server" and press ENTER.

Screen "Mount Samba Server"
---------------------
This is where I have to enter the IP address of my Samba server.
[[ backup-smb-06.png ]]
I type "10.0.0.3" and press ENTER.

Screen "Mount Samba Server" (second time)
---------------------
This is where I have to enter the domain name on my Samba server.
[[ backup-smb-07.png ]]
I just press ENTER, as there is no domain in my LAN. If there is a domain
in your network, you have to type its name (something like my_company.com)
and press ENTER.

Screen "Mount Samba Server" (third time)
---------------------
This is where I have to enter the account (user) name on my Samba server.
[[ backup-smb-08.png ]]
I type "spiros" and press ENTER.

Screen "Mount Samba Server" (fourth time)
---------------------
This is where I have to enter the directory name on my Samba server, in
which the image file will be saved. I type "/all_my_images" and press ENTER.
[[ backup-smb-09.png ]]

At this point I'm informed I'm going to be asked for the password for
user spiros.
[[ backup-smb-10.png ]]
I will be able to continue only after entering it correctly.
[[ backup-smb-11.png ]]

Screen "Clonezilla - Opensource Clone System (OCS)"
---------------------
[[ backup-09.png ]]
I select Beginer mode to accept the default backup options. If you select
Expert mode, you can choose the options yourself. More details can be
found here.

Screen "Select mode"
---------------------
Here I can select the desired operation.

[[ backup-10.png ]]
I select "savedisk" and press ENTER.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ backup-11.png ]]
In this screen I select the image name.
I type "Backup_22-2010_sdb", which in my opinion is more informative name
than the default.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ backup-12.png ]]
Finally I am asked to select the partition to save.
I just press ENTER again.

Starting the backup
---------------------
[[ backup-13.png ]]
Then the program will display the command that will be executed and will
ask me to press ENTER.
Then I will be asked to confirm the operation by pressing y and ENTER.

[[ backup-14.png ]]
After that, the backup begins

[[ backup-15.png ]]
and when it's successfully completed, I press ENTER to get to the
shell. Then, I execute the commands:
sudo su -
cd
umount -a
reboot

to reboot the system.


Restoring data
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
Image files are always created for one purpose: restoring the data they
contain. Images can be, for example, a backup solution: as long as hardware
works, the computer can be restored to the state it was when creating the
image. Another usage scenario is changing the hard drive: files can be
copy-pasted from the old drive to the new, but that method doesn't make
the new drive bootable. Disk images do.

This page contains a demonstration of the latter case. On the Getting backups
page, a 500 MB virtual disk containing 160 megabytes of data was copied
to a 2 GB virtual disk which was empty. Now the 500 MB disk is changed to
an empty 2 GB disk (still virtual) and I'll restore the data to that disk.

When creating a disk image, one needs to check that both the source and
target partitions are error free. That's not required when the image is
restored, because restoration process can't damage the disk image. Note,
however, that restoring an image erases all the data in the target
disk/partition.

You also need to check the BIOS settings to be able to boot from
Clonezilla-SysRescCD. Some BIOSes contain a boot menu, others require
editing settings pernamently. Details can be found on the manual of the
motherboard or laptop.

Now let's boot.

[[ important.png ]]
Restore process erases all the data on the target disk/partition.Before
restoring make sure you have backup of all the data on the target
disk/partition, even if the filesystem is corrupted.

[[ info.png ]]
The following pressentation has been made usingClonezilla Live v 1.2.5-17

Restoring data
****************************************
Clonezilla-SysRescCD starting screen
---------------------
If you're fine with US keymap and English language (available languages are
English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese and Chinese [both simplified
and traditional]) or don't mind editing the boot parameters, just select
Clonezilla Live at the starting screen and press ENTER. When the system
comes up, it will load the program that will preform the backup. After
that continue from this step.

If you need to change these settings, select one of the available Clonezilla
Live menu entries, and press TAB. The current boot parameters will be
displayed.

The default parameters for booting Clonezilla Live on a 1024x768 screen,
are the following:

append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
  ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param=""
  ocs_prerun="/live/image/restorecd/prerun.normal" ocs_live_batch="no"
  ocs_lang="en_US.UTF-8" ocs_live_keymap="NONE" vga=791 nolocales

By deleting the words in red, you instruct Clonezilla Live to ask you the
values of these parameters. When the appropriate changes have been done
(as shown bellow), just press ENTER to boot.

append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
  ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param=""
  ocs_prerun="/live/image/restorecd/prerun.normal" ocs_live_batch="no"
  ocs_lang="" ocs_live_keymap="" vga=791 nolocales

Screen "Choose Language"
---------------------
[[ backup-00.png ]]
This is where the language can be selected. I select "en_US.UTF-8 English"
and press ENTER.

Screen "Configuring console-data"
---------------------
[[ backup-01.png ]]
I select "Select keymap from full list" and press ENTER. If you're using
US keymap, the default option "Don't touch keymap" is a better choice.

Screen "Configuring console-data"
---------------------
[[ backup-02.png ]]
Because I haven't changed my keyboard, I select "pc / qwerty / Finnish /
Standard / Standard". Because you most likely use a different keyboard,
choose the one you use.

Screen "Start Clonezilla"
---------------------
[[ backup-03.png ]]
I select "Start Clonezilla" and press ENTER.

Screen "Clonezilla"
---------------------
[[ backup-04.png ]]
I select "device-image" and press ENTER.

Screen "Mount clonezilla image directory"
---------------------
In this screen I can select the way the image file directory has been saved.
Available options are local directory, remote directory through ssh,
samba or nfs and skip, to use the previously used directory. More info
about the image file can be found at section "About the Image file".

[[ backup-05.png ]]
I select "local_dev" and press ENTER.

Next screen
---------------------
This is where I choose the location of the image file.
[[ restoration-06.png ]]
I select partition sda1 and press ENTER.

[[ backup-07.png ]]

[[ restoration-08.png ]]
This screen displays the mounting result.
As we can see, /dev/sda1 has been successfully mounted under /tmp/local-dev.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ backup-09.png ]]
I select Beginer mode to accept the default restore options. If you select
Expert mode, you can choose the options yourself. More details can be
found here.

Screen "Select mode"
---------------------
Here I can select the desired operation.

[[ restoration-10.png ]]
I select "restoredisk" and press ENTER.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ restoration-11.png ]]
In this screen I select the image folder. This partition contains only
one image.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ restoration-12.png ]]
Finally I am asked to select which partition the image will be restored
to. After double-checking the disk doesn't contain anything important,
I press ENTER.

Starting the restoration
---------------------
[[ restoration-13.png ]]
Then the program will display the command that will be executed and will
ask me to press ENTER.
Then I will be asked to confirm the operation by pressing y and ENTER.

[[ restoration-14.png ]]

[[ important.png ]]
This is the last confirmation Clonezilla Live asks.After this step there
is no coming back.
Then my confirmation is asked one last time. After checking one more time
the disk doesn't contain any important data, I press y and ENTER.

[[ restoration-15.png ]]
After that, the restore process begins

[[ restoration-16.png ]]
and when it's successfully completed, I press ENTER to get to the
shell. Then, I execute the commands:
sudo su -
cd
umount -a
reboot

to reboot the system.


Creating a Restore DVD - Part 1
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
Assuming you have used Clonezilla Live to make a backup of your Windows XP
system (partition /dev/hda1), which you have saved as win_img, you will
probably be wondering what to do with it now. Well, one option would be
to keep it to the disk you used to save it in, store the disk, and use it
whenever you need it. Another option would be to create a DVD you can use
to restore this image.

Before, up to Clonezilla-SysRescCD 2.6.0, the process to create an automated
restore DVD required entering command line prompt and writing some commands,
that can be uncomfortable or even difficult for many people.

Later, a TUI option to create an automated recovery disc was added to
Clonezilla Live, and ocs-iso script included in Clonezilla-SysRescCD
3.1.0 and newer has a TUI too. Old command-line options are no longer
supported. This page walks you through the creation of an automated restore
DVD via TUI.

Assuming you have saved your image file win_img in partition hdb4, you
have to boot Clonezilla Live, using Clonezilla-SysRescCD.

[[ info.png ]]
The following pressentation has been made usingClonezilla Live v 1.2.3-27

Creating the disk image
****************************************
Clonezilla-SysRescCD starting screen
---------------------
If you're fine with US keymap and English language (available languages are
English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese and Chinese [both simplified
and traditional]) or don't mind editing the boot parameters, just select
Clonezilla Live at the starting screen and press ENTER. When the system
comes up, it will load the program that will preform the backup. After
that continue from this step.

If you need to change these settings, select one of the available Clonezilla
Live menu entries, and press TAB. The current boot parameters will be
displayed.

The default parameters for booting Clonezilla Live on a 1024x768 screen,
are the following:

append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
  ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param=""
  ocs_prerun="/live/image/restorecd/prerun.normal" ocs_live_batch="no"
  ocs_lang="en_US.UTF-8" ocs_live_keymap="NONE" vga=791 nolocales

By deleting the words in red, you instruct Clonezilla Live to ask you the
values of these parameters. When the appropriate changes have been done
(as shown bellow), just press ENTER to boot.

append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs
  ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param=""
  ocs_prerun="/live/image/restorecd/prerun.normal" ocs_live_batch="no"
  ocs_lang="" ocs_live_keymap="" vga=791 nolocales

Screen "Choose Language"
---------------------
[[ backup-00.png ]]
I select "en_US.UTF-8 English" and press ENTER.

Screen "Configuring console-data"
---------------------
[[ backup-01.png ]]
I select "Select keymap from full list" and press ENTER. If you're using
US keymap, the default option "Don't touch keymap" is a better choice.

Screen "Configuring console-data"
---------------------
[[ backup-02.png ]]
Because I haven't changed my keyboard, I select "pc / qwerty / Finnish /
Standard / Standard". Because you most likely use a different keyboard,
choose the one you use.

Screen "Start Clonezilla"
---------------------
[[ backup-03.png ]]
I select "Start Clonezilla" and press ENTER.

Screen "Clonezilla"
---------------------
[[ backup-04.png ]]
I select "device-image" and press ENTER.

Screen "Mount clonezilla image directory"
---------------------
In this screen I can select the way the image file directory has been saved.
Available options are local directory, remote directory through ssh,
samba or nfs and skip, to use the previously used directory. More info
about the image file can be found at section "About the Image file".

[[ backup-05.png ]]
I select "local_dev" and press ENTER.

Next screen
---------------------
This is where I choose the location of the image file.
[[ restore-06.png ]]
I select partition hda1 and press ENTER.

[[ backup-07.png ]]
and then ENTER again.

[[ restore-08.png ]]
This screen displays the mounting result.
As we can see, /dev/hda1 has been successfully mounted under /tmp/local-dev.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ backup-09.png ]]
I select Beginer mode to accept the default restore options, which are
used if the recovery disk is ever used. If you select Expert mode, you
can choose the options yourself. More details can be found here.

Screen "Clonezilla: Select mode"
---------------------
Here I can select the desired operation.

[[ restore-10.png ]]
I select "recovery-iso-zip" and press ENTER.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ restore-11.png ]]
In this screen I select the image folder. This partition contains only
one image.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ restore-12.png ]]
Now I am asked to select which disk the image will be restored to, if the
recovery disc is used. Because this image is a backup, I choose the same
disk where the original data resides. If you're upgrading your hard drive,
choose the new drive.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ restore-13.png ]]
In this screen I can select the language that the recovery disc uses. I
choose "en_US.UTF-8".

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ restore-14.png ]]
This screen allows me to select the keymap that the recovery disc
uses. Unfortunately, changing the keymap requires knowing where the keymap
file resides in Debian GNU/Linux. Because I don't know it, I just press
ENTER to accept US keymap.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ restore-15.png ]]
I select "iso" to create a CD/DVD disk image which I can burn to a recordable
CD/DVD disc. The good thing about recordable discs is that overwriting
the backup by accident is impossible. The "zip" option creates a ZIP file
which can be used to create a bootable pendrive or external hard drive.

[[ restore-16.png ]]
Then the program will display the command that will be executed and will
ask me to press ENTER.

[[ cust-menu-01.png ]]
Due to limitations of mkisofs, the script can't create a ISO file which
is over 4,5 gigabytes in size. It causes problems if the size of your
image is over 4,4 gigabytes. Clonezilla-SysRescCD contains a workaround
that creates a ISO file that contains no image, so you can add the image
manually later. This dialog asks if you want to do so. Note that if you
see this dialog, you most likely need a dual layer DVD+R or Blu-ray disc
to burn the image. Growisofs doesn't support multisession burning on dual
layer DVD-R discs, so such disc can't be used either.

Screen "Customization section"
---------------------
[[ cust-menu-02.png ]]
Now I am asked if I want to customize the boot menu of the disc. I answer
"Yes". If you don't want to customize the menu, continue from this step.

Screen "DVD Title"
---------------------
[[ cust-menu-03.png ]]
In this screen I select the title of the boot menu. I type "Home PC
Restore DVD".

Screen "Menu Items Caption"
---------------------
[[ cust-menu-04.png ]]
This screen allows me to select the caption for all menu items. I enter
"Restore Win XP".

Screen "Boot delay"
---------------------
[[ cust-menu-05.png ]]
I press ENTER to accept the default delay of 30 seconds. It means that
when a computer is booted from the restore disc, it waits 30 seconds
before choosing the default option automatically. You may want to reduce
this delay if, for example, your keyboard doesn't work in boot menu and
you must wait until the delay ends.

Screen "Default Boot Item"
---------------------
[[ cust-menu-06.png ]]
In this screen I can select the default option of the menu. Selecting one
of the options that restore the image makes using the disc even easier,
but also raises the risk that the image is restored accidentally. Another
reason to select such option may be that your keyboard doesn't work in
boot menu, preventing you from choosing any non-default option. I select
the first option that restores the image using pixel dimensions of 1024*768.

Screen "Boot Screen Image"
---------------------
[[ cust-menu-07.png ]]
This screen allows me to select the background picture of the menu. Note
that the picture must be in the same partition that contains the disk
image, if you don't mind entering command line and mounting the right
partition manually. I choose picture mysplash.png in the root of the
partition. Because the partition has been mounted in /home/partimag,
the full path of the picture is /home/partimag/mysplash.png.

Screen "ISO Label"
---------------------
[[ cust-menu-08.png ]]
In this screen I can select the volume label of the disc. Volume label is
the name of the disc you may see in various situations, for example in the
notification you see when you insert the disc into your DVD writer. I type
"Backup_52-2009_hdb".

Screen "Publisher ID"
---------------------
[[ cust-menu-09.png ]]
This is where I choose the publisher ID of the ISO file
and the disc. Publisher ID means the person or company who
created the disc. However, at least in GNU/Linux reading
the publisher ID is, strictly speaking, a challenge. Here {{
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/getting-volume-information-from-cds-iso- }}
are instructions to read the publisher ID of a ISO file. I didn't find
any working instructions to read the ID from the disc.

Starting the creation of the disk image
---------------------
[[ restore-17.png ]]
After that, creation of the disk image begins. Note that no confirmation
is asked it the disk image is small enough to fit to a CD.

[[ cust-menu-10.png ]]

If you have above enabled the workaround to create a ISO file without any
image, you get the info screen, which explains the actions to be taken
in order to burn the ISO file and add the iamge file to the DVD. A script
file is also saved as /tmp/burnISO.

[[ restore-18.png ]]
When the disk image is successfully created, I must reboot in order to
burn the disc because my DVD burner is still in use. Clonezilla Live can
be loaded into computer memory during boot in order to be able to burn
disc(s) within it. However, due to a known bug, the disk image can't
be created if Clonezilla Live has been loaded into memory. (source {{
http://free.nchc.org.tw/clonezilla-live/stable/Known-issues-Clonezilla-live.txt
}}) Thus, I press 1 and ENTER to reboot to another operating system and
burn the image using graphical burning program. For instructions, follow
one of these links:

If the ISO file contains the disk image
If the ISO file contains no image
If you've created a ZIP file


Creating a Restore DVD - Part 2
==============================================================================

What to do with the disk image
****************************************
The previous page contains partial instructions to create an automated
recovery DVD. They're partial because they only tell how the disk image
can be created, not what one should do with the image. Of course, partial
instructions are not enough, but don't worry - this page is the other part.

Earlier versions of Clonezilla Live allowed creating the DVD without
reboot, but it's no longer possible due to a known bug. The disk image
can't be created if Clonezilla Live has been loaded into memory (source {{
http://free.nchc.org.tw/clonezilla-live/stable/Known-issues-Clonezilla-live.txt
}}) and the image can't be burned to disc if Clonezilla Live isn't in
memory. And if the computer must be rebooted anyway, it's a good idea to
use one's favorite operating system and a graphical burning program for
burning the disc. Doing so also allows reading these instructions while
burning the disc.

This page walks through burning the disc by using ImgBurn and K3b. The
instructions can be adapted for many other burning programs as well. If
your burning program is too different, download either of the programs
mentioned - they both can be downloaded for free.

In addition to a DVD, bootable pendrive or external hard drive can be
created as well. If you want to do so, follow instructions below.

Before following these instructions, insert a writable DVD or Blu-ray disc
to your burner.

Burning the disc
****************************************
If the ISO file contains the disk image
---------------------
> Using ImgBurn

ImgBurn {{ http://www.imgburn.com/ }} is a lightweight but very feature-rich
disc burning program. It only requires about two megabytes disk space
and contains a lot of settings. ImgBurn is closed-source freeware and -
unfortunately - Windows-only software. I (Jyrki) personally use ImgBurn
when burning discs within Windows.

Launch ImgBurn and press Write image file to disc. Select the disk image
you just created.

At the settings window, keep Test Mode disabled. I also recommend
keeping the Verify option enabled. Verifying the integrity of the disc
after burning requires time and doesn't prevent the disc from becoming a
so-called coaster, but it allows you to know immediately if the burning
attempt failed, so you can try burning the disc again.

Keep the number of copies as 1 (or increase it, if you really
want multiple copies of the disc). Use your best judgment while
choosing the burning speed: according to this forum thread {{
http://club.myce.com/f33/high-speed-vs-low-speed-burning-69698/ }} lowering
the burning speed gives very mixed results in quality. I personally use
¾ of the maximum speed of the disc, for example 12x on a disc rated 16x.

After choosing the settings, press the big picture at the bottom-left of
the window. Don't do anything that requires much computer resources while
burning, because doing so increases the likelihood of burning failure.

That's it. You own now an automated recovery disc.

> Using K3b

K3b (KDE Burn Baby Burn) is the disc burning program included in KDE
Software Compilation. It comes with most, if not all, KDE-based GNU/Linux
distributions. It can also be installed on other distributions, but I
recommend against doing so - K3b requires KDE base packages to be installed,
and it doesn't make much sense to install KDE base only for K3b.

[[ k3b-00.png ]]
I launch K3b and navigate to the folder where the disk image resides.

[[ k3b-01.png ]]
I double-click the file clonezilla-live-Backup_5-2010_hda.iso.

[[ k3b-02.png ]]
This window allows me to choose burning settings. I don't touch Image Type or
Burn Medium, because they're auto-detected anyway. The maximum burning speed
allowed by the disc is 16x, so I choose speed 12x. According to this forum
thread {{ http://club.myce.com/f33/high-speed-vs-low-speed-burning-69698/
}} low burning speed can decrease burning quality, so I always use speed
near the maximum speed of the disc.

I keep Writing Mode as Auto and number of copies as 1. I also keep the
Simulate option disabled and enable the Verify written data option. The
latter allows me to notice immediately if the burning attempt failed, so
I can try burning the disc again, rather than owning a so-called coaster
and relying on it if something happens to my data...

[[ k3b-03.png ]]
I click Start and the burning process begins.

[[ k3b-04.png ]]
Because I enabled the Verify written data option, K3b starts verifying
the integrity of the disc right after burning.

[[ k3b-05.png ]]
The burning attempt succeeded.

If the ISO file contains no image
---------------------
If you have enabled the workaround to create a ISO file that contains
no disk image (required if the size of the image is over 4,4 gigabytes),
things become much more problematic. The ISO file and the image can't be
burned to the disc simultaneously, they must be written one-by-one. That
requires two burning sessions: the first for writing the ISO file to the
disc and the second for adding the disk image. Many burning programs don't
even support multisession burning at all. About the programs I've mentioned
in this page: K3b supports multisession burning, ImgBurn doesn't.

I didn't find any instructions for adding an additional file to a
spesific directory by using K3b. Actually, I don't even know if that's
possible at all. Thus, I recommend using growisofs for burning the disc
if the workaround has been enabled, because growisofs allows adding
any file to any directory. However, there's one more limitation:
growisofs doesn't support multisession burning on dual layer DVD-R
discs, so you must use dual layer DVD+R or Blu-ray disc. (source {{
http://fy.chalmers.se/~appro/linux/DVD+RW/-RW/#nomultisess }})

Growisofs is a command-line program and a part of dvd+rw-tools that is
installed on most GNU/Linux distributions. Dvd+rw-tools is Linux-only
software, so if you use a competing operating system, you must boot into
SystemRescueCD (graphical mode is not needed) in order to burn the disc.

Open terminal and mount the partition that contains the image. The commands
below must be run as root.

mkdir /media/usb
mount /dev/sdc1 /media/usb

Note: How a command can be run as root depends on the GNU/Linux distribution
you use. If it's Ubuntu or a distro based on it, simply put "sudo" above the
command. For example, the latter of the above commands can be executed by
typing "sudo mount /dev/sdc1 /media/usb". If you're using SystemRescueCD,
all commands are run as root, so you don't need to add any prefix to
the commands.

Note: In the command replace /dev/sdc1 with the partition where the disk
image resides. It's the same partition you mounted as /home/partimag when
creating the image.

Go to root of the partition:

cd /media/usb

Burn the ISO file to the disc:

growisofs -Z /dev/dvd=clonezilla-live-Backup_5-2010_hdb.iso

Note: In the last command I have assumed your ISO file is
clonezilla-live-Backup_5-2010_hdb.iso. You will have to replace this with
the actual name of the file.

Note: If your computer has multiple DVD drives, replace /dev/dvd with the
name of your DVD writer.

The disc must be ejected because it's the only known way to force the
drive to reread the disc. Do it:

eject /dev/dvd

Note: If your drive can't reload the disc, insert the disc back right
after ejecting it.

Finally, add the image file to the disc:

growisofs -M /dev/dvd -R -J -V "Backup_5-2010_hdb" \
--publisher "Your Name" -graft-points \
/Backup_5-2010_hdb/=/media/usb/Backup_5-2010_hdb

Note: In the command replace Your Name with anything you want to be the
publisher ID of the disc. If you don't want the disc to have any publisher
ID, run this command instead:

growisofs -M /dev/dvd -R -J -V "Backup_5-2010_hdb" \
-graft-points /Backup_5-2010_hdb/=/media/usb/Backup_5-2010_hdb

[[ restore-20.png ]]

ZIP file instructions
****************************************
Often the image file is way too big to fit to even 8 GB DVD. Some people may
also want to be able to overwrite the backup when it becomes outdated. In
addition, netbooks don't have optical drives at all.

One option is using recovery thumb drive or external hard drive instead
of DVD. If the external HD is big enough, the disk image can be even over
a terabyte in size. Recovery USB drive can also be used on netbooks and
overwritten at will.

Clonezilla Live allows creating a ZIP file instead of disk image. If you
want to do so, follow this step-by-step guide.

Before creating the disk image, make sure it is split to pieces of four
gigabytes or less. It is split automatically if you use Beginner mode,
and if you use Expert mode, you should already know how the splitting
setting can be changed.

Using GNU/Linux
---------------------
After creating the disk image and booting into GNU/Linux, make sure that the
filesystem of the partition where you plan to put the disk image is FAT32. If
you don't know the filesystem, open terminal and run this command as root:

fdisk -l /dev/sdc

Note: How a command can be run as root depends on the GNU/Linux distribution
you use. If it's Ubuntu or a distro based on it, simply put "sudo" above
the command. For example, the above command can be executed by typing
"sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc"

Note: In the command replace /dev/sdc with the name of your USB disk.

Note: The l in parameter -l is lowercase L, not number 1.

If your disk doesn't contain any FAT32 partition, but it contains a
partition which is big enough and doesn't contain any important data,
format the partition as FAT32. The command below needs root access too.

[[ important.png ]]
The command below erases all the data on the target partition.Make sure
you don't format a wrong partition by accident.

mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdc1

After formatting the partition or noticing that it was already FAT32,
extract the ZIP archive to the root of the partition. Also these commands
need root rights.

mount /dev/sdc1 /media/usb
unzip clonezilla-live-Backup_5-2010_hdb.zip -d /media/usb/

Note: In the last command I have assumed your image file is
clonezilla-live-Backup_5-2010_hdb.zip. You will have to replace this with
the actual name of the file.

ZIP package contains a script to make the USB drive bootable. Let's run
it. The latter of these commands needs root access.

[[ important.png ]]
The latter of the commands below replaces theexisting bootloader of the
target disk, if there is one.Make sure you don't select a wrong disk
by accident.

cd /media/usb/utils/linux
./makeboot.sh /dev/sdc1

That's all. Your thumb drive or external hard drive should be now an
automatic recovery disk.

Using Windows
---------------------
If the Windows version you use is not Vista or 7, you need to be logged in
as administrator. If you're not, but you have access to an admin account,
log out and then log again in as admin.

If you don't have admin rights at all, boot into SystemRescueCD (you don't
need graphical mode this time) and follow the instructions for GNU/Linux. In
SystemRescueCD all commands are run as root, so you don't need to add any
prefix to the commands.

If you normally use Windows, you maybe don't know the name of your USB
disk in GNU/Linux. If that's the case, don't specify any disk in the first
command. It causes fdisk to tell about all disks in the computer and you
should be able to identify both the right disk and the right partition.

After creating the disk image and booting into Windows, make sure that
the filesystem of the partition where you plan to put the disk image is
FAT32. If you don't know the filesystem, open My Computer, right-click the
partition and select Properties. Then read the "File system" column. If
there reads anything but FAT32, check other partitions of the disk too,
if the disk contains multiple partitions. If you have a suitable FAT32
partition, continue from this step.

If your disk doesn't contain any FAT32 partition, but it contains a
partition which is big enough and doesn't contain any important data,
format the partition as FAT32.

[[ important.png ]]
Formatting erases all the data on the target partition.Make sure the
partition contains nothing important.

Right-click the partition and select Format.... If the Windows version
you use is Vista or 7, an UAC prompt asks for admin password. Enter it.

At the format window, choose the FAT32 filesystem. You can enter any volume
label (it means the name of the partition you can see next to the partition
letter) and enable Quick Format if you're in a hurry. If Quick Format is
disabled, Windows checks if the partition is physically OK after formatting
it. Enabling Quick Format makes the formatting process many times faster
and, contrary to popular belief, hardly ever causes any harm.

After formatting the partition or noticing that it was already FAT32, extract
the ZIP archive to the root of the partition. Navigate to the folder where
you've saved the ZIP file and right-click it. Choose Extract all..., and when
you're asked for location where the archive is extracted, enter the letter
of the partition, for example H:\. Do NOT choose any folder in the partition!

After that, browse to the folder X:\utils\win32, where X: is the letter
of the partition. Then, double-click makeboot.bat. If the Windows version
you use is Vista or 7, another UAC prompt appears. Enter the password
again. Then just follow the prompts to make the USB drive bootable.

Now you're done. Your thumb drive or external hard drive should be an
automatic recovery disk.


Restoring to a different location
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
In the past restoring to a different location was not supported by
Clonezilla Live at all. Because of that, a script called reloc-img was
added to Clonezilla-SysRescCD, which would help the user perform this task.

Recent versions of Clonezilla Live partly support restoring to a
different location, so the reloc-img script is obsolete, and has been
removed. Clonezilla Live now supports:

* Relocation of a disk image (restoring a whole disk)
* Relocation of a partition image (restoring a partition)

Clonezilla Live does not support:

* Relocation of a single partition contained into a disk image.

Imagine you have a disk backup image named hda-2009-02-02. The image
contains three partitions, hda1 (operating system), hda2 (user data)
and hda3 (other data).

You want to restore your other data partition (hda3), to a different system
(partition sdb2) but there is no way to restore (extract) a single partition
from a disk image - you can only restore the whole disk.

In order to address this situation, two new scripts have been written for
Clonezilla-SysRescCD: imginfo and imgconvert

Script imginfo
****************************************
The script will be used to print info about existing image files.

Its help screen is:

# imginfo -h
Clonezilla Live Image Information
imginfo v. 0.1 - (C) 2009 S. Georgaras <sng@hellug.gr>

Usage: imginfo <options> <directory>

Available options:
  s         Search in sub-directories too
  i [name]  Pring info for image [name]
  v         Print version info and exit
  h         Print this screen and exit

Script imgconvert
****************************************
The script will be used to convert an existing disk image file to a new
partition image file.

imgconvert can create two type of images:

* Temporary image
This type of image is created by linking the data files of the existing
disk image to the new partition image. This means that the original image
must be present for the new image to be used. This is the default image
type created by imgconvert.

* Permanent image
This type of image is created by copying the data files from the existing
disk image to the new partition image. This means that the original image is
not needed in order to use the new one. Permenant image files are created
using the command line parameter -p.

Its help screen is:

# imgconvert -h
Clonezilla Live Image Conversion
imgconvert v. 0.1 - (C) 2009 S. Georgaras <sng@hellug.gr>

Usage: imgconvert <options> [image] [partition] <new partition>

Parameters are:
  [image]     Disk image to be converted to partition image
  [partition] Partition name to convert. It must be a valid device name

Available options:
  o [image]  Save new imag as [image]
  p          Save new partition instead of making a link to the old one
  v          Print version info and exit
  h          Print this screen and exit

Using the scripts
****************************************
Restoring to a partition
---------------------
After booting into Clonezilla Live, I select

        Enter_shell        Enter command line prompt

when the menu is displayed and then I press 2 to exit to the shell.

At this point I will mount my images partition (in this example /dev/sdc4),
and use script imginfo to get info about my image files.

$ sudo su -
# mount /dev/sdc4 /home/partimag
# cd /home/partimag
# imginfo
Image files found in: /home/partimag
  Image: usb250-img, disk: sda, size: 259MB, parts: 1
    part: sda4, size: 247.00MB, type: FAT16
  Image: sys-bck, disk: hda, size: 320.0GB, parts: 3
    part: hda1, size: 22.36GB, type: Linux
    part: hda2, size: 39.06GB, type: Linux
    part: hda3, size: 233.87GB, type: Linux

As you can see there are two disk images under /home/partimag: usb250-img
and sys-bck.

sys-bck is a backup of my old system, which had three partitions. What
I need to do now is "copy" the hda3 partition to my current system, by
transfering its data to partition sdb2.

The way to proceed is:

* Create a new partition image (containing hda3's data) based on the
existing disk image file, by executing the command:

# imgconvert sys-bck hda3 sdb2
Clonezilla Live Image Conversion
imgconvert v. 0.1 - (C) 2009 S. Georgaras

Determining input image
  Input image: "/home/partimag/sys-bck"
  Validating image...   ok
Determining input partition
  Input partition: "hda3"
  Validating input partition...   ok
Determining output image
  Output image: "/home/partimag/sys-bck-cnv"
  Validating output image...   ok
  Checking permissions...   ok
Determining output partition
  Output partition: "sda2"
  Validating output partition...   ok
Creating output image: /home/partimag/sys-bck-cnv
  Linking files...   done
  Fixing info files...   done

This command will create a temporary partition image file (automatically
named sys-bck-cnv), which contains sdb2 only, as you can see by executing:

# imginfo -i sys-bck-cnv
    Image: sys-bck-cnv, part: sdb2, size: 233.87GB, type: Linux

* Restart Clonezilla Live by pressing Control-D twice.

* Restore the new image file into sdb2, by selecting

        Screen 1:         Start_Clonezilla        Start Clonezilla

        Screen 2:         device-image        disk/partition to/from image

        Screen 3:         skip        use existing /home/partimag

        Screen 4:         Beginer / Expert

        Screen 5:         restoreparts
        Restore_an_image_to_local_partition

and continue as usual to restore the partition.

Converting image files
---------------------
# imgconvert -p -o other_data sys-bck hda3 sdb2
Clonezilla Live Image Conversion
imgconvert v. 0.1 - (C) 2009 S. Georgaras

Determining input image
  Input image: "/home/partimag/sys-bck"
  Validating image...   ok
Determining input partition
  Input partition: "hda3"
  Validating input partition...   ok
Determining output image
  Output image: "/home/partimag/other_data"
  Validating output image...   ok
  Checking permissions...   ok
Determining output partition
  Output partition: "sda2"
  Validating output partition...   ok
Creating output image: /home/partimag/other_data
  Copying files...   done
  Fixing info files...   done

# imginfo -i other_data
    Image: other_data, part: sdb2, size: 233.87GB, type: Linux

# ls -la sys-bck
total 1111972
drwxr-xr-x   2 root   root       4096 2007-11-22 03:21 .
drwxr-xr-x. 34 root   root       4096 2009-04-06 21:28 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root          4 2007-11-20 20:33 disk
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root 1081716736 2007-11-20 20:32 hda1.aa
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root   45453312 2007-11-20 20:33 hda2.aa
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root   10317824 2007-11-20 20:33 hda3.aa
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root         37 2007-11-21 18:56 hda-chs.sf
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root         37 2007-11-21 18:50 hda-chs.sf.orig
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root        512 2007-11-20 20:31 hda-mbr
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root        259 2007-11-21 18:59 hda-pt.sf
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root        259 2007-11-21 18:50 hda-pt.sf.orig
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root         15 2007-11-20 20:33 parts
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root         17 2007-11-20 20:33 swappt-hda4.info
#
#
# ls -la other_data
total 24
drwxr-xr-x   2 root   root     4096 2009-04-06 21:27 .
drwxr-xr-x. 35 root   root     4096 2009-04-06 21:27 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root        5 2009-04-06 21:27 parts
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root 10317824 2009-04-06 21:27 sdb2.aa
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root       37 2009-04-06 21:27 sdb-chs.sf
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root      106 2009-04-06 21:27 sdb-pt.sf

Booting a restored Linux system
****************************************
A Linux system that has been restored to a new disk/partition, is usually
not ready to be booted right after the restoration procedure is finished.

There are two more steps that you may have to take:

* Fix /etc/fstab
* Reinstall GRUB.
I will assume GRUB is your boot manager, as it is the usual case nowadays.

For this example I will assume that you have restored a Linux system
(that used to be in sdb), to a new disk (hda), and that it contains three
partitions, / (the root partition), /home (user's partition) and a swap
partition. You must be really careful here, as the name of the new disk
depends on the system to be booted. If it uses one of the newest Linux
kernels (using the libata disk driver), ALL your disks will be recognised
as SCSI. More info: "Identifying devices in Linux" section "SCSI disks
when there are none!!!".

This is what we have:

                root partition      home partition      swap partition
Old system      /dev/sdb1           /dev/sdb2           /dev/sdb3
New system      /dev/hda1           /dev/hda2           /dev/hda3

Fixing /etc/fstab
---------------------
Since we are still in Clonezilla Live, right after the restore procedure
has finished, we will use it to mount our restored root partition, and
edit its /etc/fstab. We issue the commands:

mkdir /new-root
mount /dev/hda1 /new-root
vi /new-root/etc/fstab

The contents of /etc/fstab could be something like

/dev/sdb1            /                   reiserfs   acl,user_xattr      1 1
/dev/sdb2            /home               reiserfs   defaults            1 2
/dev/sdb3            swap                swap       defaults            0 0

and we have to change ti to

/dev/hda1            /                   reiserfs   acl,user_xattr      1 1
/dev/hda2            /home               reiserfs   defaults            1 2
/dev/hda3            swap                swap       defaults            0 0

Finally, we unmount the partition, and we are ready to reboot

umount /new-root
reboot

Reinstalling GRUB
---------------------
When Clonezilla-SysRescCD menu appears, we select Tools > Super Grub Disk

Then we select Super Grub Disk > Super Grub Disk (WITH HELP) > English
Super Grub Disk > Gnu/Linux > Fix Boot of Gnu/Linux (GRUB). From this
entry we will be able to reinstall GRUB to our hard disk.

You may also want to have a look at Super Grub Disk "documentation {{
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/wiki/SuperGrubDiskDocumentation }}".


Fixing boot problems
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
Boot problems are probably the most feared computer problems. Without an
operating system you can't access your data, get the work done or even
google for help. That's why it's often a good idea to have an alternative
operating system available for searching help if the main OS doesn't
work. Also a copy of Clonezilla-SysRescCD can be invaluable help.

Actually, the initial reason why I (Jyrki) installed GNU/Linux at all was
that I wanted to be able to fix Windows boot problems if they occur. I
installed both GNU/Linux and GRUB to my external hard drive, completely
separating operating systems. Even if either bootloader stopped working,
I'd still be able to boot one of my OSes.

But such configuration is not easy to create, and when I installed GNU/Linux,
I knew very little about it. If I didn't read the instructions I found
here and there very carefully, I probably would have done a common mistake:
installing GRUB to my internal hard drive. Such mistake would have caused
two problems:

* Inability to boot GNU/Linux at any computer expect the one which was
used for installing
* Inability to boot Windows when the external drive isn't connected

In this page, I simulate that situation in a virtual machine and fix
both problems.

Symptoms
****************************************
What happens when I try to boot the external hard drive on another computer
depends on the BIOS of the computer. For example, on my computer I see a
Black Screen of Death {{ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Screen_of_Death
}} when I try booting from a disk with empty Master Boot Record. Other
BIOSes may boot the local operating system or display an error message
(for example "Disk boot failure", "Missing operating system" or "Operating
system not found").

The other problem is very easy to determine. When external drive is
disconnected and I try to boot, I'll see this:

[[ error-21.png ]]

Goals
****************************************
Because I still want to separate my operating systems completely,
I try to restore NTLDR to the Master Boot Record of the internal disk,
if possible. If that's not possible, I install there another bootloader
that chainloads Windows.

I could reinstall GNU/Linux completely and make sure that the GRUB is
installed to the right disk this time, but it's not a good idea if I only
need to overwrite the first 446 bytes (yes, bytes, not kilo- or megabytes)
of the disk. So, I only install GRUB to the external disk, by using Super
Grub Disk.

Your problem (if you have one at all) most likely is different, but goals
are often the same.

You need to restore NTLDR if you...

* ...just installed GNU/Linux, but the boot menu doesn't mention Windows
at all. You're not willing to learn how Windows can be added to the boot
menu, you just need to make your computer to boot Windows again right now.
* ...cloned your Windows partition to your brand new computer but didn't
clone the Master Boot Record.
* ...are about to uninstall GNU/Linux and aren't willing to use GRUB as
your bootloader.

You need to install GRUB if you...

* ...just installed Windows and want to make GNU/Linux bootable again.
* ...cloned your GNU/Linux partition to your brand new computer but didn't
clone the Master Boot Record.
* ...just installed GNU/Linux but installed GRUB to a non-first hard drive
by accident. (The symptom is that your computer still boots to the operating
system you had installed already.)

[[ info.png ]]
The following pressentation has been made usingSuper Grub Disk v0.9799

Restoring NTLDR
****************************************
There are a lot of ways to restore NTLDR. However, sometimes there is no
legal way to restore it, and I'm NOT telling about the illegal ones. The
last resort is using syslinux to chainload Windows; there is usually no
way to notice that syslinux is used instead of NTLDR.

I've listed here the most important options in order I'd use them.

Restoring NTLDR from a backup
---------------------
If you've been smart enough to use Clonezilla Live to create a disk image
of your first hard drive, it's very easy to restore NTLDR.

Your NTLDR is safe in a file called hda-mbr or sda-mbr. You can use dd to
overwrite your existing Master Boot Record.

[[ important.png ]]
Don't restore all 512 bytes of your Master Boot Record.The MBR contains
your partition table and restoring it afterrepartitioning your disk erases
all the data on the disk.

If you normally use GNU/Linux, open terminal and run these commands as root:

mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/usb
dd if=/mnt/usb/Backup/sda-mbr of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1

Note: In the commands I have assumed that your first hard drive is /dev/sda
and that your disk image resides in the folder Backup in partition
/dev/sdc1. You will have to replace them with the correct pieces of
information.

Note: How a command can be run as root depends on the GNU/Linux distribution
you use. If it's Ubuntu or a distro based on it, simply put "sudo" above
the command. For example, the latter of the above commands can be executed
by typing "sudo dd if=/mnt/usb/Backup/sda-mbr of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1"

If you normally use another operating system, boot into SystemRescueCD and
run the above commands. In SystemRescueCD all commands are run as root,
so you don't need to add any prefix to the commands.

If you don't know the name of the partition, run this command as root:

fdisk -l

It tells how many hard drives you have, how many partitions they contain
and what filesystems the partitions use. If you know, for example, that
the disk where you've saved the disk image contains only one partition,
look for such disks.

Using Bootrec.exe (Windows Vista/7 only)
---------------------
You need Windows Vista/7 install disc for this. If you don't have one (for
example, if you bought a laptop that was bundled with preinstalled Windows
and manufacturer's recovery disc), download a recovery disc from here.

Then boot from the disc. After selecting language, time, currency and
keyboard, click Repair your computer. You'll get a list of operating systems
you're able to repair. Choose any of them; that choice doesn't matter.

After that, you'll see a dialog box named System Recovery Options. Click
Command Prompt. Then you only need to execute one command:

Bootrec /FixMbr

Note: The command is case-insensitive. You can type, for example,
"bootrec /fixmbr".

Using FIXMBR (Windows XP only)
---------------------
You need Windows XP install disc. Boot from it, and when you see the screen
"Windows XP Home Edition Setup" or "Windows XP Professional Setup", press
R to enter the Recovery Console. Then choose the Windows installation you
want to log onto. If you have only one copy of Windows installed, press
1 and ENTER. After that, enter the administator password and press ENTER.

There is only one command to run:

FIXMBR

Note: The command is case-insensitive. You can type, for example, "fixmbr".

Using FDISK (Windows 95/98/Me only)
---------------------
For this, you need a floppy drive. You also need to run a Windows-only
program, so your first challenge is to boot Windows without NTLDR.

Don't worry, Super Grub Disk makes it possible. Boot into it.

[[ supergrubdisk-01.png ]]
Just choose the option "!WIN!        :(((" and press ENTER.

When you have Windows up and running, download the boot disk
image appropriate to your version of Windows from Bootdisk.Com {{
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm }}. Then put a floppy to your floppy
drive.

If the floppy isn't already formatted, open My Computer, right-click the
floppy drive and select Format....

At the format window, choose the capacity of 1,44 megabytes and Full format
type. You can enter any label (it means the name of the floppy you can see
next to the floppy drive letter) and disable the summary if you wish. Keep
the Copy system files option disabled.

When you have a formatted floppy in your drive, double-click the boot disk
image you downloaded. When it's done, shut Windows down and check your
BIOS settings to be able to boot from the floppy. Some BIOSes contain a
boot menu, others require editing settings pernamently. Details can be
found on the manual of the motherboard or laptop.

Then boot from the floppy. When you're given three boot options, choose
the option 2. Start computer without CD-ROM support. Wait a moment to
enter command line and run this command:

FDISK /MBR

Note: The command is case-insensitive. You can type, for example,
"fdisk /mbr".

Installing syslinux using Super Grub Disk
---------------------
The above four are the only legal ways I know to restore NTLDR to the
Master Boot Record. Unfortunately, sometimes none of them can be used. If
that's the case, it's time to switch bootloader. GRUB can be configured to
chainload Windows, and usually it even does that automatically, but this
page isn't intended to help configuring GRUB. I assume that if you're
primarily a Windows user and reading this page, you don't want to learn
how to use GNU/Linux, you just want to make Windows bootable again.

Maybe the easiest way to do so is installing syslinux using Super Grub
Disk. Super Grub Disk configures it automatically to chainload the first
active partition. The partition should contain Windows, Windows can't boot
if its partition isn't active.

Boot into Super Grub Disk.

[[ supergrubdisk-01a.png ]]
Choose the option "WIN => MBR & !WIN!        :(((((((((((((((((((((" and
press ENTER. Windows will be booted automatically right after installing
syslinux.

Installing GRUB
****************************************
Contrary to various ways to restore NTLDR, there is only one way to install
GRUB I recommend. That's Super Grub Disk, because it contains GRUB no
matter what has happened to the hard drive(s). First, I boot into it.

[[ supergrubdisk-01b.png ]]
I select "Choose Language & HELP        :-)))" and press ENTER.

Screen "S.G.D. Language Selection."
---------------------
[[ supergrubdisk-02.png ]]
I select "English Super Grub Disk" and press ENTER.

[[ supergrubdisk-03.png ]]
I press ENTER...

[[ supergrubdisk-04.png ]]
...and then ENTER again...

[[ supergrubdisk-05.png ]]
...and then ENTER once again...

[[ supergrubdisk-06.png ]]
...and finally ENTER one more time.

Screen "English Super Grub Disk (Help)"
---------------------
[[ supergrubdisk-07.png ]]
I select "Advanced".

Screen "Advanced (Help)"
---------------------
[[ supergrubdisk-08.png ]]
I select "GRUB" and press ENTER.

Screen "GRUB (Help)"
---------------------
[[ supergrubdisk-09.png ]]
I select "Restore GRUB in Hard Disk (MBR)" and press ENTER...

[[ supergrubdisk-10.png ]]
...and ENTER.

Screen "Restore GRUB in Hard Disk (MBR) (Help)"
---------------------
[[ supergrubdisk-11.png ]]
I select "Manual Restore GRUB in Hard Disk (MBR)" and press ENTER. If you
want to install GRUB to the Master Boot Record of the first hard drive,
"Automatically Install" is a better choice. If you don't know if you
want GRUB to the first or some other disk, you most likely want it to the
first disk.

Screen "Manual Restore GRUB in Hard Disk (MBR) (Help)"
---------------------
[[ supergrubdisk-12.png ]]
I confirm my decision by selecting "Manual Restore GRUB in Hard Disk (MBR)"
again and pressing ENTER.

Screen "Partition of GRUB"
---------------------
[[ supergrubdisk-13.png ]]
In this screen I can select the disk that contains the partition that
contains the files needed by GRUB. In this case, that disk is the external
hard drive. As you can see, the disk is only three megabytes in size -
because the computer used for screenshots is still virtual. Actually, the
"disk" where I'm installing GRUB is just a file.

Next Screen
---------------------
[[ supergrubdisk-14.png ]]
This is where I choose the partition where GRUB files reside. This disk
contains only one partition.

Screen "Restore to MBR of Hard Disk"
---------------------
[[ supergrubdisk-15.png ]]
I select the external hard drive to install GRUB to its Master Boot Record.

[[ supergrubdisk-12.png ]]
Some text scrolled in the screen (too fast to read or take a screenshot)
and I was back at this screen. I rebooted the computer. (In this situation,
you can safely do a "hard reboot" by pressing reset button once or power
button twice.)

[[ grub-loading.png ]]
GRUB booted successfully.


Booting an old PC
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
Have you ever tried to boot an old PC off a CD-ROM, and found out it
wouldn't, because its BIOS does not support it, or it's faulty or for any
other reason? Well, I have. So this page is an effort to solve this problem.

The only way to do it, is to boot of a floppy disk which will help me
"load" whatever operation system I want from a CD. This means that I will
have to write a boot loader to the floppy disk.

The software I will use is Smart Boot Manager {{
http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/ }}, a small boot manager with a
nice TUI (Text User Interface). Its floppy image, already accessible from
the "Tools" menu, can be found in the bootdisk folder of the CD under the
name sbm.img.

Writing the image to a floppy disk
****************************************
All you have to do is get to a PC equipped with a floppy drive, get a
floppy disk which is in excellent condition (no bad sectors/blocks),
and copy the image file to it.

1. From Linux
---------------------
You can either boot Clonezilla Live or SystemRescueCD, and when the system
is fully up, execute the command:

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

where /path/to is
    /live/image/bootdisk for Clonezilla Live
    /mnt/livecd/bootdisk for SystemRescueCD

2. From DOS
---------------------
You can get into any DOS (boot FreeDOS from the CD, for example), and use
any of the following programs found in the rawrite folder of the CD:

* rawrite.exe: is just here for completeness, as it may be needed for someone
* rawrite2.exe: should be the fastest
* rawrite3.com: should work if rawrite2 fails for some reason
* fdimage.exe: rawrite alternative

I found these programms at the FreeDOS web site {{
http://www.fdos.org/ripcord/rawrite/ }}, where the following info is
included:

Basic Usage (Rawrite):
Depending on the exact version, the output and command line support may
vary, i.e. not work
Usage:
        MS-DOS prompt> RAWRITE
                and follow the prompts, -or-

        MS-DOS prompt> RAWRITE [-f ] [-d ] [-n(owait)] [-h(elp)]
                where:  -f - name of disk image file
                        -d - diskette drive to use, must be A or B
                        -n - don't prompt for user to insert diskette
                        -h - print usage information to stdout

The diskette must be formatted or rawrite will not work.
The contents of the disk do not matter and will be overwritten.
When ran interactively (without command line options) you will be prompted
for the disk image filename (you must remember this as there is no file
chooser).
You will also be prompted for the target/destination drive, either A or
B for A: or B: respectively.
Basic Usage (FDImage):
fdimage is an updated DOS program meant to replace rawrite. It does not
require a pre-formatted floppy diskette.

       FDIMAGE - Write disk image to floppy disk
       Version 1.5 Copyright (c) 1996-7 Robert Nordier

       Usage: fdimage [-dqsv] [-f size] [-r count] file drive

         -d         Debug mode
         -f size    Specify the floppy disk format by capacity, eg:
                    160K, 180K, 320K, 360K, 720K, 1.2M, 1.44M, 2.88M
         -q         Quick mode: don't format the disk
         -r count   Retry count for format/write operations
         -s         Single-sector I/O
         -v         Verbose

In order to write the image file to a pre-formatted diskette, execute
the commands:

X:
cd rawrite
rawrite2 -f X:bootdisksbm.img -d b:

In order to write the image file and format the diskette at the same time,
execute the commands:

X:
cd rawrite
fdimage -f 1.44M X:bootdisksbm.img b:

where X: is the drive name in DOS

3. From Windows
---------------------
The final alternative is to use Windows program rawwritewin.exe (found in
the utils\rawrite folder of the CD), as shown in the following image:

[[ rawwritewin.png ]]


Using SystemRescueCD
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
SystemRescueCD is an excellent Live CD. It contains cloning software too
(FSArchiver {{ http://www.fsarchiver.org/Main_Page }} and partimage,
to be spesific), but is unable to clone a whole disk, instead of only
individual partitions.

Clonezilla Live is a great cloning solution, but it is unable to do anything
but clone. For general system administration, you need a lot more functions
- like these offered by SystemRescueCD.

Clonezilla-SysRescCD has all of the functions of both discs. It's a
multi boot CD, so switching between CDs requires a reboot, but using
both individual discs requires switching the physical disc - in addition
to rebooting.

But, of course, to be able to use SystemRescueCD's functions, you need to
know how to use them. We don't have permission to redistribute SystemRescueCD
documentation, so this page contains only just enough information to allow
you to look for more help in SystemRescueCD documentation.

Which boot option to pick?
****************************************
You may be confused because of the number of boot options you have. After
choosing "CD 2: System Rescue CD" you have a total of 15 options to boot
SystemRescueCD. Here is a table of them.

kernel         Normal   To RAM   Graphical Environment   VESA   Mini Shell
32-bit          xxx                      +++
32-bit (alt)
64-bit          xxx                      +++

In the table, I have marked the options you most likely need. You should
choose either of the options marked with a '+++' if you have no idea and/or
time to read the next sections.

Choosing the column
---------------------
If you're accustomed to graphical environment, choose Graphical
Environment. In Graphical Environment you're able to use graphical programs,
like GParted and Mozilla Firefox. Terminals are also available, so using
Graphical Environment doesn't prevent using command line. The only negative
thing of Graphical Environment is that it slows booting process down a bit -
and it's often just plain unneeded.

Try VESA, if normal Graphical Environment doesn't work. VESA uses Xvesa
graphical environment instead of X.Org that sometimes doesn't work. The
drawbacks of Xvesa compared to X.Org are that Xvesa isn't optimized to
any hardware (which means poorer performance) and Xvesa requires 32-bit
kernel. Thus, if you use this option, do NOT choose 64-bit kernel, the
combination leaves you at command line.

If you're accustomed to command line and know already that you're not going
to use any graphical program, choose one of the normal options (just below
"System Rescue CD Menu"). Booting to command line is a bit faster process
than booting to graphical environment, and you can start X manually later.

You need the option To RAM if you plan to burn discs while using
SystemRescueCD. The option copies the whole SystemRescueCD to the memory of
the computer during the boot process, allowing you to put another disc to
your CD/DVD writer while using SystemRescueCD. The negative thing is that
reading all the contents of the disc slows boot process down a lot. There
is no option which copies the disc to the memory and starts graphical
environment automatically, but you can easily start it manually.

Mini Shell is probably the least used option. It enters BusyBox
shell after booting. BusyBox is an application that "combines
tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single small
executable." However, SystemRescueCD contains most of these utilities
anyway, so there is not much need to use this option. some information {{
http://www.busybox.net/about.html }} about BusyBox

Choosing the row (kernel)
---------------------
After having chosen the column of the above table, you still have three
options. Now you need to choose the kernel.

The optimal kernel depends on the processor of your computer. If it's an
IA-32 processor, like Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon XP, you should choose
32-bit kernel, because 64-bit kernel doesn't work at all. If you have
a x86-64 processor, like AMD Athlon 64 or Intel Core 2, you can choose
any kernel - the processor can run all of them. 64-bit kernel should be
preferred, because it allows chrooting on an existing GNU/Linux partition
containing 64-bit programs. Note, though, that you can't use 64-bit kernel
with VESA option.

If you don't know your processor architecture, try 64-bit kernel. If your
processor architecture is IA-32, you'll see the following error message:

This kernel requires an x86-64 CPU, but only detected an i686 CPU. Unable
to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU.

At this stage, simply press Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot and use always 32-bit
kernel on the machine.

There is one more kernel - 32-bit kernel (alternative). It's designed to
support more recent hardware than the regular kernel. Try it if standard
32-bit kernel doesn't work.

After booting
****************************************
HELP!!! Where are the desktop and Start menu?
---------------------
You should have read this section if you're looking for them. However,
you don't need to reboot in order to enter graphical environment. Simply
type this command and press ENTER:

wizard

The command asks you to choose a graphical environment. Try first X.Org,
and if it fails, run the command again and choose Xvesa.

Connecting to the Internet
---------------------
The CD doesn't contain any SystemRescueCD documentation, because we don't
have permission to redistribute it. In addition, our time is limited and
we can't rewrite it all. So, you need to connect to the Internet to be
able to read SystemRescueCD's official online documentation.

Luckily, establishing Internet connection should be easy, if you're in a
network using DHCP. Nowadays, most people are. If you're using graphical
mode and terminal isn't already open, open it via the menu that opens when
you click the leftmost icon in the bottom pane.

Then, type this command and press ENTER:

dhcpcd eth0

If the network doesn't use DHCP, you can also configure Internet settings
by hand. You should be able to do so if you've previously configured your
settings in the operating system you normally use. The command to run is

net-setup

When you're done
****************************************
When you're done, you naturally want to either shut the computer down or
reboot. Wait! Don't do it yet!

Both I and Spiros have found out that letting a live CD to automatically
unmount partitions is often a bad idea. It can damage the filesystems
of the partitions which were mounted when the computer was shut down and
destroy any files in the partitions, even them you didn't use within the CD.

So, I recommend unmounting them refore shutdown or reboot. Just run these
commands when you're done.

If you want to reboot:

cd
umount -a
reboot

If you want to shut down:
cd
umount -a
poweroff

More info
****************************************
Here are some links to the official SystemRescueCD resources.

SystemRescueCD - http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page
Detailed packages list- http://www.sysresccd.org/Detailed-packages-list
Manual - http://www.sysresccd.org/Online-Manual-EN
FAQ - http://www.sysresccd.org/FAQ
Howto - http://www.sysresccd.org/Howto
Forum - http://www.sysresccd.org/forums/


Managing partitions
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
One of the most important maintenance tasks that can only be done by using
a live CD is partitioning. No operating system allows partitioning the
same disk where the OS itself resides. Trying to do so is like attempting
to repair a car while its engine is turned on.

Of course, SystemRescueCD contains multiple programs that are related to
partitioning. Most important are GParted (graphical partitioning program),
GNU Parted (text-based partitioning program), fdisk and sfdisk (partition
table editors) and various filesystem tools (like ntfsprogs and e2fsprogs).

This page contains some theory about partitions and filesystems, advice for
choosing the right filesystem and a partitioning example by using GParted.

[[ important.png ]]
While partitioning, an user error or a bug can damage your
partitions.Creating a disk image of the disk to bepartitioned beforehand
is highly recommended.

[[ info.png ]]
The following pressentation has been made usingSystemRescueCD v 1.4.0

Some theory
****************************************
What is a partition?
---------------------
A partition is a logical division of a hard disk created so that you can
have different operating systems on the same hard disk or to create the
appearance of having separate hard drives for file management, multiple
users, or other purposes.

In Windows, a one-partition hard disk is labelled the "C:" drive ("A:" and
"B:" are typically reserved for diskette drives). A two-partition hard drive
would typically contain "C:" and "D:" drives. (CD-ROM drives typically are
assigned the last letter in whatever sequence of letters have been used
as a result of hard disk formatting, or typically with a two-partition,
the "E:" drive.).

In UNIX-based systems, a partition is used to host the / (root) file system,
and optionally the /opt, /usr and /home file systems. There may also be
a swap partition, which doesn't host any file system.

Each operatin system provides some kind of tool to create and manage
partitions. Examples of such tools are fdisk in DOS/Windows, fdisk, sfdisk
and parted in Linux, etc.

What is the difference between primary, extended and logical partitions?
---------------------
Information about partitions is saved in so-called partition table
in Master Boot Record. MBR itself is only 512 bytes in size,
and only 64 bytes are reserved for partition table. That's not
enough, and there are many workarounds to bypass limitations
caused by the size, for example logical block addressing {{
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_block_addressing#LBA.2C_ATA_devices_and_Enhanced_BIOS
}}. Extended partitions are another workaround.

Partition table can only store information about four partitions. If one
has, for example, two GNU/Linux distributions on the same disk, both of
them having separate root partitions, shared /home and shared swap, the
partition number limit has been hit already.

A partition that is mentioned in the partition table is called primary
partition. Because of the limit, one disk can only contain 1-4 primary
partitions.

An extended partition fixes the problem simply by containing more boot
records, called Extended Boot Records (EBR). Each EBR contains information
about one logical partition and, if the extended partition contains multiple
logical partitions, link to the next EBR. Thus, an extended partition can
contain unlimited amount of logical partitions.

Extended partition contains only EBRs and logical partitions (and maybe
unallocated space). Extended partition doesn't contain any filesystem and
files can't be stored in it. Of course, logical partition can contain any
filesystem (or be unformatted).

Extended partition itself must be primary partition: an extended partition
can't be within another extended partition. In addition, a disk can contain
only one extended partition.

Logical partitions can always be used for storing data: any operating system
can see logical partitions. GNU/Linux distributions can be installed to
logical partitions as well, but Windows requires a lot of tweaking. See
this outdated guide {{ http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/index.htm }}.

What is LVM?
---------------------
LVM means "Logical Volume Manager". It allows creating volume groups on top
of hard drives and logical volumes within volume groups. Logical volumes
are NOT the same thing as logical partitions!

Volume groups can be created very flexibly: a volume group can allocate,
for example, the first half of the first hard drive and the second half
of the third drive. One can even create a massive volume group containing
all storage he/she has.

The computer sees a logical volume as a partition: logical volume can be
left unformatted or contain any filesystem.

LVM has many benefits: for example, if one has three hard drives 60 gigabytes
each, he/she can create a 160-gigabyte partition for storing massive files
and/or saving some disk space. In addition, logical volumes can be resized
even when they're in use, so when creating logical volumes one doesn't need
to worry if they're too small or big - if they are, he/she can resize them
at any time.

However, resizing a logical volume doesn't resize the filesystem in
it, so using a filesystem that can be resized in use (online resizing)
is recommended. Very few filesystems can be shrinked online, but most
GNU/Linux filesystems (including ext3/4, ReiserFS, XFS and btrfs) can be
grown online. It's generally a good idea to leave unallocated space within
volume group, so logical volumes can later be grown without shrinking any
other logical volume.

Here come bad news for people who dualboot: Windows doesn't support LVM, it
sees volume groups as unformatted partitions. If you try to access volume
group within Windows, you're just prompted to format the partition. That
prompt is annoying at best and dangerous at worst.

More information about LVM can be found here (almost everything about LVM
in a single page) and here (official SystemRescueCD documentation about LVM).

What is a file system?
---------------------
A file system is the way in which files are named and where they are placed
logically for storage and retrieval. The DOS, Windows, OS/2, Macintosh,
and UNIX-based operating systems all have file systems in which files are
placed somewhere in a hierarchical (tree) structure. A file is placed in
a directory (folder in Windows) or subdirectory at the desired place in
the tree structure.

The most important difference between filesystems is operating system
support. Some filesystems are supported by all modern operating systems,
but especially the newest filesystems are very rarely supported. Other
important limits are maximum file size, journaling support and file
permission metadata support.

The reason that file size limits exist is that all filesystems reserve a
fixed number of bits for storing the file size. If the size of the file,
in bytes, is bigger than the biggest number that can be stored in file
size bits, the operating system must refuse to store the file at all in
order to prevent data corruption.

File permission metadata means that the filesystem stores in the metadata
of the file, among other things, information about who owns the file and
what different users are allowed to do with the file. That metadata is
especially useful in multi-user environment because it mostly prevents
users from reading each other's files. Permissions can be bypassed, however.

What is journaling?
---------------------
Ideally, data in a partition never corrupts. But, in the real world,
there are power failures and operating system freezes. And if a computer
is forcefully shut down while something is written to the drive, the write
operation can't be finished. That can damage the filesystem and destroy
any files in the partition.

Journaling partially fixes that problem by writing most changes to the
disk twice: first to a special area called journal and, after that, to
the filesystem itself. If power is lost while writing to the journal was
in progress, the partial change is just ignored and never committed to the
filesystem itself. If power failure or OS freeze happened while writing to
filesystem itself, the write operation is finished by using the information
in journal.

Journaling helps most of the time when the computer has been forcefully
shut down, but not always. Due to performance reasons, only some
write operations are written to the journal, mostly the biggest
operations. Of course, journaling doesn't help if that particular
operation that was in progress while power was lost didn't go
through the journal. Journaling also doesn't protect from everything:
for example, using ext4 filesystem in conjuction with programs that
write a lot of files in a short time can result in massive data loss {{
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Possible-data-loss-in-Ext4-740467.html
}}, regardless if journaling is enabled or not.

In addition, journaling reduces performance. It causes more writes to
the disk. That's not a big problem on mechanical hard drives, but on SSDs
(Solid State Drives) and thumb drives write speed is much slower than read
speed. They also have a limited number of writing cycles, so journaling
reduces their lifetime. I (Jyrki) actually use ext2 and FAT32 filesystems
on my external SSD drive because they do NOT support journaling at all.

What are the differences between most popular filesystems?
---------------------
The following table quickly describes the most important differences
between them.

                           Operating system support
#############################################################################
              Under             Under      Maximum    Journaling  Permissions
             Windows         GNU/Linux    file size
#############################################################################
FAT32        Native           Built-in      4 GB         No           No
NTFS         Native           Included     16 EB         Yes          Yes
ext2    3rd party driver       Native    16 GB-2 TB*     No           Yes
ext3    3rd party driver       Native    16 GB-2 TB*     Yes          Yes
ext4           No              Native    16 GB-16 TB*    Yes          Yes
exFAT   Native (Vista/7)**       No         64 ZB        No           Yes

* Depends on cluster size
** This update {{ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955704 }} adds exFAT
support to Windows XP

Operating system support:

* "Native" means that the kernel supports the filesystem and the OS can
boot from a partition using that FS.
* "Built-in" means that the kernel supports the filesystem, but booting
from a partition containing such FS is very difficult.
* "Driver included" means that ntfs-3g (the driver that adds NTFS support
to Linux) comes with most GNU/Linux distributions.
* "3rd party driver" means that drivers to add filesystem support are
available, but must be downloaded and installed separately. The drivers
are Ext2 IFS and Ext2fsd.
* "No" means that there is no way to use the filesystem within the
operating system.

Filesystems
****************************************
This section contains more information about most popular filesystems.

FAT32
---------------------
The initial version of FAT (File Allocation Table), now referred as
FAT12, was designed for floppy disks. A FAT12 partition can only be up
to 32 megabytes in size. After that, PCs equipped with hard drives were
introcuded by IBM and the sizes of hard drives began growing. Microsoft
answered the need by developing first initial FAT16 and then final FAT16.

FAT16 partition can be up to two gigabytes in size. In the middle of 1990s,
that limit was becoming a problem. Microsoft pushed the limit up by updating
FAT again.

FAT32 was first introduced with Windows 95 OSR2. Windows 98,
Windows Me, Windows 2000 and newer support FAT32 too. Linux
kernel has supported FAT32 almost as long as Windows, but
booting GNU/Linux from FAT32 partition is difficult and actually
requires DOS to be installed in the partition as well. (more information {{
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAT_filesystem_and_Linux#Installing_Linux_on_and_booting_it_from_FAT_volumes_using_umsdos
}})

FAT32 partition can be up to two terabytes in size. As of now (March 2010),
there are hard drives that hit the limit, but don't exceed it. A single
file within FAT32 partition can be up to four gigabytes in size.

Because FAT32 is, in the end, based on FAT12, it has very few features. It
doesn't support file permissions, hard/symbolic links, encryption,
compression, alternative data streams, journaling... It lacks support for
nearly anything that defines a modern filesystem. However, due to very
few features, FAT32 is very fast filesystem if it's not fragmented or on
a Flash-based drive. Mind you, FAT32 fragments very fast.

Due to excellent operating system support, I recommend FAT32 for storing
files which should be accessible in both Windows and GNU/Linux. FAT32
is also a good filesystem on Solid State Drives and thumb drives due to
its performance.

ext2
---------------------
Ext2 or ext2fs is the successor of extfs (extended file system). Extfs
didn't support separated timestamps for access, data modification and inode
modification. In order to add support for them, and make the filesystem
extendable, a new filesystem had to be created.

Ext2 was developed in January 1993, earlier than any other filesystem
mentioned in this page.

Because ext2 is designed for GNU/Linux, support in Linux kernel was
implemented immediately. The first Windows driver supporting ext2,
Ext2fsd 0.01, was released on 25 January 2002. Both Windows drivers
for ext2 work only on Windows NT operating systems (NT 4.0 up to Vista,
7 isn't supported yet).

The best property of ext2 is extensibility. The superblock contains
information about which version the filesystem is (ext2, ext3 or ext4)
and which extensions and features are in use. By using these pieces of
information, the operating system or driver can decide whether or not
mounting the partition is safe. That's the most important reason why most
GNU/Linux distributions still use successors of ext2 as default filesystems.

Depending on cluster size, ext2 partition can be up to 2-32 terabytes in
size. File size limit is 16 GB-2 TB.

Ext2 supports file permissions, both hard and symbolic links and extended
file attributes. Encryption, compression and journaling are unsupported.

Due to lack of journaling support and existence of Windows drivers, I
recommend using ext2 if you're going to install GNU/Linux on a SSD drive
and want to be able to access files within Windows too. In fact, that's
exactly the setup I have.

However, lack of journaling support is the worst limitation of ext2. And
what was done in order to get rid of the limitation?

ext3
---------------------
Ext3, the successor of ext2, was introduced in Linux kernel on November
2001. It supports journaling, can be grown online and indexes large
directories.

Ext2 IFS and Ext2fsd can mount ext3 partition as ext2 if the journal
is empty. (If it's not, something is wrong - journal is always emptied
when the partition is unmounted or the computer is shut down.) Thus,
ext3 support under Windows is just as good/bad as ext2 support.

Partition and file size limits are the same as in ext2: partition size
limit is 2-32 TB and file size limit 16 GB-2 TB, depending on cluster size.

Due to journaling support and existence of Windows drivers, ext3 is a good
choice if you're going to install GNU/Linux on a mechanical hard drive
and want to be able to access files within Windows.

ext4
---------------------
Linux kernel support for ext4, the successor of ext3, was marked stable
code on October 2008. Ext4 contains multiple performance and stability
improvements over ext3.

The most important new feature is extents. An extent is a contiguous area of
storage that has been reserved for a file. When a process starts to write
to a file, the whole extent is allocated even before the write operation
begins. The idea is that even if the file is larger than expected, it
doesn't fragment if it doesn't exceed the size of the extent.

Another important improvement is larger partition size limit: an ext4
partition can be even one exabyte in size. (An exabyte is a million
terabytes.) In addition, a directory within an ext4 partition can contain up
to 64 000 subdirectories (instead of 32 000, as in ext2/3) and timestamps
are much more accurate. The file size limit is 16 GB-16 TB, depending on
cluster size.

Unfortunately, Ext2 IFS and Ext2Fsd don't support ext4 and are unable
to mount ext4 partition if extents are enabled. They can be disabled,
but other improvements of ext4 aren't that important for most people -
using ext2 or ext3 is just easier.

Due to its features, ext4 is a good filesystem on computers that only have
GNU/Linux installed. Because journaling can be disabled, it is suitable
for Solid State Drives and thumb drives too.

NTFS
---------------------
At the end of 1980s, IBM and Microsoft were developing OS/2 operating
system. Both companies expected OS/2 1.1, released on 1988, to be the first
popular operating system having a GUI, Presentation Manager. Even though it
didn't become too popular during its first years, Microsoft didn't complain:
Windows 2 didn't sell any better.

But on May 1990, Microsoft released Windows 3.0. Millions of copies of it
were sold during its first year, and Microsoft began to believe that OS/2
had failed due to decisions of IBM. At autumn 1990, Microsoft stopped
cooperating with IBM, recasted OS/2 3.0 as Windows NT and continued
developing it alone, leaving IBM alone with OS/2.

Windows NT was targeted for network file servers, and there were already
competition, most importantly Novell NetWare and OS/2. Among other things,
the filesystem of Windows NT had to be fast, space efficient and reliable.

NTFS (New Technology File System) was introcuded with Windows NT 3.1. Newer
versions of NTFS have been introduced with newer versions of Windows NT,
and the filesystem is most likely still under development. All versions
of Windows NT support NTFS, but support in Linux kernel was implemented
as late as on December 2003.

NTFS is still, in my opinion, the most feature-filled filesystem around. It
supports file permissions, both hard and symbolic links, encryption,
compression, alternative data streams, journaling... There are very few
features NTFS doesn't support.

Depending on cluster size, a NTFS partition can be up to 8 ZB-1 YB in
size. (A zettabyte (ZB) is a milliard terabytes and a yottabyte (YB)
a billion terabytes.) File size limit is 16 EB.

Windows 7 can only be installed on a NTFS
partition, and Vista requires a work-around {{
http://www.computersplace.com/install-windows-vista-on-a-fat32-partition/windows-vista
}} if one wants to install it on a FAT32 partition. Of course NTFS partitions
can be used for data storage as well: due to features of NTFS, I recommend
doing so on mechanical hard drives on Windows-only computers.

exFAT
---------------------
NTFS is a great filesystem, but due to its complexity and journaling, it's
not suitable for Flash-based drives. Even Microsoft itself has recommended
using FAT32 on removable Flash media.

However, FAT32 only allows files up to four gigabytes in size. The limit
is already becoming too small, for example a DVD disc image can exceed
that limit. In addition, FAT32 lacks file permission support. In order
to get rid of these limitations, Microsoft took FAT from its grave and
updated it one more time.

ExFAT (extended FAT), also known as FAT64, was introduced with Windows CE
6.0, on November 2006. Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7 and newer support exFAT
too, and by installing this update {{ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955704
}} Windows XP can be extended to support exFAT as well. Unfortunately,
the only read-write exFAT driver for GNU/Linux (Tuxera exFAT for Embedded
Systems) is payware.

The partition and file size limits of exFAT are the same: 64
zettabytes. Another important improvement is file permission support that,
oddly, is lacking in Windows Vista. In addition, a directory within an
exFAT partition can contain up to 2 796 202 files (instead of 65 536,
as in FAT32) and timestamps have become more accurate.

No operating system can be installed to an exFAT partition, so such
partitions can only be used for data storage. Due to lack of journaling
and support for huge files, exFAT is a good filesystem on Solid State
Drives and thumb drives that are only used within Windows Vista and/or 7.

Partition list
---------------------
The following table presents known partition types along with their IDs:

 0  Empty                            80  Old Minix
 1  FAT12                            81  Minix / old Linux
 2  XENIX root                       82  Linux swap / Solaris
 3  XENIX usr                        83  Linux
 4  FAT16 <32M                       84  OS/2 hidden C: drive
 5  Extended                         85  Linux extended
 6  FAT16                            86  NTFS volume set
 7  HPFS/NTFS                        87  NTFS volume set
 8  AIX                              88  Linux plaintext
 9  AIX bootable                     8e  Linux LVM
 a  OS/2 Boot Manager                93  Amoeba
 b  W95 FAT32                        94  Amoeba BBT
 c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)                  9f  BSD/OS
 e  W95 FAT16 (LBA)                  a0  IBM Thinkpad hibernation
 f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)                  a5  FreeBSD
10  OPUS                             a6  OpenBSD
11  Hidden FAT12                     a7  NeXTSTEP
12  Compaq diagnostics               a8  Darwin UFS
14  Hidden FAT16 <32M                a9  NetBSD
16  Hidden FAT16                     ab  Darwin boot
17  Hidden HPFS/NTFS                 b7  BSDI fs
18  AST SmartSleep                   b8  BSDI swap
1b  Hidden W95 FAT32                 bb  Boot Wizard hidden
1c  Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)           be  Solaris boot
1e  Hidden W95 FAT16 (LBA)           bf  Solaris
24  NEC DOS                          c1  DRDOS/sec (FAT-12)
39  Plan 9                           c4  DRDOS/sec (FAT-16
3c  PartitionMagic recovery          c6  DRDOS/sec (FAT-16)
40  Venix 80286                      c7  Syrinx
41  PPC PReP Boot                    da  Non-FS data
42  SFS                              db  CP/M / CTOS / ...
4d  QNX4.x                           de  Dell Utility
4e  QNX4.x 2nd part                  df  BootIt
4f  QNX4.x 3rd part                  e1  DOS access
50  OnTrack DM                       e3  DOS R/O
51  OnTrack DM6 Aux1                 e4  SpeedStor
52  CP/M                             eb  BeOS fs
53  OnTrack DM6 Aux3                 ee  EFI GPT
54  OnTrackDM6                       ef  EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
55  EZ-Drive                         f0  Linux/PA-RISC boot
56  Golden Bow                       f1  SpeedStor
5c  Priam Edisk                      f4  SpeedStor
61  SpeedStor                        f2  DOS secondary
63  GNU HURD or SysV                 fd  Linux raid autodetect
64  Novell Netware 286               fe  LANstep
65  Novell Netware 386               ff  BBT
70  DiskSecure Multi-Boot
75  PC/IX

The partitions you are most likely to see in use, are:

* FAT16 (ID = 6)
This is the old DOS partition type
You may still find it in pure DOS installations, like vendor diagnostics
tool partitions, and small USB sticks (128 - 250 MB)

* HPFS/NTFS (ID = 7)
This is the Windows XP partition, also known as NTFS

* W95 FAT32 (LBA) (ID = c)
This is the Windows 95 - 98 partition
It is used in any kind of disk and large USB devices (1 GB and more)

* W95 Ext'd (LBA) (ID = f)
Extended partition. It acts as a container for other partitions
There is one more extended partition type (ID = 5), but it does not seem
to be in use as much

* Linux swap / Solaris (ID = 82)
Swap partition, acting as Virtual Memory
Modern computers with 1 - 2 GB of memory may not use it at all

* Linux (ID = 83)
Linux partitions, such as ext2, ext3 and reiserfs

Partitioning example
****************************************
This section contains a partitioning example. I simulate the following
situation in a virtual machine:

I have two partitions in my disk: /dev/sda1 that contains a GNU/Linux
distribution, and /dev/sda2 that is a swap partition. Here we can see the
output of fdisk:

root@sysresccd /root % fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 2097 MB, 2097152000 bytes
64 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1015 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 4032 * 512 = 2064384 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00058a4a

   Device Boot     Start        End     Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          1        812    1636960+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2            813       1015     409248   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Now I'm going to install another distribution on the same disk. First of
all, I need one more partition, because only one distro can be installed on
one partition. In addition, I want to separate /home to its own partition
in order to be able to share it between distributions.

Because the whole disk is already allocated, I must shrink at least one
existing partition in order to create new partitions. I'll shrink both of
them to half (/dev/sda1 from 1,6 gigabytes to 800 megabytes, and /dev/sda2
from 400 MB to 200 MB). In addition, I'll move /dev/sda2 right next to
/dev/sda1 to keep the partitions in order.

But how many partitions there will be in total? One, two,
three... four! Phew, I was near to paint myself into a corner. If I created
only primary partitions, I'd be unable to create any more partitions on
the disk. Thus, I'll create an extended partition instead and two logical
partitions within it. Then I'll be able to create more logical partitions
later if required.

There is one more challenge: moving /home to a separate partition. It's
very easy to move the folder itself, but the distro in /dev/sda1 will
surely be confused if it doesn't find /home when it boots next time. Thus,
I must edit its /etc/fstab and configure it to mount the /home partition
automatically - before booting the distro itself.

Now there are only two decisions left: the numbers and sizes of the new
partitions. I decide to install the new distro to /dev/sda5 and move /home
to /dev/sda6. Let /dev/sda5 be 800 megabytes and /dev/sda6 200 MB in size.

Now it's time to boot into SystemRescueCD. Graphical mode is required
this time.
[[ systemrescuecd.png ]]
I close the terminal and open GParted by clicking the third icon in the
bottom pane.
[[ gparted-00.png ]]
I right-click the partition /dev/sda1 and select Resize/Move.
[[ gparted-01.png ]]
I enter 799 MB as the new size, click the Free Space Following (MiB)
combo box and press Resize/Move.
[[ gparted-02.png ]]
I right-click now /dev/sda2 and select Resize/Move.
[[ gparted-03.png ]]
I enter 0 MB as preceding free space and 200 MB as partition size, click
the Free Space Following (MiB) combo box and press Resize/Move.
[[ gparted-04.png ]]
I right-click the unallocated area and select New.
[[ gparted-05.png ]]
I select Extended Partition as the partition type. The size was already
998 megabytes (the maximum) and as said, an extended partition doesn't
contain any filesystem. I click Add.
[[ gparted-06.png ]]
I right-click the unallocated area within the extended partition and
select New.
[[ gparted-07.png ]]
I choose the ext4 filesystem and enter 798 MB as the partition size. After
that, I click first the Free Space Following (MiB) combo box and then Add.
[[ gparted-08.png ]]
I right-click the remaining unallocated space and select New one more time.
[[ gparted-09.png ]]
I choose the ext4 filesystem again. The partition size setting was already
201 megabytes (the whole available space), so I just press Add.
[[ gparted-10.png ]]
[[ important.png ]]
The next step is to commit the changes.After that some operations, for
examplepartition deletion, can no longer be undone.

Finally I commit the changes by pressing the rightmost icon in the main bar.
[[ gparted-11.png ]]
After slowly reading the warning, I confirm my decisions by pressing Apply.
[[ gparted-12.png ]]
GParted begins to commit the changes...
[[ gparted-13.png ]]
...and when everything is done, it shows me this window that I close.
[[ gparted-14.png ]]
Then I can see the brand new partitions.

Moving /home
---------------------
I close GParted and launch Terminal by pressing the second icon in the
bottom pane.

I create directories as mount points:

mkdir /mnt/sda1
mkdir /mnt/sda6

Then I mount the partitions:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/sda6

I move the directory:

mv /mnt/sda1/home/* /mnt/sda6/

After that, I unmount /dev/sda6, because it no longer needs to be mounted:

sync
umount /dev/sda6
[[ terminal.png ]]
As you can see, under Linux it's perfectly normal that the terminal doesn't
answer to the commands. Don't worry - they are really executed.

Now I close Terminal and launch Geany by pressing the fourth icon in the
bottom pane.
[[ geany-00.png ]]
I select File -> Open.
[[ geany-01.png ]]
I press File System and navigate to folder /mnt/sda1/etc.
[[ geany-02.png ]]
I double-click the file fstab.
[[ geany-03.png ]]
I add the following line:

/dev/sda6 /home ext4 defaults 0 2

Finally, I select File -> Save.
[[ geany-04.png ]]
It's a good idea to reboot the computer now and check if the distribution
in /dev/sda1 still works. Anyway, the disk should now be ready for the
new distro.


Data Recovery
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
Deleted or "lost" files can be recovered from failed or formatted drives
and partitions, cdroms and memory cards using the software available in
SystemRescueCD.

Unless you can rule out hardware failure, you must not write to the failed
device. The following software will passively try to recover your data
from failed or failing hardware. If your data is not replaceable, do not
attempt to write to the failed device if the following applications do
not work but seek professional advice instead.

If your device is damaged, it is advisable to image the device and work on
the image file for data recovery. If hardware failure is not the problem,
you can recover data directly from the device.

To recover data from a failed device, you will need another device of equal
or greater storage capacity onto which to save your data. If you need to make
an image of the failed device, you will need yet another quantity of space.

I should state here, that I haven't used any of these tools recently (other
than plain and simple dd, a long time ago, which I found to be very slow),
so I couldn't recommend any of them. Any comments on a tool's usability
found in this page, is just what I found on the Net.

Partition recovery
****************************************
If you made a mistake while partitioning and the partition no longer appears
in the partition table, so long as you have not written data in that space,
all your data is still there and can be restored.

When changing the partition table on your hard drive, you must ensure that
no partition on the disk is mounted. This includes swap space. In order
to restore your partition, execute:

swapoff -a
parted /dev/old_disk

Then, use the rescue option:

rescue START END

where START is the area of the disk where you believe the partition began
and END is it's end. If parted finds a potential partition, it will ask
you if you want to add it to the partition table.

Note: TestDisk can also be used to recover a "lost" partition.

Disk / files recovery
****************************************
Using dd
---------------------
In order to duplicate a disk to another disk, execute

dd if=/dev/old_disk of=/dev/new_disk conv=noerror,sync

or to create an image file

dd if=/dev/old_disk of=image_file conv=noerror

Be careful, if you are copying a disk, the destination must also be a disk,
not a partition. If you are copying a partition, the destination partition
must be large enough. Copying the whole disk is recommended.

To speed up the copy process, you can append bs=8k, it will read/write
the disk by 16 sectors at a time.

Using dd_rescue
---------------------
Like dd, dd_rescue {{ http://www.garloff.de/kurt/linux/ddrescue/ }} does
copy data from one file or block device to another. You can specify file
positions (called seek and skip in dd). There are several differences:

* dd_rescue does not provide character conversions.
* The command syntax is different. Call dd_rescue -h.
* dd_rescue does not abort on errors on the input file, unless you specify a
maximum error number. Then dd_rescue will abort when this number is reached.
* dd_rescue does not truncate the output file, unless asked to.
* You can tell dd_rescue to start from the end of a file and move backwards.
* It uses two block sizes, a large (soft) block size and a small (hard)
block size. In case of errors, the size falls back to the small one and
is promoted again after a while without errors.
* It does not (yet) support non-seekable in- or output.

In order to duplicate a disk to another disk, execute

dd_rescue -A -v /dev/old_disk /dev/new_disk

or to create an image file

dd_rescue -A -v /dev/old_disk image_file

The copying should go very quickly until it hits a bad sector and then it
will slow down to take smaller chunks of data. People have reported very
good results with this technique.

Using GNU ddrescue
---------------------
The GNU site describes GNU ddrescue as a data recovery tool, and lists
these features:

* It copies data from one file or block device (hard disc, CD-ROM, etc)
to another, trying hard to rescue data in case of read errors.
* It does not truncate the output file if not asked to, so every time you
run it on the same output file, it tries to fill in the gaps.
* It is designed to be fully automatic.
* If you use the log file feature of GNU ddrescue, the data is rescued very
efficiently (only the needed blocks are read). Also you can interrupt the
rescue at any time and resume it later at the same point.
* The log file is periodically saved to disc. So in case of a crash you
can resume the rescue with little recopying.
* If you have two or more damaged copies of a file, CD-ROM, etc, and run
GNU ddrescue on all of them, one at a time, with the same output file,
you will probably obtain a complete and error-free file. The probability
of having damaged areas at the same places on different input files is
very low. Using the log file, only the needed blocks are read from the
second and successive copies.
* The same log file can be used for multiple commands that copy different
areas of the file, and for multiple recovery attempts over different subsets.

The algorithm of GNU ddrescue is as follows:

* Optionally read a log file describing the status of a multi-part or
previously interrupted rescue.
* Read the non-damaged parts of the input file, skipping the damaged areas,
until the requested size is reached, or until interrupted by the user.
* Try to read the damaged areas, splitting them into smaller pieces and
reading the non-damaged pieces, until the hardware block size is reached,
or until interrupted by the user.
* Try to read the damaged hardware blocks until the specified number of
retries is reached, or until interrupted by the user.
* Optionally write a log file for later use.

Note: GNU ddrescue is considered to be the best recovery tool available.

In order to duplicate a disk to another disk, execute

ddrescue -vr3 /dev/old_disk /dev/new_disk logfile

or to create an image file

ddrescue -vr3 /dev/old_disk image_file logfile

If the disk is failing fast and you want to get the most data out of it
on the first try, you should probably use "-n" on the first run. This
will avoid splitting error areas. Subsequent runs can use "-r1" or "-r3",
without "-n", to retry those error areas.

To summarise, we execute:

ddrescue -vn /dev/old_disk image_file logfile
ddrescue -v -r3 -C /dev/old_disk image_file logfile

Note: When working with CD-ROMs you should probably specific "-b 2048"

Using Foremost
---------------------
Foremost {{ http://foremost.sourceforge.net/ }} is a console program
to recover files based on their headers, footers, and internal data
structures. This process is commonly referred to as data carving. Foremost
can work on image files, such as those generated by dd, Safeback, Encase,
etc, or directly on a drive. The headers and footers can be specified
by a configuration file or you can use command line switches to specify
built-in file types. These built-in types look at the data structures of
a given file format allowing for a more reliable and faster recovery.

It can be run on an image file created with any of the above tools, to
extract files:

foremost -i image -o /recovery/foremost

Foremost can be instructed to recover only specific file types, using the
-t command line parameter. In the following example Foremost will extract
only jpg files:

foremost -t jpg -i image -o /recovery/foremost

Available types are: jpg, gif, png, bmp, avi, exe (Windows binaries and
DLLs), wav, riff, wmv (will extract wma also), mov, pdf, ole (will extract
any file using the OLE file structure; this includes PowerPoint, Word,
Excel, Access, and StarWriter), doc, zip (will extract .jar files and Open
Office docs as well; this includes SXW, SXC, SXI, and SX? for undetermined
OpenOffice files), rar, html and cpp.

Using TestDisk
---------------------
TestDisk {{ http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk }} was primarily
designed to help recover "lost" partitions and/or make non-booting disks
bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain
types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally deleting a Partition
Table). Partition table recovery using TestDisk is really easy.

TestDisk can

* Fix partition table, recover deleted partition
* Recover FAT32 boot sector from its backup
* Rebuild FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 boot sector
* Fix FAT tables
* Rebuild NTFS boot sector
* Recover NTFS boot sector from its backup
* Fix MFT using MFT mirror
* Locate ext2/ext3 Backup SuperBlock

Some great tutorials are available at TestDisk's site: "TestDisk Step
By Step {{ http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step }}",
"Running TestDisk", "Data Recovery Examples" etc.

Using PhotoRec
---------------------
PhotoRec {{ http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec }} is file data recovery
software designed to recover "lost" files including video, documents
and archives from Hard Disks and CDRom and "lost" pictures (thus, its
'Photo Recovery' name) from digital camera memory. PhotoRec ignores the
filesystem and goes after the underlying data, so it will still work even
if your media's filesystem has been severely damaged or re-formatted.

For more safety, PhotoRec uses read-only access to handle the drive or
memory support you are about to recover "lost" data from.

Important: As soon as a pic or file is accidentally deleted, or you discover
any missing, do NOT save any more pics or files to that memory device or
hard disk drive; otherwise you may overwrite your "lost" data. This means
that even using PhotoRec, you must not choose to write the recovered files
to the same partition they were stored on.

A great tutorial titled "PhotoRec Step By Step {{
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec_Step_By_Step }}" can be found at
PhotoRec's site.

Links & resources
****************************************
This page is a compilation of the following pages:

DataRecovery
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery

Hard Drive Recovery, Ubuntu-Style
    http://blogs.sun.com/superpat/tags/ddrescue

Recover Data and (deleted) Partition with Linux from Hard Drives, CD-ROMs
or DVDs
    http://sysblogd.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/data-recovery-with-linux-from-hard-drives-cd-roms-or-dvds/

dd_rescue
    http://www.garloff.de/kurt/linux/ddrescue/

gddrescue: a tool for recovering data from damaged media
    http://debaday.debian.net/2007/12/12/gddrescue-a-tool-for-recovering-data-from-damaged-media/

Foremost
    http://foremost.sourceforge.net/

TestDisk
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

PhotoRec
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec


Clonezilla-SysRescCD own scripts
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
In this page I will present the scripts I have ever written for
Clonezilla-SysRescCD

what-cd
****************************************
Included in: SystemRescueCD

This script determines the device names for your CDs/DVDs, and whether
they can read/write CD/DVD-ROMs

Its help screen is the following:

# what-cd -h
what-cd - v 1.0.0 - S. Georgaras <sng@hellug.gr>

what-cd will try to identify your CD/DVDs
You can use it to identify the device name of your CD-Reader (default),
CD-Writer, DVD-Reader, and DVD-Writer.

Usage: what-cd [options]
Availabe options are:
    d           Print info about DVDs
    w           Print info about writers
    b           Batch mode. Only print one device name.
                If more than one device is found, print
                nothing. For use with scripts
    e deviceID  Eject device deviceID
                Accecpable values: -1...num of devices
                Use -1 when in batch mode
    v           Print version info and exit
    h           Print this screen and exit

Its typical usage would be to identify the DVD writer:

# what-cd -dw
Device /dev/hdd (id=0) can not write DVDs
Device /dev/hdc (id=1) can write DVDs

When used in batch mode, it will only print a device name. This is
especially useful in scripts, but also in the command line, as shown in
section "Burning the DVD".

# what-cd -dwb
/dev/hdc

continue-multi-cd
****************************************
Included in: SystemRescueCD

continue-multi-cd helps you append data to a multi session CD; that is
it helps you prepare and burn any consecutive sessions to it. It may lack
some of the functionality you would have had if you used the command line
tools themselves (mksiofs and cdrecord), but because of it, it keeps you
away from writing a lot of parameters.

You could use it for example, to burn some extra documentation to
Clonezilla-SysRescCD CD, but you cannot use it to change the configuration
files of isolinux, as it just reads the first session when booting.

Its help screen is the following:

# continue-multi-cd -h
continue-multi-cd - v 2.0.0 - S. Georgaras <sng@hellug.gr>

Usage: continue-multi-cd [options] <path to be added to CD>

Available options are:
    d                Specify write device (in case auto detection does
    not work)
    c                Close the CD. No more burning will be possible
                     Default is to leave it open
    l                Don't burn the CD after image creation
    o <image name>   Save the image file as <image name>
    r                Remove the image file after burning
    f                On the fly burning of the CD. No image file will
    be created
    v                Print version info and exit
    h                Print this screen and exit

You have to note one thing though: the folder <path to be added to CD>
will not be present on the CD; only its contents will.

Let's suppose that you want to add to the CD the folder extra-doc,
which contains q-a.html and faq.html, and that its full path is
/home/user/extra-doc. If you issue the command

continue-multi-cd -mwr /home/user/extra-doc

you will not have a extra-doc folder on the root of your CD, but the files
q-a.html and faq.html will be present there.

In order to have extra-doc on the CD, you have to copy it to a temporary
location and pass that path to continue-multi-cd. Let's see how it's done:

mkdir -p /tmp/for-the-cd
cp -r /home/user/extra-doc /tmp/for-the-cd
continue-multi-cd -r /tmp/for-the-cd
rm -rf /tmp/for-the-cd


Identifying devices in Linux
==============================================================================

Intro
****************************************
This page is intended to help new Linux users and Windows users identify
their hard disks / CD ROMs in a Linux box.

Linux disks and partition names may be different from other operating
systems. You need to know the names that Linux uses when you format,
mount or select partitions or disks.

Linux uses the so called device name to access disks and partitions. You
can think of it as a link to the actual driver of the disk. All available
devices have a corresponding file in /dev (e.g. /dev/hda1).

In general, each disk / CD-ROM has a three letter name, for example hda. Each
partition in such a disk has a number associated with it, starting from 1. So
the first partition of disk hda would be hda1, the second hda2 and so on.

Depending on the device type, Linux gives the following names to devices:

* IDE (ATA) floppies
The first floppy drive is named /dev/fd0.
The second floppy drive is named /dev/fd1.

* IDE (ATA) disks /CD-ROMs
The master disk on IDE primary controller is named /dev/hda.
The slave disk on IDE primary controller is named /dev/hdb.
The master and slave disks of the secondary controller can be called
/dev/hdc and /dev/hdd, respectively.

Linux represents the primary partitions as the drive name, plus the numbers
1 through 4. For example, the first primary partition on the first IDE
drive is /dev/hda1. The logical partitions are numbered starting at 5,
so the first logical partition on that same drive is /dev/hda5. Remember
that the extended partition, that is, the primary partition holding the
logical partitions, is not usable by itself. This applies to SCSI disks
as well as IDE disks.

* SCSI disks
The first SCSI disk (SCSI ID address-wise) is named /dev/sda.
The second SCSI disk (address-wise) is named /dev/sdb, and so on.

* SCSI CD-ROMs
The first SCSI CD-ROM is named /dev/scd0, also known as /dev/sr0.
The second SCSI CD-ROM is named /dev/scd1, also known as /dev/sr1, and so on.

* USB disks
They are named just like SCSI disks. The only difference is that the
partition number has to do with the file system on the disk. If it's
/dev/sdx4, then it's a VFAT file system and if it's /dev/sdx1 it's probably
a linux (ext2, ext3) file system.

Examples
****************************************
In order to identify the disks of a system you have to work with, a basic
knowledge of its configuration (how many disks it has, whether it's a
dual-boot system etc.) is welcomed but not required. A more experienced
user will not have to worry about it, though.

Linux systems based on a 2.6.x kernel (like Clonezilla Live and
SystemRescueCD) provide all the necessary support to identify a system's
disk configuration, with just a couple of commands.

Example 1
---------------------
The first system I have to work with is a dual-boot system (Windows -
Linux), with two disks and two DVD-ROMs.

The first command will tell me what disks and partitions exist in the
system. So here it is:

# cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name

   3     0  312571224 hda
   3     1   23446836 hda1
   3     2   40957717 hda2
   3     3  245240257 hda3
   3     4    2923830 hda4
   3    64  244198584 hdb
   3    65   41945683 hdb1
   3    66    2104515 hdb2
   3    67          1 hdb3
   3    68  125909437 hdb4
   3    69   74236333 hdb5

The output of this command tells me that the system has two disks (hda
and hdb) which are the primary master and slave devices.

The first disk contains four primary partitions (hda1-hda4) and the second
one four primary partitions (hdb1-hdb4) and a logical one (hdb5). Wait a
minute!!! this can't be right... In order to have a logical partition, I
must have a primary that contains it, which means that in this case I can't
have four primary partitions. So what is really happening here is that I have
two primary and two logical, plus an extended primary which contains them.

What remains to be found is what type of partitions they are. I will find
that out by executing the following commands:

# fdisk -l /dev/hda

Disk /dev/hda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1        2919    23446836    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2            2920        8018    40957717+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda3            8019       38549   245240257+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda4           38550       38913     2923830   82  Linux swap / Solaris

# fdisk -l /dev/hdb

Disk /dev/hdb: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdb1   *           1        5222    41945683+  83  Linux
/dev/hdb2            5223        5484     2104515   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hdb3            5485       14726    74236365    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hdb4           14727       30401   125909437+  83  Linux
/dev/hdb5            5485       14726    74236333+  83  Linux

Ok, this clears things up. The first disk contains three Windows XP
partitions (NTFS) and a Linux Swap partition. In fact, /dev/hda1 is the
system "disk" for Windows, since Windows will always be installed in the
first partition of the primary master disk.

The second disk, on the other hand, contains a Linux partition (/dev/hdb1),
a Linux Swap partition /dev/hdb2, and an extended partition /dev/hdb3
which contains two more Linux partitions (/dev/hdb4 and /dev/hdb5).

The final thing we need to know about this system is what CD/DVD-ROMs it
has. So I execute the command:

# cat /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info
CD-ROM information, Id: cdrom.c 3.20 2003/12/17

drive name:             hdd     hdc
drive speed:            0       126
drive # of slots:       1       1
Can close tray:         1       1
Can open tray:          1       1
Can lock tray:          1       1
Can change speed:       1       1
Can select disk:        0       0
Can read multisession:  1       1
Can read MCN:           1       1
Reports media changed:  1       1
Can play audio:         1       1
Can write CD-R:         0       1
Can write CD-RW:        0       1
Can read DVD:           1       1
Can write DVD-R:        0       1
Can write DVD-RAM:      0       1
Can read MRW:           1       0
Can write MRW:          1       0
Can write RAM:          0       1

The system has two DVD-ROMs, hdc which is the secondary master and is a
DVD writer, and hdd which is the secondary slave and is a DVD reader.

At this point I will connect my USB stick, wait for a while and execute
the command:

# cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name

   3     0  312571224 hda
   3     1   23446836 hda1
   3     2   40957717 hda2
   3     3  245240257 hda3
   3     4    2923830 hda4
   3    64  244198584 hdb
   3    65   41945683 hdb1
   3    66    2104515 hdb2
   3    67          1 hdb3
   3    68  125909437 hdb4
   3    69   74236333 hdb5
   8     0    1007615 sda
   8     4    1006576 sda4

As you can see, we have two more lines here, that reflect the changes to
our system (the connection of the USB device). So my USB stick is recognized
by the system as sda, and the disk itself contains a VFAT file system.

Example 2
---------------------
The second system is a Linux box with one SCSI disk and a CD-ROM. Again
I issue the command:

# cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name

   8     0  156290904 sda
   8     1      64228 sda1
   8     2   15735667 sda2
   8     3   15735667 sda3
   8     4  124744725 sda4

From its output I see I only have one disk sda, which contains four
partitions.

Then I execute fdisk, which shows me that the disk contains one DOS and
three Linux partitions.

# fdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1           8       64228+   6  FAT16
/dev/sda2               9        1967    15735667+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3            1968        3926    15735667+  83  Linux
/dev/sda4            3927       19456   124744725   83  Linux

Finally I query its CD-ROMs, by executing the command:

# cat /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info
CD-ROM information, Id: cdrom.c 3.20 2003/12/17

drive name:                hda
drive speed:               0
drive # of slots:          1
Can close tray:            1
Can open tray:             1
Can lock tray:             1
Can change speed:          1
Can select disk:           0
Can read multisession:     1
Can read MCN:              1
Reports media changed:     1
Can play audio:            1
Can write CD-R:            1
Can write CD-RW:           1
Can read DVD:              1
Can write DVD-R:           0
Can write DVD-RAM:         0
Can read MRW:              1
Can write MRW:             1
Can write RAM:             0

Which tells me that I only have an IDE CD-ROM, (hda), which is actually
a CD writer.

Then I connect my USB stick, and I get:

# cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name

   8     0  156290904 sda
   8     1      64228 sda1
   8     2   15735667 sda2
   8     3   15735667 sda3
   8     4  124744725 sda4
   8    16    1007615 sdb
   8    20    1006576 sdb4

Although it's the same stick I used with the previous system, which was
recognized as sda there, now its name is sdb. So, its name depends on the
system it is connected to, and will not always be the same.

SCSI disks when there are none!!!
****************************************
I am confused!!! I am on a disk with two ATA (PATA) disks, but when I
query the partition list, this is what I get:

# cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name

   3     0  312571224 sda
   3     1   23446836 sda1
   3     2   40957717 sda2
   3     3  245240257 sda3
   3     4    2923830 sda4
   3    64  244198584 sdb
   3    65   41945683 sdb1
   3    66    2104515 sdb2
   3    67          1 sdb3
   3    68  125909437 sdb4
   3    69   74236333 sdb5

According to what's discussed up to now, the system seems to have two SCSI
disks, but I know it actually has two ATA (PATA) disks. What's going on?.

What is really happening here is that you have one of the newest Linux
kernels (using the libata disk driver), which shows ALL disks as SCSI. That
does not mean that the system thinks it has SCSI disks, it just names them
as such.

To make is clear, execute the commands:

# hdparm -i /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

 Model=WDC WD3200AAJB-00TYA0, FwRev=00.02C01, SerialNo=     WD-WCAPZ0648927
 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }
 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=50
 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?16?
 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=268435455
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: Unspecified:  ATA/ATAPI-1,2,3,4,5,6,7

 * signifies the current active mode

# hdparm -i /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:

 Model=WDC WD2500JB-00GVC0, FwRev=08.02D08, SerialNo=     WD-WCAL76141931
 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }
 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=57600, SectSize=600, ECCbytes=74
 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?16?
 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=268435455
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: Unspecified:  ATA/ATAPI-1,2,3,4,5,6

 * signifies the current active mode

This is also valid for the CDs/DVDs of the system:

# cat /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info
CD-ROM information, Id: cdrom.c 3.20 2003/12/17

drive name:             sr1     sr0
drive speed:            0       126
drive # of slots:       1       1
Can close tray:         1       1
Can open tray:          1       1
Can lock tray:          1       1
Can change speed:       1       1
Can select disk:        0       0
Can read multisession:  1       1
Can read MCN:           1       1
Reports media changed:  1       1
Can play audio:         1       1
Can write CD-R:         0       1
Can write CD-RW:        0       1
Can read DVD:           1       1
Can write DVD-R:        0       1
Can write DVD-RAM:      0       1
Can read MRW:           1       0
Can write MRW:          1       0
Can write RAM:          0       1

While the hdparm shows they are ATA devices:

# hdparm -i /dev/sr0

/dev/sr0:

 Model=HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H42L, FwRev=SL01    , SerialNo=K286CQF2231
 Config={ Fixed Removeable DTR10Mbs nonMagnetic }
 RawCHS=0/0/0, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0
 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=0
 (maybe): CurCHS=0/0/0, CurSects=0, LBA=yes, LBAsects=0
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 *udma2 udma3 udma4
 AdvancedPM=no
 Drive conforms to: unknown:  ATA/ATAPI-4,5,6,7

 * signifies the current active mode

