use dd to back up transfer hard driver image

Question

I followed a couple of tutorials, which implied I can copy Ubuntu image to a new hard driver by issuing the command dd /dev/sda /dev/sdb , which transmitted the data but not everything apparently since the new hard driver boots into BusyBox and I get a (initramfs) prompt. What is the best way for me to copy all the data from the old hard drive, which is by the way on its last leg into the new hard drive? I have gparted on the old image, and can also create a live usb, but I really like to learn how to transfer an entire hard drive image exactly as the original to the new hard drive. Is there way to do that? Can anyone tell me why the command above did not work? Could it be that the new hard drive is labled as /dev/sdb and the bootloader configuration is for /dev/sda?

Answer 1

• Both dd and Clonezilla should be run when the computer is booted from a third drive. The source drive with the original system, and the target drive where you want the cloned copy should have no mounted partition.

• The target drive must be at least as big as the source drive, not one single byte smaller. It is not enough that the nominal size is the same, look at the actual size of the source and target drives.

• Both tools work, but Clonezilla is better than dd

  • Clonezilla is much safer because it asks questions and gives you a chance to double-check, that you will be writing to the correct target drive.
  • Clonezilla is faster because it can identify which blocks in the partitions that are used and copies only them, but skips the free blocks. It saves a lot of time, particularly if there is a lot of free space.

  • I suggest that you download a stable version of the Clonezilla iso file, create a live system in a DVD disk, USB pendrive or memory card.

    link: clonezilla.org

Answer 2

Use Clonezlla (sudo apt install clonezilla). This will handle all the weird specifics required to make it boot correctly.