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There are two schools of thought for how to clone drives under unix. The quick and dirty method is via the unix command dd. This is a bit for bit copy tool So it can even copy master boot records and partition tables. But it also copys empty space and kinda requires the drives be identical. Since it’s rare to actually have identical drives I’m going to show you how to use other system tools available under IRIX and Solaris to accomplish this task ask well as even make the new cloned drives better.

We start with Solaris. Not much has changed in this OS over the years. Most of the following was stolen from http://timesync.gmu.edu/wordpress/?p=30 It was customized to account for increasing the partition sizes.

Note that in order to garuntee the best results use the

Say the original drive is c1t0d0 and the new drive is c1t4d0

Note that in order to guarantee the best results use the prtvtoc & df commands to look at what the old partition table is. This Will let you know what partitions you need to create and the minimum sizes for each one. When formatting the partitions can be bigger but must be at least the same size.

   prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s2 > /root/OldPartitionTable
   df -k >> /root/OldPartitionTable

Once you know the current partition sizes use the format command to setup your new drive.

Now, this script will build new file systems on the partitions of the new disk…matching those on the original. Then it will run ufsdump, copying data from the original to the new drive…then unmount the new “clone” drive. Finally it makes the new clone bootable. Note that this jazzy blog format wraps lines on the installboot line of the script…a “man installboot” will give you a clean copy of the syntax.

   #! /bin/ksh
   # script assumes:
   # c1t0d0 is original
   # c1t4d0 is drive we’ll turn into a clone

   partlist=$(prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c1t4d0s2 | awk ‘!/\*/ {print $1}’)

   for p in $partlist
   do
   if [ "$p" != "1" -a "$p" != "2" ]
   then
   newfs /dev/rdsk/c1t4d0s$p < /dev/null
   mount /dev/dsk/c1t4d0s$p /mnt
   cd /mnt
   ufsdump 0uf - /dev/dsk/c1t0d0s$p | ufsrestore rf -
   cd /
   umount /mnt
   fi
   done

   mount /dev/dsk/c1t4d0s0 /mnt
   installboot /usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib/fs/ufs/bootblk \
   /dev/rdsk/c1t4d0s0
   umount /mnt

   exit 0

How to CLONE AN IRIX SYSTEM DISK. I use IRIX-disk cloning as a backup strategy. It is a bit expensive perhaps because I have to keep 2 SCSI disks (cloned copies of my combined user/root disk) in the closet as backups. In the list below I assume you are running your IRIX system on (i.e. booted from) disk #1 and you want to clone it to spare disk #3. The first time (with an uninitialised disk) cloning takes about 10 steps. A second time (when the disk is already prepared), one may start at step 7 to make a backup-clone.

1) BECOME SUPERUSER:

   su

2) FIRST THOROUGHLY TEST THE DRIVE THAT HAS TO BECOME THE CLONE:

   fx -x
    fx: "device-name" = (dksc)                       
    fx: ctlr# = (0)                                  
    fx: drive# = (1)                                 3
    fx: lun# = (0)                                   
     fx>                                             exercise
     fx/exercise>                                    butterfly
  	modifier = (rd-only)                           wr-cmp
  	starting block# = (0)                          
  	nblocks = (143374744)                          
  	nscans = (1)                                   
  	about to destroy data on disk dksc(0,3,0)! ok? yes
     ..
    ..
    label info has changed for disk dksc(0,3,0).
    write out changes?                               yes
   exit

3) ADD SGI LABEL:

   fx -x
   fx: "device-name" = (dksc)
    fx: ctlr# = (0)
    fx: drive# = (1) 3
    fx: lun# = (0)
     auto
     about to destroy data on disk dksc(0,3,0)! ok? yes
     (Several tests... may take a long long time, you can
      abort them.)
   exit

It is perhaps easier to do this via the Disk Manager desktop-interface: just initialise the disk. This only takes a few seconds and also puts a SGI label on the disk.

4) MAKE ROOTDRIVE PARTITIONING: List the disk partitioning of the system (root) disk:

   prtvtoc

List the disk partitioning of the option disk that is to be the clone:

   prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/dks0d3vh

Compare the disk partitioning of the two disks. They must have the same layout for the root and (if used) the usr partition. If they are not the same, repartition the option disk to match the system disk. In the easiest case:

   fx "dksc(0,3)"
    repartition
    rootdrive
    type of data partition = (xfs)
    ..
    exit

Then compare the prtvtoc outputs again. 5) ADD STAND-ALONE SHELL (AND OTHER PROGRAMS) TO VOLUME HEADER: If necessary, first copy the appropriate sash (on your systemdisk, SCSI ID=1) to the /stand directory:

   dvhtool /dev/rdsk/dks0d1vh                          (CAREFUL!)
   vd                                                  (volume directory)
   l                                                   (list)
   g sash /stand/sash_Octane
   g ide /stand/ide_Octane
   g IP30prom /stand/IP30prom_Octane
   quit

Then add the required programs to a volume header:

   dvhtool /dev/rdsk/dks0d3vh                      (SCSI ID=3)
   vd                                              (volume directory)
   l                                               (list)
   a /stand/sash_Octane sash                       (add to volume header)
   a /stand/ide_Octane ide
   a /stand/IP30prom_Octane IP30prom
   l
   quit
   write
   quit

6) MAKE FILESYSTEM: To make an XFS root filesystem with a 4 KB block size and a 1000 block internal log (the default values), give this command:

   mkfs /dev/dsk/dks0d3s0

7) SWITCH TO SINGLE USER MODE AND MOUNT:

   single

   mkdir /clone
   mount /dev/dsk/dks0d3s0 /clone
   cd /clone

8) XFSDUMP:

   xfsdump -l 0 - / | xfsrestore - .

Notice the 0, it is a NULL character, not an O!

9) UNMOUNT AND SHUTDOWN:

   cd ..
   umount /clone
   rmdir /clone
   shutdown

10) TEST Swap drives (in an Octane) and try if your clone is really bootable.