Arch Linux

10robinho

Member

Registered: 2011-12-18

Posts: 34

[SOLVED] How to make an USB stick clone?

Hi,

I have an USB stick on which Arch is installed.

I would like to make exactly the same USB for running on machine with same configuration, I've tried to cp context of one to another, to make it bootable, but nothing worked.

How could I make that?

P.S. I have two identical USB drives

Last edited by 10robinho (2012-02-29 23:43:08)

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] How to make an USB stick clone?

Have you tried 'dd'?

What do you exactly mean by 'nothing worked'?

jstoik1

Member

From: Las Vegas

Registered: 2012-02-15

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] How to make an USB stick clone?

Use dd:

dd if=/dev/sdX of=/dev/sdY bs=4M

Change /dev/sdX and Y to the input usb device and output usb device respectively.

10robinho

Member

Registered: 2011-12-18

Posts: 34

Re: [SOLVED] How to make an USB stick clone?

No, I haven't tried dd, but I will now and report back if that worked.

by nothing worked I wanted to say that I couldn't boot that clone USB. I just hangs after bios message.

Thanks!

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: [SOLVED] How to make an USB stick clone?

To make it bootable you need to install a bootloader. You can't just copy the files and be done with it.

Be careful with the "dd" program. It could fuck up your installed OS or a data partition if you don't pay attention to "ouput file" (of=/dev/...).

Last edited by DSpider (2012-02-29 22:43:44)

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"How to Succeed with Linux"

I have made a personal commitment not to reply in topics that start with a lowercase letter. Proper grammar and punctuation is a sign of respect, and if you do not show any, you will NOT receive any help (at least not from me).

Alber

Member

From: Spain - España

Registered: 2011-11-11

Posts: 227

Re: [SOLVED] How to make an USB stick clone?

Using dd you can clone your USB.

First, in a linux, use dmesg.
>dmesg
..... a lot of stuff ...

insert you USB with Arch installed, look dmesg again. There you can get the inserted device.
>dmesg
..... a lot of stuff ...
[sdc] Attached ... removable disk

Insert the second USB
>dmesg
..... a lot of stuff ...
[sdc] Attached ... removable disk
[sde] Attached ... removable disk

umount both.

>dd if=/dev/sdc of=/dev/sde
BEWARE if you get wrong you'll destroy something.
(if=input file, of=output file)

Too, you can make a image and do it in two steps.
>dd if=/dev/sdc of=mi.img
>dd if=mi.img of=/dev/sde

EDIT: (Using parameter bs=4M surely it'll be faster)
EDIT2: Remember umount,
>umount /dev/sdc1
>umount /dev/sde1

Last edited by Alber (2012-03-17 18:54:22)

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Because not all of us are native English speakers, try no to use slang or abbreviations, thank you.

10robinho

Member

Registered: 2011-12-18

Posts: 34

Re: [SOLVED] How to make an USB stick clone?

Guys, thanks a lot for detailed instructions and advices.

I've managed to make copy and it worked.

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] How to make an USB stick clone?

Please remember to mark the thread as solved.