Re: Copy SCSI disk including, if any, the first cylinder

[Michal Jaegermann <michal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Dec 17, 2005 at 11:24:51AM -0800, Bob Taylor wrote:
> I have a failing SCSI disk in my LX164. I need to copy it *totally* onto
> a SCSI disk of the same size. I know how to copy all the files but I
> don't know if there is any boot stuff located on the first cylinder
> other than the BSD label

If this is a boot disk then you have also a boot block.  It could be a
better idea to write a new one using swriteboot instead of copying
whatever can be copied from a failing disk.

In general 'dd', which has various options, can be used to copy
bit-by-bit whole disks or parts of those.  If your source disk is
failing then you may need to use 'conv=noerror' to get anywhere with
such copy; but that means that on your target you may get blocks of
zeros instead of the real data and if that will cause only limited or a
massive damage depends purely on your luck.

   Michal