Cloning a Disk or Partition

This guide shows how to clone a disk or partition on a Linux server with rsync in rescue mode. The copy keeps all file permissions, owners, timestamps, hard links, and extended attributes.

Warning: The target path will be fully synchronized with the source. Data on the target that does not exist on the source will be deleted. Check your device names carefully.

Preparation in Rescue Mode

Boot the server into Rescue Mode to ensure that no files are modified during the cloning process. Then mount the source and target partitions:

Mounting

mkdir -p /mnt/source /mnt/target mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/source mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/target

Data Transfer with rsync

The rsync command mirrors the source to the target. The trailing slash (/) at the source is mandatory to copy the contents:

Cloning process

rsync -axHAX --delete --progress /mnt/source/ /mnt/target/

-axHAX: Preserves permissions, owners, and timestamps (-a), stays on one file system (-x), and keeps hard links (-H), ACLs (-A), and extended attributes (-X).

--delete: Removes files on the target that are no longer present on the source.

Finalization

Unmount the partitions after the process is complete to finalize the write operations:

Unmount

umount /mnt/source umount /mnt/target

Hardware defect confirmed?

In the event of a technical defect, we will replace your hard drive free of charge. Please open a hardware ticket in your PowerPanel.

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