Copy a FreeBSD 8* install to larger HD

[Manolis Kiagias]

On 23/06/2010 5:52 π.μ., Al Plant wrote:
> Aloha,
>
> I am looking for the easiest way to copy a fresh working FreeBSD 8* HD
> install (Manolis version) to a bigger HD that I found.
>
> I plan to have the new HD in the same box for doing this copy.
>
> Can I use sysinstall to make the new default slices on the big HD and
> then move the OS and directories/files to them?
>
> What command (utility) do I use? dd or cp or some other to copy the
> files.
>
> Thanks....
>
>

Hey Al!

Back to your FreeBSD adventures, heh ;)

You can certainly use sysinstall to create the slice.
I suggest you use the command line bsdlabel to create the partitions.
On your current system, use dump/restore to dump /, /var and /usr to the
new disk directly (or you can save the dumps to some external disk and
use it via fixit if you don't wish to mount both drives on the same
machine). It would be best to run dump/restore in single user mode,
without mounting /usr and /var, or at least with the minimum number of
processes running. If you do run on a live filesystem, use the -L flag
in dump (I've had some problems with this on large filesystems).
Email me if you need more detailed instructions, I am currently
investigating this method as a quick installation system for my custom
FreeBSD systems.