cloning freebsd from desktop to laptop computer.

[Dmitri Pisarev]

Nikolas Britton wrote:

>On 2/27/06, pobox at verysmall.org <pobox at verysmall.org> wrote:
>  
>
>>Dmitri Pisarev wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Nikolas Britton wrote:
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>On 2/26/06, Dmitri Pisarev <dimaip at mail.ru> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>>>I've got laptop Toshiba Portege 3480CT(no floppy, no CD-ROM, no booting
>>>>>from USB flash supported etc. 40G HDD) and a desktop computer running
>>>>>FreeBSD 6.0(athlon 3200+, WD 80G HDD).
>>>>>I need to install freebsd on to my laptop computer.
>>>>>The question is, is it posible to copy the freebsd patition to the
>>>>>laptop computer somehow, so it would remain bootable? I tried to copy my
>>>>>ad0s2(my BSD partition) to ad0s3 on laptop, using dd.exe for windows,
>>>>>and all i get is "Boot error". I'm using freebsd bootloader on desktop,
>>>>>and BootMagic on laptop, could that be a problem?
>>>>>any help or suggestions are appreciated.
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>I had the same problem (ThinkPad X30) - which I solved in a great way
>>with VMware (www.vmware.com). Speed of FreeBSD is about 80% compared to
>>native installation and stability is so far (2-3 months) rock solid.
>>
>>You can do a minimal install within VMware, then mount the desktop drive
>>(via the network) and do dump/restore.
>>
>>    
>>
>
>Better yet... use pqmagic to resize / setup the disk (if not already
>done). Then in Windows Install and run VMware Workstation 5:
>
>Click on File > New > Virtual Machine.
>Click Next.
>Select Custom.
>Click Next.
>Select Other, Version: FreeBSD
>Click Next.
>Click Next.
>Click Next.
>Click Next.
>Select Use a physical disk.
>Click Ok
>  
>
>Select Usage: Use individual partitions
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>
Doesn't work. Had to use entire disk instead.

>Select Partition you want FreeBSD installed on.
>Click Finish.
>------
>Click on "Edit virtual machine settings"
>Select "CD-ROM (IDE 1:0)", Change "Connection" to "Use ISO Image"
>(If "CD-ROM (IDE 1:0)" is not in the list then click on Add, Next,
>"DVD/CD-ROM Drive", select "Use ISO image")
>Click on Browse
>Find and Select: 6.1-BETA2-i386-disc2.iso
>
>ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ISO-IMAGES-i386/6.1/6.1-BETA2-i386-disc2.iso
>
>Click on ok.
>Click on "start this virtual machine".
>Install FreeBSD. (select "use boot loader" when asked)
>FreeBSD should now be installed on your disk.
>Reboot and Configure BootMagic, pointing it to FreeBSD partition.
>Boot into FreeBSD.
>
>
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>
>  
>
Thank you for the wonderful advice! Had no idea of that feature before!
Now everything works as it's supposed to.