Hi,
To my knowledge, I successfully make a copy of my hard drive to an image file for a OpenSUSE 11.1 install, via clonezilla live CD. (no errors)
I also was able to restore that same image to a new identical hard drive, no errors from CloneZilla.
The issue is that when I boot from this freshly restored new HDD, OpenSUSE won’t load because the GRUB bootloader is set at looking for the root at this location:
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600BEVT-00ZCT0_WD-WXE409K111111-part2
The above names the serial number (i guess) of the old HDD.
So, being smarter then the average bear I edit Grub to use the new Serial Number:
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600BEVT-11ZCT0_WD-WXE309U444444-part2
(also tried using only /dev/sda2 but same issues as per below)
But that gets me only to the rescue system… it says it can not locate the old drive name “-part3”.
It is looking for this (the old name of the drive):
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600BEVT-00ZCT0_WD-WXE409K111111-part3
When it should really be looking for this (the new name of the drive):
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600BEVT-11ZCT0_WD-WXE309U444444-part3
I ran mkinitrd for fun and that didn’t solve anything.
How can I fix it so it always looks at the new HDD name and not the old one?
Note: Although, I can open Yast, I can not do anything on it… I see the menu, but selecting anything does nothing.
My issue with the above, is I have to restore my one image to 20 hard drives… What are the steps I need to take for each hard drive post-restoration?
This also brings a fun question. When making a full HDD Image for restoring to another HDD (same vendor/size), will OpenSUSE keep track of the proper connections to USB? Example, will it know that USB port 1 is loaded with a touch screen. Or will it do like the above and it will only expect to connect the touch screen that matches its serial number? Thus me needing to re-install it…
microchip8a’ answer should resolve your problem. But as you seem to be a little bit in doubt about the way it works (“The above names the serial number (i guess) of the old HDD.”), you can find some more info at SDB:Basics of partitions, filesystems, mount points - openSUSE
After understanding this you will see why microchip8 uses /dev/sda1 and brothers. But using volume labels (I suspect these are copied using clonezilla) may also be a solution.
How would I go about and do like microchip8 and use the name format /dev/sdXX instead of the /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_Hitachi_HDT7250_VFJ201R23XUEXW-part2 (example)?
That will make my life so much easier when duplicating hard drives like there’s no tomorrow…
If you see a need for multiple OSs on your boxes, it is worthwhile to read Steve Litt’s arguments in favor of a dedicated grub partition at: Grub Grotto
also, don’t forget to adjust /boot/grub/device.map
Further, also have a look in /etc/sysconfig/bootloader and adjust the resume= variables to point to your swap partition using device names (eg, /dev/sda2 for example)
Thank you for the replies.
All is working great, as mentionned above, only the following two locations required updating:
/etc/fstab and /boot/grub/menu.lst
I pressing recommend you to change also /etc/sysconfig/bootloader and /boot/grub/device.map also - as it was recommended here.
In SuSE before 11.1 you’ll have the problems w/names of ethernet interfaces because of udevd work (udev rules). You’ll see “new” (“added”) ethernet interfaces if you’ll not change udev rules.