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tommyk
Asked: 2011-12-19 23:10:24 +0800 CST

How to copy usb stick with multiple partitions?

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I have a usb stick with two partitions FAT 32 adn ext3. First one is used to boot from using SystemRescueCD. Second one contains the image I use with image recovery tool. I have to copy such an usb 10 times so I thouhgt maybe there is an easy way to do this, something like cp /dev/sdb ?

partitioning

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    you can clone it with dd.

    assuming your flash drive is /dev/sbd and you are cloning it to a second flash drive, /dev/sdc

    sudo dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/sdc bs=4096 conv=notrunc,noerror

    You can save a compressed image to your harddrive

    sudo dd if=/dev/sdb ibs=4096 conv=noerror | gzip > your_image.gz

    Then use the image to make a new flash 

    dd if=your_image.gz | gunzip | dd of=/dev/sdc
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  2. You want to use the dd utility.

    Basically, dd if=/dev/xda of=/dev/xdb where xda is the input drive ('if means input file, of means output file).

    See this post: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5627660#post5627660

    dd is a utility for bit for bit copies. Make sure to try this on something you don't care about before doing it to a mission critical usb stick.

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