I've done this successfully before, as Bob says.

Bob Elzer wrote:
> I think if you did a dd and copied the whole drive to the 80gb, you would
> wind up with a 80gb that looks and acts like a 60gb, and would boot up like
> your original drive, after they replaced the original with it.
> 
> You could then resize the partitions, to use the unused space.
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: plug-discuss-bounces@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> [mailto:plug-discuss-bounces@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On Behalf Of Erich
> Newell
> Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 1:45 PM
> To: Main PLUG discussion list
> Subject: Migrating HDs on remote server
> 
> I have a server that is remotely hosted and has a drive with over 48k hours
> on it (and still running strong)...my hosting company is providing a free
> replacement and I need to migrate everything over and have the system come
> back up gracefully without any physical interaction...other than one drive
> being stuck in the second drive bay temporarily and the original being taken
> out and replaced with the second drive when ready.
> 
> Here's what I have:
> 
> /dev/hda - 60GB old drive
>     hda1        Boot        Primary   Linux ext3
> 78.45
>                             Pri/Log   Free Space
> 1.04
>     hda2                    Primary   Linux swap / Solaris
> 1074.00
>     hda3                    Primary   Linux ext3
> 58869.01
> 
> /dev/hdc - 80GB new drive
>     hdc1        Boot        Primary   Linux ext3
> 74.84
>     hdc2                    Primary   Linux swap / Solaris
> 511.97
>     hdc3                    Primary   Linux ext3
> 79439.57
> 
> /etc/fstab
>      /dev/hda3   /       ext3    usrquota,grpquota,errors=remount-ro   0 1
>      proc        /proc   proc    defaults            0 0
>      /dev/hda2   none    swap    sw                  0 0
>      /dev/hda1   /boot   ext3    defaults            0 2
> 
> By my thinking...I should be able to:
> 
> mkdir /newdrive
> mkdir /newdrive/{boot,newroot}
> 
> mount -t ext3 /dev/hdc1 /newdrive/boot
> mount -t ext3 /dev/hdc3 /newdrive/newroot
> 
> rsync -av / /newdrive/newroot
> rsync -av /boot /newdrive/boot
> 
> grub
> 
> grub> root (hd0,0)
> grub> setup (hd1)
> 
> and then shutdown, pull hdc and put it in hda and fire it up.
> 
> What I'm uncertain of is the "setup (hd1)" bit....will this setup the boot
> field in some way such that it will not work?
> 
> If the drives were the same, I'd feel comfortable using dd to simply copy
> over the MBR, but since they are not, I'm worried about wrecking my
> partition table.
> 
> 
> Thoughts and advice are urgently needed. Thanks!!!
> 
> - Erich
> 
> --
> "A man is defined by the questions that he asks; and the way he goes about
> finding the answers to those questions is the way he goes through life."
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-- 
-Eric 'shubes'

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