Betty: >> stormy@stormy-desktop:~$ sudo dd if=/home/stormy of=/dev/sdc1 bs=1024k >> dd: reading `/home/stormy': Is a directory What saved your bacon here is that dd will not read a directory, and it is NOT meant for what you want to do. My (FREE) advice: Do NOT ever use sudo (or root privileges) unless you *REALLY KNOW* what you are doing. You would have destroyed /dev/sdc1 if that had worked (although irrelevant in this case). You will need to "mount" /dev/sdc1 to a directory for rsync or cp to do its job. cp is a cantankerous "mirror-er", rsync will do better and the syntax is pretty similar. What you need to do: sudo mount -text3 /dev/sdc1 /somewhere rsync -av --progress --delete /home/stormy/ /somewhere Go get a pizza... :) BE CAREFUL with the SLASH (/) at the end of /home/stormy As it is, it means "copy everything INSIDE /home/stormy to /somewhere" Without it, it means "copy /home/stormy (the directory) to /somewhere" If you need a "taylor made" command you can: a) send me the information of your partitions and directories or, b) grant me access to your putter and I'll walk you through. ET PS: Do NOT ever use sudo (or root privileges) unless you *REALLY KNOW* what you are doing. :) Eric Shubert writes: > Betty, > Please use the rsync command as Ed stated. > rsync (with the -a option in particular) takes care of some "gotchas" > that the cp command can sometimes produce if you don't remember how to > use it just right. > > betty wrote: >> i'm sure i know less than you, the advice was to use dd. is one better >> than the other?? i'm willing to use whatever will work to copy my home >> dir to the new computer so that all my settings are the same. >> >> what would be the command for cp? >> thx >> betty i >> >> Eric Cope wrote: >>> please excuse my ignorance, why would cp -r not work? >>> Eric >>> >>> On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 9:33 PM, betty >> > wrote: >>> >>> I installed the new drive into the new computer. I'm going to transfer >>> the home directory to a usb drive and then to the new computer. >>> This is the command i tried and the result i got. >>> >>> stormy@stormy-desktop:~$ sudo dd if=/home/stormy of=/dev/sdc1 >>> bs=1024k >>> [sudo] password for stormy: >>> dd: reading `/home/stormy': Is a directory >>> 0+0 records in >>> 0+0 records out >>> 0 bytes (0 B) copied, 0.000942499 s, 0.0 kB/s >>> stormy@stormy-desktop:~$ >>> >>> What is wrong there? i am such an idiot on command line stuff. aghhh. >>> Thanks. >>> betty i. >>> >>> Joseph Sinclair wrote: >>> > First, I'd definitely recommend going with a new SATA drive on >>> the new machine. You'll find everything just works better and the >>> added reliability of a newer drive makes for a lot less stress >>> (although regular and frequent backups are definitely the best >>> peace-of-mind tool). >>> > >>> > For the data transfer there are 3 simple options: >>> > 1) If you have, or can borrow, a large enough USB drive (flash >>> or HDD), I'd copy everything (I prefer rsync, but dd is a good >>> choice too) to the USB drive, then copy from that to the new computer. >>> > 2) Temporarily install the old drive in the new machine on the >>> ATA (CDROM) interface (if the new machine has an old-style ATA >>> interface for the CD drives), and copy the data from one drive to >>> the other (definitely use rsync here). >>> > 3) Connect the two machines to an ethernet router/hub and use >>> rsync to transfer the files over the ethernet connection. >>> > >>> > However you end up doing the transfer, I'd definitely recommend >>> retaining a separate backup of all of your personal data >>> (pictures, documents, music, videos, etc...) as part of the >>> process, if at all possible. >>> > >>> -- >>> betty i. >>> www.webcanine.com >>> information for people >>> who care for dogs. >>> >>> --------------------------------------------------- >>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us >>> >>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >>> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Eric Cope >>> http://cope-et-al.com >> >> > > > -- > -Eric 'shubes' > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss