Making Copy Of USB Puppy (Solved)

[linuxwannabe]

I have been running Slacko 5.7 off a usb pen drive for a couple of years now, how would I go about making a copy just in case the pen drive wears out? It's not as easy as just copying the files to the new pen drive, is it?

[nosystemdthanks]

It's not as easy as just copying the files to the new pen drive, is it?

it could be. not exactly like that, but if you make a second slacko usb and copy your save files or other things youve added, that should work.

you could also try getting a usb that is the same size and copying it with dd.

the issue with dd though is you have to be VERY careful, because if you accidentally specify your hard drive or the source usb as the of=, youll destroy the data on that. you get one chance to get it right.

making a second usb and copying your save files is safer for beginners. dd is pretty safe if youre meticulous and never get distracted.

[MochiMoppel]

It's not as easy as just copying the files to the new pen drive, is it?

It is - almost. Use Gparted to set the boot flag on the new USB stick. Then simply copy files from your old to the new stick. It should boot.

[rcrsn51]

Then simply copy files from your old to the new stick. It should boot.

Not until you install a bootloader on the new stick.

[MochiMoppel]

Not until you install a bootloader on the new stick.

I assumed that the bootloader (namely the files grldr and menu.lst when using Grub4Dos ) is part of "files". IIRC copying them over to the new stick is all there is to do.

[rcrsn51]

You also need to write a bootloader onto the MBR of the drive to make it bootable.

Grub4Dos Bootloader Config does this. Or by installing syslinux.

[MochiMoppel]

You are right. Haven't done this for a long time
I now remember that I used grub4dosconfig for virtually all of my sticks. From then on it was a copy job.

[linuxwannabe]

I guess it is not easy because I don't understand any of what you guys said.
Where would I get the bootloader from, how do I install it? Can anyone give me step by step instructions or point me to a tutorial?

What is dd?

[rcrsn51]

When you originally set up your Slacko pen drive, you would have used a procedure that installed a bootloader, like running Grub4Dos Bootloader Config from the System menu.

How did you do it then?

[linuxwannabe]

I don't remember, it was several years ago. I know I came on the forum to ask for instructions. I'll have to do a search to see if I can find that thread.

[mostly_lurking]

It's not as easy as just copying the files to the new pen drive, is it?

Can anyone give me step by step instructions or point me to a tutorial?

I haven't tested it, but the steps have been mentioned in the above posts already:

1. Copy the files to the new pen drive.

2. Use GParted to set the boot flag on the pen drive. (In GParted, right-click on the USB drive's partition that contains the Puppy files and go to "Manage Flags".)

3. Run the Grub4Dos bootloader configuration program and select the pen drive to install the bootloader to its MBR. (You probably don't need to change most of the program's options, but you might want to check the "search within only this device" one, so that the boot menu will only include the Puppy install on the USB drive, and not any others that are currently present on your system.)

Both GParted and Grub4Dos config can be found in Puppy's "System" menu.

[linuxwannabe]

I found the thread and I used "puppy universal installer to make a puppy usb from a cd, but that is not what I want to do this time. I just want an extra bootable puppy usb in case my current puppy usb fails.

If I can get step by step instructions I think I can manage to make it.
So do I first copy all the files that are on the bootable pen drive to new pen drive and then set the boot flag?

[ITSMERSH]

Just follow instructions given by mostly_lurking and you'll have success!

Just do it!

[tallboy]

If the pen drive is formatted with ext2/3, there is no need for Grub4dos, just set the boot flag and copy the files.

[Mike Walsh]

If the pen drive is formatted with ext2/3, there is no need for Grub4dos, just set the boot flag and copy the files.

Mm. That kind of assumes that the original syslinux/isolinux bootloader is still there, doesn't it? When I perform a frugal to hard-drive (my usual), or a frugal to a pen-drive, after running Grub4DOS, those are the first two files I tend to remove.....

------------------------

@ Bill:-

I know I tend to always use Grub4DOS, because I prefer to use it, but.....isn't that what the original syslinux/isolinux files are there for? They are the default bootloaders as supplied (or so I always understood). I've a feeling tallboy's right on this one.


Mike.

[rcrsn51]

isn't that what the original syslinux/isolinux files are there for? They are the default bootloaders as supplied

What are you claiming? That a new flash drive from the store already has a Linux bootloader installed?

I will leave this for you to check yourself.

[Mike Walsh]

@ Bill:-

Okay; I've broken my own rule, there. Not very well explained.

What I should have said was that, to my knowledge, the syslinux/isolinux files as supplied in every Puppy ISO that I've ever used are the default bootloaders for a frugal Puppy USB install.

My first couple of Pups, 4-5 years back, simply installed to a stick via the Universal Installer. I set the machine to boot from USB in the BIOS settings, and it fired straight up. To the best of my knowledge, the installer doesn't run Grub4DOS (though I could very well be wrong here); instead, the syslinux or isolinux bootloaders are used as supplied. Isolinux I believe is the bootloader for an optical disc with certain read-only properties; syslinux, I think, works for a USB stick?

I'm no expert on this stuff, and am more than happy to be corrected/instructed.


Mike.

[rcrsn51]

What I should have said was that, to my knowledge, the syslinux/isolinux files as supplied in every Puppy ISO that I've ever used

That's true, because ISOs need to be bootable if you are going to burn them to disc. But they also contain code in their "boot sector" that initiates the boot process. Your BIOS loads and executes this code when you power up.

This is equally true for hard drives and USB devices. Setting the Boot Flag does NOT make the device bootable. It simply identifies the device to the BIOS as being potentially bootable.

My first couple of Pups, 4-5 years back, simply installed to a stick via the Universal Installer.

And what do you think that the Universal Installer does? Just copy some files onto the target device?

If you ask, it will also write boot code onto the device's MBR/PBS.

That's the crucial point. In order for a USB device to be bootable, it must have been made bootable by you at some point in its past. If not, just copying some files onto it won't get you bootability.

[mostly_lurking]

@ tallboy, Mike Walsh:

You might have been thinking of the "Superfloppy" install mode, which formats the whole device with no MBR, and which does apparently not require a separate bootloader install when using an ext3 filesystem on a flash drive. It installs a bootloader called "extlinux" (is that yet another variant of syslinux?).

I took the screenshot below when I tried this kind of install in a virtual machine. I used a hard disk image rather than a USB drive, though. I told the Universal Installer it was an internal flash drive - with any hard disk options it would just point me towards using Grub4Dos. (It didn't work; GParted tried to access the non-existing "sda1" and complained about a "bad magic number in super block", and I was unable to set the boot flag.)

EDIT: I tried it with a normal, non-superfloppy install (again declaring the hard disk to be a flash drive), and also got the extlinux option there, but I couldn't get it to boot, despite there seemingly being no formatting errors on the drive this time.

What I should have said was that, to my knowledge, the syslinux/isolinux files as supplied in every Puppy ISO that I've ever used are the default bootloaders for a frugal Puppy USB install.

They are part of the CD's bootloader. In addition, the CD also needs some kind of boot sector or whatever (I don't know the details) that points the computer towards that bootloader. If you take all files from your Puppy ISO and stuff them into a new ISO without telling mkisofs to include this kind of data, your new CD image won't be bootable.

[linuxwannabe]

So now I'm more confused than ever and don't know what steps to take to make a second copy of my puppy usb stick. Is the MBR something that I have to make on the pen drive?