Make an exact duplicate of a NTFS filesystem partition under Linux

Q. How do I make an exact duplicate of a partition using Linux? I have brought a new hard disk and I would like make an exact duplicate of a NTFS filesystem located at /dev/hda1 to /dev/hdb1.

A. You can copy a file, converting and formatting using a dd command. Use same tool to make an exact copy of NTFS filesystem partition under Linux.

First make sure you have created /dev/hdb1 using Linux fdisk program. /dev/hdb1 partitions must be the exact same size of /dev/hda1 so that you create a direct raw copy of source.

Use fdisk -l command to view current /dev/hda1 partition size (cylinders).
# fdisk -l

Now use dd command as follows:
# dd if=/dev/hda1 of=/dev/hdb1

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.

Your support makes a big difference:

I have a small favor to ask. More people are reading the nixCraft. Many of you block advertising which is your right, and advertising revenues are not sufficient to cover my operating costs. So you can see why I need to ask for your help. The nixCraft takes a lot of my time and hard work to produce. If everyone who reads nixCraft, who likes it, helps fund it, my future would be more secure. You can donate as little as $1 to support nixCraft:

1 comment

Remember that the first sector in an NTFS partition has a copy of the “special hidden sectors” – so if you’re thinking os “starting” your copied partition on a different cylinder to the original, you’ll need to modify this too.