Copying by Inode

[Mike Reinehr]

On Wednesday 01 November 2006 11:32, Net Llama! wrote:
> On Wed, 1 Nov 2006, Mike Reinehr wrote:
> > On Wednesday 01 November 2006 10:08, Net Llama! wrote:
> >> On Wed, 1 Nov 2006, Ben Duncan wrote:
> >>> I need to move / copy files from a smaller hard drive to a
> >>> larger one. However, some of the commercial programs I have
> >>> rely on copy protection by INODE registration. I was
> >>> wondering if anyone know of a way to copy / move files from
> >>> a smaller partition to a the larger one while keeping to same
> >>> inode numbers. This will be to a fresh disk on the receiving
> >>> side of things ...
> >>
> >> dd ?
> >
> > I don't think that dd would preserve the inodes unless you copied the
> > entire file system over.
>
> That's how dd works, it copies the filesystem.

Yes, but it makes a difference whether you are copying a file or copying an 
entire file system. dd can do either as you well know. For example
	dd if=file_1 of=file_2
using the blocksize, count & skip arguments can extract a portion of file_1 
and copy it to file_2, where file_2 could be on another, mounted file system. 
This in no way will preserve or guarantee the assigned inodes. However, if 
you 
	dd if=/dev/hdc of=/dev/hdd
where hd? are unounted partitions, then you are going to duplicate the entire 
file system onto another partition (of another hd if desired) with identical 
inode assignments.

Cheers!

cmr
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