cloned sd card is not booting

[Robert Moskowitz]

On 08/06/2014 04:26 AM, Alexis Jeandet wrote:
> Hi,
>
> In my case, most of the time for ARM images I use as root(be careful!):
>
> more /dev/sdb > /dev/sdc   # I use sdb as source and sdc as destination
> sync
>
> It makes an exact copy and you don't have to care about options.

Using fdisk and parted, I can see my problem, and this won't work. The 
target card IS smaller than the source.  But I can 'fix' that if there 
is a partition resize command where I can specify the end block in the 
resize.  No reason I cannot shrink sdb3 to what will fit on the target card.

>
> Best regards,
> Alexis.
>
> Le 06/08/2014 05:44, Robert Moskowitz a écrit :
>> This is a Fedora arm problem, but probably more experience with dd and
>> sd cards here...
>>
>> SO I boot my Cubieboard2 from microSD.  I grabbed 8 16GB cards from
>> the bin at the MicroCenter checkout counter.  They work fine for
>> building F21 arm boots, but I am getting far enough into the process
>> that if I do something wrong, I don't want to go all the way back to
>> the beginning.  I rather clone the card, play around, and soforth. So
>> I tried using:
>>
>> sudo dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/sdc bs=4096 conv=notrunc,noerror; sync
>>
>> the target sd card has been previously use.  The copy fails in use as
>> follows:
>>
>>           Mounting Configuration File System...
>> [  OK  ] Mounted Configuration File System.
>> [  OK  ] Found device
>> /dev/disk/by-uuid/1dc878de-92d2-4a66-b352-f055a32473b9.
>> [  OK  ] Started dracut initqueue hook.
>> [  OK  ] Started Show Plymouth Boot Screen.
>> [  OK  ] Reached target Paths.
>> [  OK  ] Reached target Basic System.
>>           Starting dracut pre-mount hook...
>> [  OK  ] Reached target Remote File Systems (Pre).
>> [  OK  ] Reached target Remote File Systems.
>>           Starting File System Check on
>> /dev/disk/by-uuid/1dc8...f055a32473b9...
>> [   13.911063] systemd-fsck[368]: _/: The filesystem size (according
>> to the superblock) is 3587707 blocks
>> [  OK  ] Started dracut pre-mount hook.
>> [   13.919598] systemd-fsck[368]: The physical size of the device is
>> 3548795 blocks
>> [   13.937109] systemd-fsck[368]: Either the superblock or the
>> partition table is likely to be corrupt!
>> [   13.944962] systemd-fsck[368]: _/: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN
>> fsck MANUALLY.
>> [   13.950853] systemd-fsck[368]: (i.e., without -a or -p options)
>> [  OK  ] Started File System Check on
>> /dev/disk/by-uuid/1dc87...2-f055a32473b9.
>>           Mounting /sysroot...
>> [   14.483857] random: nonblocking pool is initialized
>> [   14.571964] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p3): bad geometry: block count 3587707
>> exceeds size of device (3548795 blocks)
>> [FAILED] Failed to mount /sysroot.
>> See 'systemctl status sysroot.mount' for details.
>> [DEPEND] Dependency failed for Initrd Root File System.
>> [DEPEND] Dependency failed for Reload Configuration from the Real Root.
>> [  OK  ] Stopped dracut pre-pivot and cleanup hook.
>> [  OK  ] Stopped target Initrd Default Target.
>> [  OK  ] Stopped dracut mount hook.
>> [  OK  ] Reached target Initrd File Systems.
>> [  OK  ] Stopped target Basic System.
>> [  OK  ] Stopped target System Initialization.
>>           Starting Emergency Shel
>> Generating "/run/initramfs/rdsosreport.txt"
>>
>>
>> Entering emergency mode. Exit the shell to continue.
>> Type "journalctl" to view system logs.
>> You might want to save "/run/initramfs/rdsosreport.txt" to a USB stick
>> or /boot
>> after mounting them and attach it to a bug report.
>>
>>
>> :/#
>>
>> =======================================================
>>
>> I put the card back in my build system and looked at it with Gparted
>> which shows the whole drive as unallocated, even though the system
>> successfully mounted /boot (but not /).
>>
>> So the question is:  HOw better can I clone the card?  SDFormatter in
>> Windows is one suggestion, but I don't want to have to jump over to
>> the family XP system.
>>
>> thanks
>>
>>