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I am changing my hard disk because in Ubuntu it shows "Disk Failure is Imminent". Which option is better:

  • Should I clone my hard disk with new one or
  • Should I create a backup using Ubuntu Backup and then restore it to new hard disk?

How much time each will take for 500 GB hard disk?

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I don't know which one is better, but I would go for a bitwise clone of the hard-drive using either dd, ddrescue or clonezilla. These utilities ignore the file-system and just copy the sectors. Clonezilla in particular is space efficient: by default it copies only used sectors and compresses the backup image (see Save 1st disk (sda) as an image on 2nd disk (sdb) tutorial).

The other solution would be to use a file-system-level utility like rsync or grsync. This could work reasonably well, too, especially if the drive hasn't yet developed bad or corrupted sectors. (If it has, however, see ddrescue.)

Whatever you do, though, stop using the dying drive now. Well, that is, if you put any value on your data.

See also:

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  • one more suggestion.i am creating backup on my hard disk.after that i copy it onto the DVD.will it create any problem ??
    – mathlearner
    Feb 13, 2014 at 9:40
  • Why would you do that? How big is your hard-drive? Is it small enough to fit a DVD?
    – landroni
    Feb 13, 2014 at 9:41
  • No my hard disk is 500GB.
    – mathlearner
    Feb 13, 2014 at 9:49
  • is there any compression during Backup ?? How will i restore it.please guideline a little.
    – mathlearner
    Feb 13, 2014 at 9:52

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