[comp.sys.3b1] disk image transfer between two PCs

mhw@fithp.uucp (Marc Weinstein) (02/24/91)

I bought a 3B1 recently, and I'm at the point where I need to transfer
the contents of my old PC's disk to the new PC's disk.  Using floppies
for the transfer is SO slow, I'd really like to avoid it.

I'm considering setting up a RS-232 link between the two, and creating
compressed cpio files (ala ccpio) on the first PC, sending them over
to the other, and unpacking them on the second PC while the first creates
the next file in the series.

However, the ideal would be to do this without a transfer of files, but
simply a stream of data, cpio'd and piped into the tty from the first
PC and read and cpio'd from the tty on the second PC.

Can anyone tell me the best way to do this?  Will it work if I simply
redirect output to/from the tty?  Could I even use the parallel ports
for faster transfer?

-- 
Marc Weinstein
{simon,royko,tellab5}!linac!fithp!mhw		Elmhurst, IL
-or- {internet host}!linac.fnal.gov!fithp!mhw

les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) (03/01/91)

In article <1991Feb24.004755.919@fithp.uucp> mhw@fithp.uucp (Marc Weinstein) writes:
>I bought a 3B1 recently, and I'm at the point where I need to transfer
>the contents of my old PC's disk to the new PC's disk.  Using floppies
>for the transfer is SO slow, I'd really like to avoid it.

>I'm considering setting up a RS-232 link between the two, and creating
>compressed cpio files (ala ccpio) on the first PC, sending them over
>to the other, and unpacking them on the second PC while the first creates
>the next file in the series.

>However, the ideal would be to do this without a transfer of files, but
>simply a stream of data, cpio'd and piped into the tty from the first
>PC and read and cpio'd from the tty on the second PC.

I've done this with kermit on both machines, but it's much slower than
the floppies.  The advantage is that you can go away for the weekend
and come back with the job completed.

You just need to give kermit all the command line options to work
in pass-through mode.  Piping your cpio output to:
kermit -i -l/dev/tty00 -b9600 -s -
 with the receiving machine using:
kermit -i -l /dev/tty00 -b9600 -k
piped to a corresponding cpio on the other machine should work.

>Can anyone tell me the best way to do this?  Will it work if I simply
>redirect output to/from the tty?  Could I even use the parallel ports
>for faster transfer?

Unless you can go away for a long time while the transfer happens, I'd
just use floppies.  That way you get a backup as a side effect.

Les Mikesell
  les@chinet.chi.il.us