BT4 Beta install to HDD-problem with cp --preserve command

[mgdbt]

I am trying to install BT4 to a mult-partitioned drive on a laptop. I have one partition left over after installing PC-BSD, NST1.8.1, and Slackware 12.1. I installed grub on its own partition and all distros use this grub. However, my problem appears to be very general. I formatted the remaining partition hda9 and mounted /mnt/bt. I then tried issuing the command;
cp --preserve -R / {bin,dev,home,pentest,root,usr,boot,etc,lib,opt,sb in,var} /mnt/bt. Of course, a lot of information flows by, but on the last screen, I receive a lot of: cp: reading '/sys/kernel/slab...lines that end with Function not implemented. Then, I get two lines:

cp: cannot open '/sys/block/md0/md/new_dev' for reading: Permission denied
cp: reading '/proc/sysrq/trigger': Input/output error.

and the system chokes. I have to issue CTRL-Z to give it life.

I can use the CD to boot into a live session of BT, so the CD appears ok.

[larryhaja]

cp --preserve -R / {bin,dev,home,pentest,root,usr,boot,etc,lib,opt,sb in,var} /mnt/bt

I'm not sure that this is a formatting issue but there shouldn't be a space between '/' and '{bin,'. It should be.

# cp --preserve -R /{bin,dev,home,pentest,root,usr,boot,etc,lib,opt,sbin,var} /mnt/bt

If that is the case and /mnt/bt is properly mounted, then I'm assuming that you're coping '/' to '{bin,dev,home,pentest,root,usr,boot,etc,lib,opt,s bin,var}', which are non-existent folders rather then the '/mnt/bt' destination folder.

[P1llowT@lk]

Yeah, you gotta look out for random spaces in the command lines. If it helps, since there are many different webpages detailing install instructions, you can just compare the two to find those. One other common mistake is:
cp --preserve -R /{bin,dev,home,pentest,root,usr,boot,etc,lib,opt,sb in,v ar}
: where the "v ar" has an unnecessary space in it.

On that note, also make sure that you have "sbin" in there and not "s bin"

[mgdbt]

Thank you P1llowT@lk and LarryHaja. Yes, that was my problem. The cp command now makes sense. I would like to add one other item from my install experience that may be helpful for users trying to install to a multiboot system. The Live CD shows all my partitions as hda# instead of sda#. I initially tried to follow the install instructions from the PDF using sda# notation in my lilo.conf. However, when I issued the lilo -v command, I received the following error: Fatal: raid setup: stat(/dev/sda9"). I changed the lines in lilo.conf from:

lba32
boot=dev/sda9
root=dev/sda9
...
to
lba32
boot=dev/hda9
root=dev/hda9

lilo -v then ran successfully. BTW, there is a useful switch to test your lilo execution.

lilo -v -t (-v for verbose and -t for test)

I am still confused about when to use sda and when to use hda.

I was sure that I put the following line in my /etc/fstab file.

/dev/hda9 / reiserfs defaults 0 0

After the install finished and I rebooted, I see:

/dev/sda9 / reiserfs defaults 0 0

And, get this, all my other mount points in /etc/fstab use: hda..., like the swap mount:

/dev/hda5 none swap...

[Archangel-Amael]

I am still confused about when to use sda and when to use hda.

Generally hda is an IDE device such as a hard disk.
So hda would be the first IDE HDD with no mention of a partition
hda1 would be the same with the one being partition number one
sda would be a SCSI devices and kernel-level emulation of SCSI devices, like USB devices or, in some cases, CD-RW drives.
And so on.

Hope that helps out.