Here is my situation.
I have a two drive system, where I want fedora6 to be installed on each. The drives are not the identical sizes, neither are the directories, but there is adequate space to copy the smaller drive contents to the larger.

Is there a command or logic file to allow me to transfer the directory trees from the smaller system to the larger (Overwriting the empty space on the target).?

Someone mentioned the dd command, but I could not tell if it was to identically sized directory trees.

If I can do it, are there precautions I must take?

Leslie

You can do it with dd, the partition size has to be the same. You "may" be able to use the tool I mention below to re-size the partition after to take up the rest of the drive in combination with a re-size command in Linux, not sure if the re-size option is available if it is not installed but I believe it will be. Here is a little dd bible you should read to get the particulars.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=362506

I use Bootitng as my multi partitioning/imaging/re-size partition tool which you can use for free as long as you don't install it as a boot manager (used off of CD or floppy). But partitions should also be made with this utility as it aligns partitions correctly with C.H.S. values where your existing partition that was created by an OS may not be properly aligned, so an image made with Bootitng of your existing partition may need a slightly different partition size than the original, but if you want to put it on another drive, you make your partition with Bootitng and restore the image than re-size to take up the rest of the drive. What I do with it is create a 10GB partition and install a OS (Windows or Linux etc.), then use it to create a compressed image of the OS (backup), then I can create another 10GB partition on the same drive or another, and restore the image in it, if I want more space I re-size it to what ever size I want. The vendor also has a product called "Image for Linux" that will do the same for existing partitions, not sure what the scoop is after the 30 trial period as I only use the multi-tool Bootitng. Here's a link to a thread describing a little more about what I do with it. It comes in handy for using trial software forever for free.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=530261

EDIT: The option to re-size a partition is available without installing Bootitng.

Does the software work with lvm's?

It mirrors a partition exactly (compressed).
I'm not sure if I have an LVM partition, don't know much about it. I don't see anything regarding LVM in kinfo center in partitions, I have Windows Media Center, Windows XP Pro, Mandrake 10.2, 2 copies or Fedora Core 6 64bit from the same image, (a little unstable and needs a test copy), Debian Etch 64bit. The best way to find out for sure is to download it and play with it, if you have spare room on your drive or another drive, or you can shrink an existing Fat or NTFS partition with it to make room to play with it, you can shrink a Linux partition after re-sizing from within Linux first. Documentation can be downloaded also from the site and comes with the package.
It only does primary partitions so if you have 3 primaries and an extended partition, you may not be able to do much with it but I could be wrong as I gave up the traditional partitioning scheme long ago since using this. Reading the documentation would yield answers. They also have "Image for Windows, Image for Linux" for imaging existing partitions not created with bootitng.
I'll never go back to traditional partitioning knowing what it does for me. The MBR is controlled by bootitng which has it's own 7mb partition when installed, and it's own filesystem, making it impossible for a virus to affect the MBR rendering a multi-boot system un-bootable as in traditional partitioning. And to be able to have "test" OS's to hack away at rather than be held back by fear of screwing things up like most people who don't want to have to go through re-installation, re-configuration, re-updating, etc. No fear, no sweat, no stress.
Try it out, you can install it also and try it for 30 days, but you can also leave it installed and use it past the 30 day trial as it is shareware, after the 30 days it annoys you by taking 2 or 3 minutes to give you the boot menu, but will always boot-up. It cost $35.00 US if you're like me and can't live without it after trying it.
Just put a .com at the end of it's name in a browser.

You may find the Hard Disk Upgrade Mini How-To helpful. It gives step by step instructions on how to copy a Linux system from one disk to another.

Bill