I have just created a SLES 10 SP2 bootable USB flash drive. However, I still need to clone it to another flash drive of the same size. I have tried using both:

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=32768 count=262144
dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=32768

Although the clone does seem to have at least some of the original files, I am unable to ascertain if everything is being copied. The clone definitely does not function as a bootable live linux device. It only makes it half way through the boot process before giving the following error:

Attached scsi generic sg0 type0 not found -- exiting to /bin/sh

How do I make other USB flash drives bootable using the exact same image of the first? Thank you in advance.

~hpnoob

Try copying all files the normal way (cp -a) then install the bootloader.

Also inspect the initrd image - the scripts may be identifying the USB gizmo via UUID or something.

Here is a bump...still need help with this. =)

OK, do something like this:

1. fdisk /dev/your_usb_stick
Now partition your USB stick and format the partition

2. copy files:
mount /dev/your_usb_stick /mnt
cp -a /path/to/your/other/installation/* /mnt/.

3. install the bootloader (assuming it's GRUB):
echo "(hd1) /dev/sdc" > mydev.map (or sdb or whatever the device name is for your TARGET USB stick)
umount /mnt (unmount the USB stick that will have its bootloader written)
./grub --batch --device-map=./mydev.map <<EOF >grub.log
setup (hd1) (hd1,0)
quit
EOF

That tells grub to install to (hd1) and to look for the grub files on (hd1,0). In this example, 'mydev.map' says (hd1) is /dev/sdc. The map file you use to install GRUB does not have to be the same as the map file used when GRUB boots.

That copied USB stick should boot now (if everything went well). Keep an eye on the boot information for clues on what went wrong if it doesn't boot.

If you get the same bad results as with 'dd' then there is something going on with the boot sequence and we'll have to look at things in more detail.