G4u is software that facilitates easy cloning of PC hard disks using FTP. It is a boot-floppy/CD that simplifies the process of cloning.
G4u, short for Ghost for Unix, is a fantastic boot-floppy/CD that offers an efficient and straightforward way to clone PC hard disks using FTP. It is commonly used to deploy a uniform setup on multiple PCs. The CD/floppy offers two functions, one is to upload the compressed image of a local hard disk to an FTP server, while the other function is to retrieve the image from the server via FTP, uncompress it, and then write it back to the disk. Network configuration is obtained through DHCP.
Fortunately, as the hard disk is processed as an image, any operating system and file system can be deployed using g4u. Easy cloning of local disks and partitions is also supported. To create an image, you must boot the CD/floppy on the computer you wish to clone. G4u then reads the kernel from disk and prints all the devices found in the machine. It will then proceed to perform DHCP, where it asks for an IP number, so ensure that DHCP is properly configured. In the end, you will get a text description of the possible commands and a shell prompt.
When it comes to whole hard disking, type in "uploaddisk your.ftp.server.com filename.gz" to read out the machine's hard disk, rwd0d, and deposit it in your FTP server's "install" account under the given filename. The disk image will be compressed using gzip -9, so it's preferable to use a ".gz" file suffix. The "install" account's password is requested before putting the file on the FTP server. If you want to clone your second IDE disk or use SCSI instead of IDE disks, add the disk's name to the uploaddisk command line, such as "uploaddisk your.ftp.server.com filename.gz wd1" for an IDE disk or "uploaddisk your.ftp.server.com filename.gz sd0" for a SCSI disk. If you want to use a name other than "install," use "[email protected]" for both "uploaddisk" and "slurpdisk."
For one partition only, you can get an overview of disks recognized by g4u by typing "disks." A list of partitions on a specific disk is available by typing "parts disk," where disk is one of the disks printed by "parts" such as wd0, wd1, sd0, etc. Partitions are numbered with letters starting from 'a,' with partitions a-d being predefined and your partitions starting at 'e.' Partitions in this sense are BSD partitions, which have little in common with DOS MBR partitions. To specify a partition, use something like "wd0e" or "sd0f": "uploadpart your.ftp.server.com filename.gz wd0e." Run "uploadpart" without arguments for more examples.
Once you're back at the shell prompt (ignore the errors), waiting times for image creation can vary depending on the network, CPU, hard disk hardware and content, with several hours being possible. You can now switch off your machine by typing "halt" or simply pressing the reset/power button as no filesystems are mounted, resulting in no harm. You should then ensure that the FTP server's "install" account now has the image file.
In conclusion, the latest version of g4u includes updated drivers based on the newest development
Fortunately, as the hard disk is processed as an image, any operating system and file system can be deployed using g4u. Easy cloning of local disks and partitions is also supported. To create an image, you must boot the CD/floppy on the computer you wish to clone. G4u then reads the kernel from disk and prints all the devices found in the machine. It will then proceed to perform DHCP, where it asks for an IP number, so ensure that DHCP is properly configured. In the end, you will get a text description of the possible commands and a shell prompt.
When it comes to whole hard disking, type in "uploaddisk your.ftp.server.com filename.gz" to read out the machine's hard disk, rwd0d, and deposit it in your FTP server's "install" account under the given filename. The disk image will be compressed using gzip -9, so it's preferable to use a ".gz" file suffix. The "install" account's password is requested before putting the file on the FTP server. If you want to clone your second IDE disk or use SCSI instead of IDE disks, add the disk's name to the uploaddisk command line, such as "uploaddisk your.ftp.server.com filename.gz wd1" for an IDE disk or "uploaddisk your.ftp.server.com filename.gz sd0" for a SCSI disk. If you want to use a name other than "install," use "[email protected]" for both "uploaddisk" and "slurpdisk."
For one partition only, you can get an overview of disks recognized by g4u by typing "disks." A list of partitions on a specific disk is available by typing "parts disk," where disk is one of the disks printed by "parts" such as wd0, wd1, sd0, etc. Partitions are numbered with letters starting from 'a,' with partitions a-d being predefined and your partitions starting at 'e.' Partitions in this sense are BSD partitions, which have little in common with DOS MBR partitions. To specify a partition, use something like "wd0e" or "sd0f": "uploadpart your.ftp.server.com filename.gz wd0e." Run "uploadpart" without arguments for more examples.
Once you're back at the shell prompt (ignore the errors), waiting times for image creation can vary depending on the network, CPU, hard disk hardware and content, with several hours being possible. You can now switch off your machine by typing "halt" or simply pressing the reset/power button as no filesystems are mounted, resulting in no harm. You should then ensure that the FTP server's "install" account now has the image file.
In conclusion, the latest version of g4u includes updated drivers based on the newest development
What's New
Version 2.3: N/A