A copy of /boot? (Newb Question)

I installed 11.04 to an encrypted LVM and used my SD Card for /boot. The SD Card is locked up when not in use. Is it possible to make a copy of the SD Card in case of loss? Or can I create another one once I'm booted into the OS? I assume the encryption key is on there somewhere, because I had another SD Card that was created the exact same way and I got an encryption error when trying to boot from it (everything was identical except the first install had an encrypted /home directory as well...not really needed and extra work for the CPU, so I reinstalled without it).

Thx,

NN

 

Sure you can. Just dd it to another device.
Make sure you do it when it is UNMOUNTED.
E.g.: dd if=/dev/sdcarddevname of=/dev/targetdevdevice bs=4k
Cheers,
Mrk

 

The key isn't on there (it's part of the drive header). What probably happened is the copy you made didn't have Cryptsetup in it. By default /boot doesn't load the binaries to start LUKS. I have done this in the past too.

Quick question:
Do you know how I can move /boot and my MBR off my computer onto a SD Card? I tried DD but it fails to boot. I already have it installed.

 

Thanks! So new that I'll have to research even that, but I have a place to start

NN

 

I did it during install, but I found this:

http://www.stealth-x.com/articles/the-problems-with-full-disk-encryption.php

NN

 

This is how I understand your question:
You boot into the system and want to create a backup of /boot, which currently resides on a flash drive.

My suggestion:

(cd /boot && tar -cf - .) | (cd /path-to-empty-backup && tar -xvf -)

The result is a folder with all the folders and files from /boot.

 

Yes, thanks! I want to have backup copies in case of loss or damage. So after I run your provided command, I should then be able to boot off of that second device, and enter my encryption key (pass phrase) correct?

NN