[clug] duplicate a file system to a smaller hard disk

[Chris Zhang]

Hi List,

I have been looking for a way to clone a complete working Linux system  
on a 250GB (22GB used) hard disk to a smaller hard disk. A lot of  
places mentioned dd, but the destination will have to be at least as  
big as the source. I have thought about creating an image of an  
appropriate size and copy everything from the bigger hard drive onto  
that image and use dd to put the image onto a smaller disk. I guess  
some work will also be needed on setting up the partition table and  
bootloader on the smaller harddisk.

It is just a thought and I don't have a clear idea as to how exactly I  
am able to do it. Does anyone have any ideas? I am very open to  
completely new approaches.

Thanks,

Chris