Here's something we do from time to time, solving the very
problem you describe.

This technique DOES NOT require that the target drive (the clone) have
any file system or partition information at all. Only that it be a
raw formatted drive, ready to be written..  This saves tons of time!

1.  Assuming the new disk is "identical" to the master,
    run 'disklabel <master_disk>' to get the size info
    for the raw disk (partition 'c'). 

    Here's an example from one of my SCSI disk systems:

% disklabel sd0 <cr>
# using MBR partition 3: type A6 off 32 (0x20) size 2097120 (0x1fffe0)
# /dev/rsd0c:
type: SCSI
disk: SCSI disk
label: DK319H-18WS    
flags:
bytes/sector: 512 <----  Used for cloning parameter
sectors/track: 226
tracks/cylinder: 20
sectors/cylinder: 4520 <----  Used for cloning parameter
cylinders: 7931  <----  used for cloning parameter
total sectors: 35970860
rpm: 3600
interleave: 1
trackskew: 0
cylinderskew: 0
headswitch: 0           # microseconds
track-to-track seek: 0  # microseconds
drivedata: 0 

16 partitions:
#        size   offset    fstype   [fsize bsize   cpg]
  a:   131048       32    4.2BSD     1024  8192    16   # (Cyl.    0*- 28)
  b:  1048640   131080      swap                        # (Cyl.   29 - 260)
  c: 35970860        0    unused        0     0         # (Cyl.    0 - 7958*)
  d:   262160  1179720    4.2BSD     1024  8192    16   # (Cyl.  261 - 318)
  e: 34528980  1441880    4.2BSD     1024  8192    16   # (Cyl.  319 - 7958*)
%

2.  Using the  sectors/cylinder: parameter (above) as a "blocks per copy" value 
    for the "dd" utility will allow for a clean; no overrun/underun transfer
    of data from one disk to the other. Notice the sectors/track:, the
    tracks/cylinder: and sectors/cylinder: values on your master disk.

    My own experience is that copying anything less than 128 blocks at a time
    is not too efficient, so the sectors/cylinder: value (above..for my disk)
    fits the bill.   The total number of  cylinders:  is a convenient value
    to use as a COUNT value with the "dd" utility to determine just how 
    much data to copy.

3.  Now, armed with these "COUNT -and- sectors/cylinder" values, I can clone the 
    master disk to the target disk. In my example (below) the master disk is 
    SCSI disk 0 (sd0) and the target clone drive is SCSI disk 1 (sd1). 

    I use the raw device node of each to eliminate any notion of "file system"
    in favor of a pure, raw copy. Also, I use the values learned about
    these two identical disks to control and limit the copy so there
    is no overrun or round off error (perhaps leaving some sectors un-copied).
    And, (very important) the "bs" (block size in bytes) value must
    be a multiple of the native disk block size; hence the  512x  multiplier.

    Example:
                                       +----------- bytes/sector value
                                      /    +------- sectors/cylinder value
                                     /    /
% dd if=/dev/rsd0c of=/dev/rsd1c bs=512x4520 count=7931 <cr>
                                                    /
                 total cyliders to copy value -----+


This technique has been used many - many times, for SCSI and IDE drives.
It is predicated on the notion that both devices are otherwise identical.
It does a block for block copy, at HIGH SPEED - from one disk to another.

Interestingly, the "dd" utility will show you some useful statistics after
the copy is completed, including the bytes/sec computation. In a test 
case yesterday, I was able to clone a 9GB SCSI drive in 500 seconds.

You *could* have a larger disk as the target, with different geometry and
it would work...although the copy efficiency might be lower. The resulting
cloned drive will, however, appear to be identical to the master. For the
most part...modern SCSI & IDE drives hide the actual sector by sector
mapping on a physical disk...even re-mapping bad blocks to reserved
locations to achieve factory specs. This occurs even on otherwise
identical devices; from the same production run...


Randy Lewis, RTMX