Goal: clone a amd64 FreeBSD 8.1 install onto a i386 FreeBSD 7.0 box

Check which disk partition you want to use 
# df -e
/dev/da0s1a    496M    414M     42M    91%    /
devfs          1.0K    1.0K      0B   100%    /dev
/dev/da0s1g    265G     26G    218G    11%    /data
/dev/da0s1e    496M     19M    437M     4%    /tmp
/dev/da0s1f     15G    3.5G     11G    25%    /usr
/dev/da0s1d    2.9G     52M    2.6G     2%    /var
sync content 
# rsync -axHe 'ssh -p2222' 192.168.6.3:/usr /data/
# rsync -axHe 'ssh -p2222' 192.168.6.3:/usr /data/
# rsync -axHe 'ssh -p2222' 192.168.6.3:/var /data/
# rsync -axHe 'ssh -p2222' 192.168.6.3:/tmp /data/
Tell the box to boot from alt partition... 
# cat > /boot.config
0:da(0,g)/boot/loader -P
  • !!! Check to make sure you fixup the rc.conf, rc.firewall,
  • !!! and the fstab file. in the /data/etc path... my fstab
  • !!! has 2 entries: the da0s1g for / and the da0s1b for swap.
  • !!! Make sure SSH will start on reboot... check rc.conf AGAIN!

    For good luck, fsck your /data partition before reboot: 

    # umount /data
# fsck -y /data
# reboot

    Now, move data to proper partitions... I fixed up the fstab file so the mount commands below would mount the proper partitions... 
    # newfs /dev/da0s1a
# newfs -U /dev/da0s1e
# newfs -U /dev/da0s1f
# newfs -U /dev/da0s1d
# mount /mnt
# mkdir /mnt/tmp
# mkdir /mnt/var
# mkdir /mnt/usr
# mount /mnt/tmp
# mount /mnt/var
# mount /mnt/usr
# df -h
Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/da0s1g    265G     27G    218G    11%    /
devfs          1.0K    1.0K      0B   100%    /dev
/dev/da0s1a    496M     10K    456M     0%    /mnt
/dev/da0s1e    496M    4.0K    456M     0%    /mnt/tmp
/dev/da0s1d    2.9G    4.0K    2.7G     0%    /mnt/var
/dev/da0s1f     15G    4.0K     14G     0%    /mnt/usr

# rsync -axH --exclude='/mnt/' --exclude='/.snap/' / /mnt
    All you have left to do is fixup your /etc/fstab and reboot!

    Good luck