Re-instating the graphical boot sequence after imaging

[Liam Proven]

I'm experimenting with different ways of duplicating an installed
system. For now, it's 9.04 & I will probably skip 9.10 & the whole
scary business with GRUB2 and so on and go straight to 10.04LTS next
year.

If I copy the whole disk with G4L and "Click'n'clone", it works fine -
but this copies all the blocks, even empty ones, so it takes 45min-1hr
to copy an 80GB disk with 5GB of data on it. Not ideal.

If I use Gparted, it still copies empty space. If I resize the
partitions to minimum size, copy them, then expand them, it only takes
10min to duplicate a disk, but then, the graphical bootloader stops
working. I get the initial "bouncing bar" animation as the kernel
boots, then all the Linux text messages display as the machine goes
through init and so on. The same happens if I copy from Windows using
Acronis.

I tried making an image with Partimage but it seems unable to store &
restore swap partitions, making restoration a more complex, 2-step
process.

If I use Clonezilla, even Grub's graphical menu disappears and I get
the ugly old text-mode menu.

Is there a quick efficient way to clone an Ubuntu system & preserve
the graphical boot sequence? If not, how does one re-install the
graphical bootloader after imaging?

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven
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