Ubuntu

Transfer Ubuntu system to new computer/disk

Asked by DaveL

Now, this may seem a really dumb question but... I have an Ubuntu system I have been cultivating for a while. I like what it does and the way it does it. I'd like to transfer the entire setup to another drive. I have a system with both a PATA and SATA drive arrays. The Ubuntu system is on a PATA drive in a slide out carrier. I'd like to move it to the main SATA drive that is currently WindowsXP. I want to use the entire drive, in fact the entire system for Ubuntu. Could someone point me in the correct direction? Much appreciated. By the by I'm using Feisty Fawn.

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Christoph Langner (chrissss) said : 		#1

Is the new disk bigger than the old one? If yes, get a Linux live-cd like the Ubuntu Desktop-CD or Knoppix boot your computer and copy the old hd onto the new one bit by bit, like

# dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/sda

Where /dev/hda is the old disk and /dev/sda is the new disk. Use

# sudo fdisk -l

to make sure you are using the right device names. After the copy process use again a Linux live-cd system to modify the files

/etc/fstab
/boot/grib/menu.lst

so that your old system on the new hard drive is able to boot.

CU, Christoph

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Markus Thielmann (thielmann) said : 		#2

In my opinion, the easiest way would be

1) a new install of ubuntu feisty
2) transfer your /etc/ directory
3) move your /home/<username> directory (make sure you catch the hidden files!)

You will keep all system-wide configuration (/etc) and your personal settings (/~).

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