Moving Ubuntu installation from one HDD to another

[KayGee]

A little over a month ago, I decided to try out Ubuntu Server 10.04 on an 8-year old Dell that was just lying around. I managed to get a bunch of services running and have got it configured just the way I want it. What I'm worried about is how long the hard disk is going to last and I would hate to have to start all over again on a fresh installation. So, is there some way I could transfer the installation to a brand new hard disk that I can just pop in when the old one fails. I did some Googling and most of the guides are based on the desktop version of Ubuntu. Has anybody done this or has a link to a step-by-step tutorial? Thanks in advance.

 

[Tbirdkid]

clonezilla...

 

[joetekubi]

I agree clonezilla live cd should work fine.

There are many utilities that can copy partition data from one
disk to another disk. The special problem is the boot record
in the MBR of the disk, and the grub setup. (been there, done that,
lost some hair and fingernails).

If for some reason clonezilla doesn't work, or you can't boot from the
new disk, I recommend SuperGrubDisk:
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/

The older version worked a bit better for me. Just boot SGD from usb
or CD with your new hd, and tell it to fix the boot. If your files on the new partition are good, it usually can find the boot files and write out grub
sucessfully.

Let us know how it goes. We've all been there....

 

[joetekubi]

Oh, BTW,
If you know the original hd is old, or you suspect it may not last,
do yourself a big favor, copy everything to the new disk, and
permanently retire the old disk before it dies on you.
Much easier to move forward.

 

[JD50]

dd

 

[KayGee]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll give Clonezilla a shot; hopefully all goes well.

 

[Nothinman]

Worst case, you might have to edit /etc/fstab to fix up the drive names. Everything else should "just work".

 

[VinDSL]

clonezilla...

I agree clonezilla live cd should work fine.[...][/URL]

dd

Another vote for Clonezilla, D2D (disk-to-disk), and...

Use a THERMALTAKE BLACX 2.5/3.5 SATA HARD DRIVE ESATA & USB DOCKING STATION.

Best invention since water... :awe:

 

[VinDSL]

I did some Googling and most of the guides are based on the desktop version of Ubuntu. Has anybody done this or has a link to a step-by-step tutorial?

If you don't mind me quoting myself, this might give you some insight(s)... :sneaky:

Well...

First of all I downloaded the Clonezilla ISO and burned a 'Live' CD - only used like 80MB.

This is pretty standard fare with Linux et al - the same way I installed OpenSUSE and Ubuntu x64 kernels, prior to reverting to Vista HP on my new lappy drive, so no surprise here...

After booting off the Clonezilla Live CD, it would [pause] after every few lines - sort of like the [pause] switch in a MS batch file. So, then I had to hit the [space bar] to make it continue - even though I was NEVER prompted to do same. Sometimes it continued for a few lines, then it [paused] again. Sometimes it would go through a screen or two before [pausing]. Then, all of a sudden, a GUI would pop up in pigeon-english and ask you to pick from 5-6 choices - also in pigeon-english. At other times, choices were made by typing [1, 2, 3, a, b, c], followed by more dancing on the [space bar] after a few mores lines.

After going through all this BS, it indicated it was going to actually do something, followed by 1%, 3%, 10%, 13%, 19%, blah, blah, blah - from CLI of course.

Finally, it asked me if I wanted to make another image or reboot... and that was that...

It was such a 'kludgey' process, I was surprised it actually worked - but it did!

In a way, it was kinda cool having the script pause after a line or two, so you could *see* what's going on in the background - Linux often makes you wonder what just flashed by you... but in another way, it was kind of a major PITA, wondering if you should hit the [space bar] or wait for something to happen.

I dunno... maybe it's because I was doing this on a lappy that was obviously designed with Vista in mind - but other Linux Live CDs just did there thing with no dancing on the [space bar]. So, I have to *think* it's a bug or something. I've read comments by other ppl having to "battle" with Clonezilla as well...

Anyway, that's what I mean about it being a "kludge"... kapeesh?

Don't get me wrong - I'll continue playing around with it. Maybe it's just something I'm doing wrong - but really - I think it's just a 'kludgey' program!

It's amazing that I still recommend Clonezilla, but this damned proggie has never failed me...