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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Migrating Linux install from old SSD to new SSD with different filesystem (dandroid.app)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hi all,

I currently have a Linux install from an old 256GB SATA SSD that I inherited. It was originally used as a swap drive in another person's RAID server for about 7 years, then it was given to me, where I put my own Linux install that I have been running for about 5 years.

About a year ago, I acquired a new computer that has an NVMe SSD. It originally ran windows, but I dropped in my SSD with my Linux install, installed grub on the NVMe SSD, and booted to the old SSD.

I am mildly concerned about with this SSD being so old, it could crap out on me eventually. I remember that being a topic of discussion when SSDs first hit the market (i.e. when the one that I am using was made). So I was thinking of wiping the 1TB NVMe SSD that is currently unused in this computer and migrating my install to it. Now, I know I could copy my whole disk with dd, then expand the partition to make use of the space. But I was wondering if I could change the filesystem to something that had snapshots (such as btrfs).

Is it possible to do this, or to change filesystems do I need to create a new Linux install and copy all the files over that I want to keep?

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Make the new filesystem, rsync the old SSD to the new one (making sure to use rsync -ax to copy everything properly, also add -H if you use hardlinks), update fstab UUID, regenerate GRUB configuration and you're good to go.

I have a 10 year old install that's survived moving several disks and computers, it works just fine.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Don't forget to change the fstab filesystem type when updating the UUID as well (yes, I've made this oops before).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

-x (alias --one-file-system) means "don't cross filesystem boundaries"; is that what you meant? Or did you mean -X | --xattrs?

Edited because I wrote some things before that were incorrect.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yep, that's so you don't end up potentially copying /dev, /sys, /run or any other mounted partitions.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is likely what I will do now that I have given it some thought. This will bring over all of my installed apt and snap packages, right? And they will both be aware and know how to update from there?

I have the NVMe prepped. It has a fresh Ubuntu install of the same version, but on btrfs. I could probably even snapshot it before I get started to make sure I can roll back and try again if I fuck up. And worst case, I can just reinstall the OS on that partition, as it would touch my existing install. It feels pretty safe to try. Worst thing that can go wrong is I waste my time.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, from the software's point of view unless you need some extra rsync flags as some have pointed, you end up with an identical view of the files on there, they'll be mounted exactly at the same places and everything. Just a different filesystem and drive behind it. People have been doing that for decades, before even Linux.

As long as all the attributes like user/group/mode and symlinks are preserved, most distros won't notice a thing with that method. There's no filesystem-specific special sauce to make it work or hidden flags or anything, even snaps and flatpaks.

This is not like Windows where your options are clone the partition or reinstall. Linux is a lot simpler and only cares that the files are where they should be with the right permissions.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And maybe also -ASX for ACLs, sparse files and xattrs

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

~~-X is already included in -a, so no need to specify expliticly. Doesn't hurt either.~~

Nope, I was wrong, -X is not included in -a. Sorry!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Seconded this approach, I've got a Gentoo installation that has been going since 2005 across half a dozen different machines.