Clone Desktop setup

[weyland]

I have a Rosa Mate HDD installation set up exactly as I like, and I'd like to have the same configuration on a new Rosa Mate installation on SSD on the same machine, which will become my main Linux instance.

What's the best way to do that?

I mean desktop, panels, workspaces, installed software, settings, startup programs, etc.

/var and /home on HDD, everything else on the SSD.

[Pjotr]

User settings: make the hidden settings in your home folder visible (Ctrl h), and copy everything onto a USB thumb drive or external USB hard disk. Paste them back in the home folder of your new installation. In order to prevent complications, make sure that both the old and the new user names are identical.

[Kendoori]

Another option is to use Clonezilla and just clone the drive. Is the SSD same size or bigger than HDD? if so, it's very straight forward in Clonezilla (http://clonezilla.org/downloads.php), there's an option to do disk to disk. If it's a laptop you would need an external enclosure to do this...

[weyland]

User settings: make the hidden settings in your home folder visible (Ctrl h), and copy everything onto a USB thumb drive or external USB hard disk. Paste them back in the home folder of your new installation. In order to prevent complications, make sure that both the old and the new user names are identical.

Thank you, Pjotr.

I copied all the hidden files to an HDD. 1.6GB. Some files wouldn't copy.

I guess I'd better install all the extra software I need before copying the old settings into the new /home. Is that right?

[weyland]

Another option is to use Clonezilla and just clone the drive. Is the SSD same size or bigger than HDD? if so, it's very straight forward in Clonezilla (http://clonezilla.org/downloads.php), there's an option to do disk to disk. If it's a laptop you would need an external enclosure to do this...

Thanks, Kendoori.

Problem is that the old Mate is all on a single HDD, whereas the new one is spread across an SSD and an HDD. It's the user interface and installed software I want to clone, not the entire old system in a single chunk. Maybe it isn't possible to do it other than the hard way.

[austin.texas]

The easiest way to preserve as much as possible is to rsync the original / partition to the new / partition on the SSD. That will not only transfer your hidden files (configurations) but will also include other useful things, like all the .deb files in /var/cache/apt/archives. (You have to be prepared to re-install any PPA's.) Then you install the new Mint to the new / partition, without formatting the partition.

Instructions for using grsync to mirror the / partition to the new one are here → http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 9#p1128247

Setting up /var and /home (and swap) on the hard drive can be done after installation, by editing /etc/fstab.
Do you currently have a separate /home partition on the hard drive? That would change the procedure a bit.

[weyland]

The easiest way to preserve as much as possible is to rsync the original / partition to the new / partition on the SSD. That will not only transfer your hidden files (configurations) but will also include other useful things, like all the .deb files in /var/cache/apt/archives. (You have to be prepared to re-install any PPA's.) Then you install the new Mint to the new / partition, without formatting the partition.

Instructions for using grsync to mirror the / partition to the new one are here → http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 9#p1128247

Setting up /var and /home (and swap) on the hard drive can be done after installation, by editing /etc/fstab.
Do you currently have a separate /home partition on the hard drive? That would change the procedure a bit.

Thank you, a.t. Seems like that's the way to go. (The separate /home partition is empty, so that's not a problem.)

[austin.texas]

Old Ruler just posted a complete and easy to follow tutorial on how to do it with rsync →
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=216469

[austin.texas]

Thank you, a.t. Seems like that's the way to go. (The separate /home partition is empty, so that's not a problem.)

If it is a separate /home partition, then it is not empty. Where is the .dmrc file located? On the separate /home partition? You can't log in without that file (and other hidden files), depending on your procedure.

[weyland]

Thank you, a.t. Seems like that's the way to go. (The separate /home partition is empty, so that's not a problem.)

If it is a separate /home partition, then it is not empty. Where is the .dmrc file located? On the separate /home partition? You can't log in without that file (and other hidden files), depending on your procedure.

What I meant was that it's never been used. I can format the entire SSD and the separate /var and /home partitions on the HDD before I do anything else.

I'll report back when I've done the whole rsync thing. Thanks again.

[weyland]

Old Ruler just posted a complete and easy to follow tutorial on how to do it with rsync →
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=216469

Thanks for that excellent script, Old Ruler.

It all worked flawlessly until I tried to boot. Took about 20 minutes for a 60GB installation.



THIS seemed to work fine, but it still wouldn't boot. THIS wouldn't boot either, unfortunately (unrelated problem, I dare say).

So I hit the nut with a sledgehammer and installed a new Mint instance on a HDD. Now I can boot the rsync'ed system on the SSD.

Any ideas how that problem could happen?

[austin.texas]

There is no way to be sure why it failed without a Boot Info Script report, or similar info.

[weyland]

There is no way to be sure why it failed without a Boot Info Script report, or similar info.

Will that be in a log somewhere?

[austin.texas]

Install boot-info-script:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install boot-info-script

Then run the script:

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sudo bootinfoscript --stdout | pastebin

Post the resulting URL link that displays in the terminal.

If you are just running the script for your own information (not for the forum) you can eliminate the " --stdout | pastebin" and just run

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sudo bootinfoscript

Having said that, you have installed a new Mint that allows you to boot the rsync'ed Mint. So boot into the rsync'ed Mint and run

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sudo update-grub

and

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sudo grub-install /dev/sdX

(where X is your hard drive - sda? sdb?)

If you are worried about replacing the current Grub, you can plug in a flash drive and install the rsync'ed Mint's Grub to the MBR of that drive, as a test to make sure it works, before installing it to the MBR of the SSD.

[rdonnelly]

I usually delete the .dmrc, and .xauthority while I am on the live desktop before install, and just set /home as your /home with no formatting. You end up with the same desktop on the first boot. I guess dependencies can be questionable. But if I want fresh, I take a screen shot of my desktop before install, then recreate, it and move over the files from my old /home backup.

[weyland]

Install boot-info-script:

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sudo apt-get install boot-info-script

...

I've run that script, on the system I'm using now (which is on the SSD and running fine). The failed UUID in the error message isn't there. Is that what I'm looking for?

All I have to do now is move /home and /var to an HDD. Possibly /tmp as well? swap is already on an HDD.

[austin.texas]

I've run that script, on the system I'm using now (which is on the SSD and running fine). The failed UUID in the error message isn't there. Is that what I'm looking for?

Please post the URL link to the Boot Info script so that we can see what you are looking at:

Code: Select all

sudo bootinfoscript --stdout | pastebin

It might be that editing fstab is all that is needed.

[weyland]

I've run that script, on the system I'm using now (which is on the SSD and running fine). The failed UUID in the error message isn't there. Is that what I'm looking for?

Please post the URL link to the Boot Info script so that we can see what you are looking at:

Code: Select all

sudo bootinfoscript --stdout | pastebin

It might be that editing fstab is all that is needed.

If you insist. It's a big and messy system, which has been played with at one time or another by various seekers-after-truth including my son. But now it's all mine -- MINE, I tell you! And I'm in the process of tidying and streamlining. I've now got / on the SSD, and /home, /var, /tmp, and swap on an HDD. Seems to be working fine, and it's noticeably snappier most of the time, including boot.

The link below reflects the system before I migrated the non-root stuff (using THIS).

http://paste.linuxmint.com/view/jjmq

[austin.texas]

You are right, it is big and messy. Worse than mine, even. In fact, it is so big that it exceeds the 32768 byte limit for uploading a file to the paste.linuxmint.com pastebin, so only the first 757 lines are displayed.
It does not include the fstab or the grub.cfg for Mint 17.3 on sdc1, which is essential info for figuring out what the error message is about.
If you have the entire text on your hard drive you can open it in a text editor, like gedit, and search for the UUID displayed in the error message.
When you followed Old Ruler's tutorial, did you miss "update-initramfs -u", perhaps?

[weyland]

You are right, it is big and messy. Worse than mine, even. In fact, it is so big that it exceeds the 32768 byte limit for uploading a file to the paste.linuxmint.com pastebin, so only the first 757 lines are displayed.
It does not include the fstab or the grub.cfg for Mint 17.3 on sdc1, which is essential info for figuring out what the error message is about.
If you have the entire text on your hard drive you can open it in a text editor, like gedit, and search for the UUID displayed in the error message.
When you followed Old Ruler's tutorial, did you miss "update-initramfs -u", perhaps?

That big? That'll teach me. Maybe.

I've checked the printed tutorial I made before begining. I had ticked update-initramfs -u. Didn't miss it. I don't have the entire text.