How to clone a Mint disk to a SSD ?

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Billy60
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How to clone a Mint disk to a SSD ?

Post by Billy60 »

Good morining,I would like to know how to clone a System + data HD to a SSD ?
Thanks a lot.
Moonstone Man
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Re: How to clone a Mint disk to a SSD ?

Post by Moonstone Man »

Billy60 wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2020 8:05 am Good morining,I would like to know how to clone a System + data HD to a SSD ?
Thanks a lot.
The usual way is Clonezilla. Your SSD must be at least the same size as the HDD.
erginemr

Re: How to clone a Mint disk to a SSD ?

Post by erginemr »

Alternatively, you may also look into "grsync".

Yet still, if you have bought a new SSD and are trying to transfer your complete system to it, you may have issues during boot. This is because the UUID disk ID numbers of HDD and SDD would be different and the file responsible for mounting the drives during boot, namely;

Code: Select all

/etc/fstab
will hold the UUID number of the old HDD drive. So, before you cut the cord, you might have to manually adjust the aforementioned file at the SSD from your old system.

In this respect; if you are planning a system transfer, it's just simpler and error-free to back up your "/home/user" folder and a list of installed applications with the default backup tool that Linux Mint provides. Then, attach the SSD and do a clean install. And finally, you can use the above two backups to re-install the apps and reinstate your personal files.
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AndyMH
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Re: How to clone a Mint disk to a SSD ?

Post by AndyMH »

As a more user friendly alternative to clonezilla, try foxclone:
https://foxclone.com/
Assuming your HDD is larger than the SSD, you will need to shrink the existing partitions so that they will fit on the SSD. More info given in the user guide.

Plug your new SSD into a spare sata slot (or if a laptop with a sata/usb adapter) and select the clone disk to disk option. When finished, swap the HDD for the SSD and reboot.

Alternatively, if you can't have both drives in the system at the same time, shrink the partitions on the HDD as above and then do a full backup to another drive. Swap out the HDD for the SSD and in foxclone select the 'clone from file' option to 'restore' the backup to the SSD.

Bit more info:
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=315557&p=1789205&h ... e#p1789205
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
Billy60
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Re: How to clone a Mint disk to a SSD ?

Post by Billy60 »

Thank you very much
This is clear.
I will probably install a new version of Mint and then copy the user files.
Have a good day
TTG35forT
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Re: How to clone a Mint disk to a SSD ?

Post by TTG35forT »

I tried to make a disk image with "Disks" that I could use to restore to my new SSD in order to move my Linux Mint system to that new SSD, but Disks would not create a disk image for me. It kept saying it could not unmount /dev/sda5. I even tried running Disks from a live USB, but it still gave me the same error. I tried doing some research as to resolving that problem, but wasn't finding anything useful.

So, I then used Clonezilla to move my current Linux Mint system to a new SSD, without having to make any backups, images, etc. It was super easy. I should have tried this first, but searching the forum and elsewhere on the Internet there were so many different opinions. There's more than one way to skin a cat, but I cannot seeing moving the system to a new SSD being any easier/faster than using Clonezilla.

I had already created a bootable Linux Mint live USB drive using the Linux Mint .iso file. (Download the .iso file, right click on it in the "Downloads" folder and select "make bootable USB stick.")

I shut down my system and installed my new SSD, leaving the old SSD in place.

I booted into Linux Mint on the USB drive and connected to my network. I then used the "Software Manager" to install Clonezilla.

I launched Clonezilla from the terminal ("sudo clonezilla" if I remember correctly). It was not listed in the Cinnamon applications menu, so I assume it can only be launched from the terminal.

I selected "Device-device" in the first interactive menu that popped up.

I selected "Beginner..." in the next menu.

Then I selected "disk_to_local disk..." from the next menu

From the next menu asking me to "Choose local disk as source" I selected my old SSD.

From the next menu asking me to "Choose local disk as target" I selected my new SSD.

From the next menu I selected the option "-fsck" to interactively check and repair the source file system before cloning, though the "-sfsck" option probably would be OK too.

Next I chose "-p choose" to choose reboot/shutdown/etc when everything is finished.

Somewhere along the line, Clonezilla prompted me as to whether I wanted to use/copy my existing boot partition, I think in prompts after Clonezill started the cloning process, I don't remember. I chose to use/copy my existing boot partition. I recommend doing so so that you do not have to fuss with re-configuring GRUB.

After Clonezilla started cloning I entered "y" for yes to each of the prompts.

I shut down the system after Clonezilla finished cloning, removing the USB drive. I also removed my old SSD. Then I just restarted the computer and everything worked flawlessly.

After booting into Linux Mint I opened GParted (Disks probably also will work), and resized my Linux Mint partitions, /dev/sda2 then /dev/sda5 in my case, to the maximum size. Voila, I now have moved my Linux Mint system to a larger SSD and I did not have to go through re-installing it, restoring backups, etc.
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