[SOLVED} Switching Linux Mint from 1 HDD to Another

Quick to answer questions about finding your way around Linux Mint as a new user.
Forum rules
There are no such things as "stupid" questions. However if you think your question is a bit stupid, then this is the right place for you to post it. Stick to easy to-the-point questions that you feel people can answer fast. For long and complicated questions use the other forums in the support section.
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Locked
Oskar1224
Level 5
Level 5
Posts: 693
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:55 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

[SOLVED} Switching Linux Mint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by Oskar1224 »

Its about 1 week I installed Cinnamon 20.1 in my desktop. The desktop has 2 IDE HDD, 160GB & 80GB, Cinnamon is installed on the 160GB and there is no other OS installed in this desktop. When I started installing Cinnamon it was for experimental purposes but now I discovered that I like this system.

I have another SATA hard disk 250GB which currently I use to store backups of my Windows laptops thru a SATA to USB adapter cable. Since I have other means for my backups I thought to install this SATA hard disk in the desktop and transfer the Cinnamon OS into the SATA disk.

Is it possible to transfer the OS from one HD to another or it is better to re install Cinnamon form the DVD I made originally?

If I have to re install of course I will lose all my settings but if that’s the better option I will do it.

Thank you
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Nicolas
User avatar
AndyMH
Level 21
Level 21
Posts: 13614
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire

Re: Switching Linuxmint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by AndyMH »

You can clone the 160GB HDD to the 250GB HDD. Sounds like an old PC if it has IDE drives, so suspect it is booting legacy?

If you are running LM20.1 then you must have a 64 bit processor. Try foxclone (I developed it):
https://foxclone.com/ (US download)
https://foxclone.org/ (UK download)

Download the iso, burn it to a usb stick (or CD) and boot from it. Read the user guide.

Note - I've not tested it with IDE drives.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
User avatar
Cyberbleuet
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 91
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2017 12:55 pm
Location: Alma, Québec

Re: Switching Linuxmint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by Cyberbleuet »

Hi
There are several tools to clone a hard disk like clonezilla for example, search on the web Linux disk cloning, I recommend you to read carefully the manual before proceeding.

Greetings!
HP - Ordinateur portable écran UHD 15.6, AMD Ryzen-3 7000 series, Radeon graphics, SSD 500G, 8G Ram, Linux Mint 21.2 cinnamon edge edition (kernel 6.6.1)

Infiniment libre
Reddog1
Level 7
Level 7
Posts: 1903
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 2:12 pm

Re: Switching Linuxmint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by Reddog1 »

Clonezilla is an option, but for a newbie, Foxclone is the easiest. Just download it, burn it to a USB stick using Unetbootin, and then boot your computer into the Live version of Foxclone Ubuntu. Plug the drive you want to clone to into a USB port (you'll need an adapter for your drive to USB--about $20 for SATA--with power supply, get one of those not just the adapter-- and another $10 if you need to adapt the SATA to IDE). After plugging your new drive into the USB port and open Foxclone and it will scan your drives. Choose 'Clone' and after that, Foxclone is practically a no-brainer. Clonezilla can be problematic and isn't for the faint of heart or inexperienced, in my opinion. A clone is truly a 'clone' and replicates not only the files on the drive, but the UUID of the cloned drive, so your computer will boot from it in exactly the way it booted the original drive because it sees no differences. Just swap the drives and power on. Those SATA/IDE to USB adapters come in really handy and over time you'll find they are well worth the small amount of money you paid..
Moonstone Man
Level 16
Level 16
Posts: 6078
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:17 pm

Re: Switching Linuxmint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by Moonstone Man »

Oskar1224 wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 4:22 pm Is it possible to transfer the OS from one HD to another or it is better to re install Cinnamon form the DVD I made originally?
As already pointed out, cloning is the way to go however if you do this on the same machine, you should shutdown the machine immediately and remove either the clone or cloned drive after the clone has finished otherwise you will confuse the operating system by potentially generating undesirable effects, such as the partitions specified for the OS to be on one drive mounting on two different drives.
User avatar
AndyMH
Level 21
Level 21
Posts: 13614
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire

Re: Switching Linuxmint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by AndyMH »

Kadaitcha Man wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 3:21 am you should shutdown the machine immediately and remove either the clone or cloned drive after the clone has finished otherwise you will confuse the operating system by potentially generating undesirable effects, such as the partitions specified for the OS to be on one drive mounting on two different drives.
YES! Having two identical drives in the system will confuse BIOS, so once you have done the clone, swap the drives over and reboot. Once happy that the clone is worked correctly, you can reformat the old drive.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
Oskar1224
Level 5
Level 5
Posts: 693
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:55 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Switching Linuxmint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by Oskar1224 »

I’m sorry for the late reply but I didn’t receive email notifications about these replies and so I thought I had no replies and I went ahead and re installed Cinnamon on the same disk and all is fine now.

As been new to this forum, I received email notifications from my first posts so I thought it will happen again but it didn’t. Now I know better and I will check the forum as needed.

The cloning seem a good way to go and since I’m thinking to install a new SSD as the boot drive I may use what is posted here when the time comes.

Thank you all
Nicolas
User avatar
karlchen
Level 23
Level 23
Posts: 18185
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:21 am
Location: Germany

Re: Switching Linux Mint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by karlchen »

Correction:
Oskar1224 wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 4:22 pminstalled Cinnamon 20.1 in my desktop.
The operating system is Linux Mint. Its version is 20.1. Cinnamon is merely one desktop environment out of 3 available DE's for Linux Mint: Cinnamon / Mate /xfce.
So what you installed was Linux Mint 20.1 Cinnamon.
Please, cf. here: Linux Mint Releases and here: Editions for Linux Mint 20.1 "Ulyssa"
You do not have to trust my words. You execute the terminal command inxi -Sxxx or you launch System Settings => System Information. :wink:
Image
The people of Alderaan have been bravely fighting back the clone warriors sent out by the unscrupulous Sith Lord Palpatine for 762 days now.
Lifeline
Oskar1224
Level 5
Level 5
Posts: 693
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:55 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Switching Linuxmint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by Oskar1224 »

AndyMH wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 5:42 pm You can clone the 160GB HDD to the 250GB HDD. Sounds like an old PC if it has IDE drives, so suspect it is booting legacy?

If you are running LM20.1 then you must have a 64 bit processor. Try foxclone (I developed it):
https://foxclone.com/ (US download)
https://foxclone.org/ (UK download)

Download the iso, burn it to a usb stick (or CD) and boot from it. Read the user guide.

Note - I've not tested it with IDE drives.
You have done an amazing work AndyMH with your foxclone. I downloaded the instructions and they are very well written / documented. I will also download the ISO and burn it on a DVD because I got a new 240GB SSD and would like to transfer the Cinnamon 20.1 from my SATA HD to the SSD.

I followed the instructions and formated the SSD but I stumble on making a partitions: what size? what type?
If you have a chance please let me know. I attache a picture of the formated SSD
240GB SSD.png
Nicolas
Oskar1224
Level 5
Level 5
Posts: 693
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:55 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Switching Linux Mint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by Oskar1224 »

I wanted to give it a try and do the cloning tonight but my knowledge is limited here......

I got the ISO and made the foxclone DVD and got it going but then it said”
Source ends at 232.89GB
Target drive is 223.57GB
Shrink the Source

Now when I reboot and go to Gparted, first I’m not sure if I should resize the sda2 or the sda5. Clicking on either the new menu coming up I’m not sure what numbers to put. I attach a picture of the source disk which I must shrink to do the cloning.
SATA Disk.png
Nicolas
User avatar
AndyMH
Level 21
Level 21
Posts: 13614
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire

Re: Switching Linux Mint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by AndyMH »

First, when you are cloning you don't have to do anything to the target drive - whatever is there gets overwritten, so no need to format it.

Because you are booting legacy with a drive formatted with a msdos partition table, you need to do two things to your source drive, sda:
  • you have to shrink the logical partition sda5,
  • then when you have done that you need to shrink the extended partition, sda2. Think of the extended partition as a container that the logical partition sits inside.
sda5 is your / partition, so you can't do this booting normally (you can't change a mounted partition and you can't unmount your / partition). So boot foxclone and run gparted from that.

To resize sda5, in the gparted main window, right click on it and select resize/move, then drag the arrow left.
Screenshot from 2021-04-17 09-41-05.png
Then repeat for sda2, the extended partition.

A window will appear at the bottom of the gparted main screen telling you what it needs to do - edit > apply all operations.

Your new drive, sdb is only 10GB smaller than your existing system drive sda, so to be on the safe side shrink both sda5 and sda2 by 20GB. If it is any consolation I had the same problem cloning from an mSATA SSD to a 2.5" SSD, both nominally 240GB, but the SSD was around 10GB smaller.

Using gparted is explained in the user guide, page 46.

Before you start, take a backup.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
Oskar1224
Level 5
Level 5
Posts: 693
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:55 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Switching Linux Mint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by Oskar1224 »

Thank you for your time AndyMH

Not very smart of me at all, I should have thought that I could not have done that work on a live HD. But yesterday it was a stressful day for me, the cooling fan fell off my CPU and I had to do a homebrew contraption to re secure the fan.

Anyway I’m back to “normal” now and I’m doing the work you described right now

Much appreciated
Nicolas
Oskar1224
Level 5
Level 5
Posts: 693
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:55 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Switching Linux Mint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by Oskar1224 »

The cloning finished successfully, very easy and fast process

However I was expecting the see the 240GB SSD in the BIOS as a second or first drive to boot from but I still have the SATA 250GB as the only bootable drive.

I even swathed the data cable between the 2 drives but the SSD looks like it’s not bootable.

I attach the 2 disks pictures from the disk utility for info (they both look the same)

I wonder what I did wrong
Clone1.png
Clone2.png
Nicolas
User avatar
AndyMH
Level 21
Level 21
Posts: 13614
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire

Re: Switching Linux Mint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by AndyMH »

Oskar1224 wrote: Sat Apr 17, 2021 10:51 am I attach the 2 disks pictures from the disk utility for info (they both look the same)
They will be, that is the whole point of a clone.
I wonder what I did wrong
You didn't read the user guide!
Screenshot from 2021-04-17 18-56-34.png
Remove the old drive, replace with new drive.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
Oskar1224
Level 5
Level 5
Posts: 693
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:55 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Switching Linux Mint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by Oskar1224 »

I did this before and it shows my 160GB HD only which is not bootable

Now I did it again and I attach a picture of the BIOS screen

As far as I know in Windows the BIOS shows all the HD on the PC which are bootable

Perhaps I should mount the SSD, I did try this too ar per paragraph 111 page 45 of 58
but I get "File/Directory does not exist
IMG_20210417_142505835.jpg
Nicolas
Oskar1224
Level 5
Level 5
Posts: 693
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:55 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Switching Linux Mint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by Oskar1224 »

I got it now Andy

I went in the BIOS and disabled all HD except the SSD and now she boot nicely
I dont know why the SSD was not shown as bootable in the BIOS boot section

Anyway all is fine, your help is greatly appreciated
Thread is now marked SOLVED
Nicolas
User avatar
AndyMH
Level 21
Level 21
Posts: 13614
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire

Re: [SOLVED} Switching Linux Mint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by AndyMH »

Next time read the manual FIRST.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
Oskar1224
Level 5
Level 5
Posts: 693
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:55 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: [SOLVED} Switching Linux Mint from 1 HDD to Another

Post by Oskar1224 »

I will print and study the manual Andy

It is an excellent educational source, very well written and I like the subject

Thanks again for your time
Nicolas
Locked

Return to “Beginner Questions”