easiest way to replace hard drive?

[Paul]

Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
> On 10/08/2009 10:31 AM, Konstantin Svist wrote:
>   
>> On 10/08/2009 09:48 AM, Dr. Michael J. Chudobiak wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> Is there an easy way to transfer a system from one drive (holding
>>> boot, swap, lvm partitions, in the default F11 layout) to a different
>>> hard drive, if the new drive is smaller?
>>>
>>> If the new drive is larger, dd could be used in a fairly
>>> straightforward way.
>>>
>>> However, I want to try replacing a 160 GB hard drive with an Intel 80
>>> GB solid-state drive, just for fun...
>>>
>>> I suspect a re-install might be easier.
>>>
>>> - Mike
>>>
>>>       
>> gparted (or qtparted) will do what you want. I don't remember if it
>> can resize the partitions as you copy them, but in the worst case you
>> can resize first then copy.
>>
>> or you can use cp -a to copy over all necessary files and run
>> grub-install to restore the grub boot loader if it's installed in MBR
>> (default)
>>
>>     
> There is a potential problem when using partition resizing - it can mess
> up the partition tables and render the drive unbootable - need to be
> careful here, as it "bit me in the a.."!
>
> FWIW,
> Dan
>   
Your easiest option might simply be a "bare metal" backup and restore, backing up from the old drive and restoring to the new.

This also may work, but I am pretty sure I am missing at least one important thing that hopefully someone else will point out so that you can use this method:

* Set up the drive ahead of time with the same partitions as your existing one, greater than or equal to the existing size of each partition. You may encounter problems if you are going to make any new partition smaller, even if the new one is still large enough to hold all of the data.

* Do as Konstantin suggested above to copy the files over and then make GRUB set itself up to hopefully boot the system for you off the new drive.



This is off the top of my head so unless you know what you're doing, I wouldn't recommend trying it until a few people have ripped it to pieces and corrected whatever flaws I have missed or inadvertently inserted. No warranties express or implied, and I am not responsible if you foobar your system trying this, etc. etc.



-- 


Paul


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