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Thread: Moving data to another drive before new install question.

  1. #1
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    Moving data to another drive before new install question.

    Hi,

    I need to move my stuff, to another drive before installing a new drive and OS (Xubuntu 12.04). Yes, I regularly backup my ~/ with an app called Back in Time. I don't want to back up my whole home, as I don't want my dot files and such anymore, with the new install.

    I know how to backup and restore my FF and TB profiles, now. What's left are the files and folders in my ~/ that I want. Copy and Pasting my Documents, works just fine, I find.

    I have 48.3 Gb of Music I want to Copy and Paste to the backup, too. I know people use TAR and Rsync for stuff like this, but keeping it simple with Copy and Paste, is probably best for me.

    Question:

    Is there anything wrong with using Copy and Paste, of 48.3 Gb of Music to another drive (attached USB Drive), to achieve good results for backup and restore?

    Thanks.

  2. #2
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    Re: Moving data to another drive before new install question.

    it will take longer than rsync, unless you skip existing files witch will not backup updated metadata, this will also result in duplicates if you rename something unlike rsync
    this is the command i used up update my ipod
    Code:
    rsync -av --delete ~/Music/ /media/ipod/Music/
    (i soft moded my ipod shuffle, i can have my music anywhere and use any file name)
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  3. #3
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    Re: Moving data to another drive before new install question.

    I wouldn't see a problem with that approach. In general, when copying files like this, you might want to do it in a way that preserves the time stamp and permissions.

    Also, it will save you some headaches if you make sure to use the exact same user name on your new machine. Capitalization matters!
    Jane, stop this crazy thing!

  4. #4
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    Re: Moving data to another drive before new install question.

    Quote Originally Posted by newb85 View Post
    I wouldn't see a problem with that approach. In general, when copying files like this, you might want to do it in a way that preserves the time stamp and permissions.

    Also, it will save you some headaches if you make sure to use the exact same user name on your new machine. Capitalization matters!
    Yes, I will use exactly the same one user name as I have now.

    Does coping and pasting, preserve time stamp and permissions, automatically, or will I have to do it by command line with cp and arguments?

    Thanks.

  5. #5
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    Re: Moving data to another drive before new install question.

    GUI copy and paste? Don't think so, but I'm not sure. Why don't you do a quick experiment?
    Jane, stop this crazy thing!

  6. #6
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    Re: Moving data to another drive before new install question.

    if you are just backing your files (/home/$USER/*) up to a empty drive for a clean install
    using the gui copy/paste is perfectly fine
    not so much for cloning a drive though
    Laptop: ASUS A54C-NB91 (Storage: WD3200BEKT + MKNSSDCR60GB-DX); Desktop: Custom Build - Images included; rPi Server
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  7. #7
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    Re: Moving data to another drive before new install question.

    Quote Originally Posted by newb85 View Post
    GUI copy and paste? Don't think so, but I'm not sure. Why don't you do a quick experiment?
    Good idea. I GUI copied and pasted my /documents to the external drive, and then to my /desktop from the backup, and all three have the same time stamps and perms (original, backup on ext. drive and the desktop. So, I guess the Time Stamps and Permissions are preserved this way.

    Don't know if I can do this kind of copying with such a big file as my compressed Music file though. I guess I can try that too, but that would be a long experiment backing it up, then copying it somewhere to see if everything worked ...

    Thanks.

  8. #8
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    Re: Moving data to another drive before new install question.

    Quote Originally Posted by pqwoerituytrueiwoq View Post
    if you are just backing your files (/home/$USER/*) up to a empty drive for a clean install
    using the gui copy/paste is perfectly fine
    not so much for cloning a drive though
    Thanks for your help.

    Basically, what I would do with the GUI copy and paste, is copy it (the large Music file), to a partition on my external drive, then copy it back to my new install, on the new internal drive.

    Sound OK?
    Last edited by mikodo; October 27th, 2012 at 02:48 AM. Reason: more info

  9. #9
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    Re: Moving data to another drive before new install question.

    Well, I just GUI copied and pasted one file of Music (40 songs), to a test backup on the external drive partition. Then copied that, to the desktop. Everything worked, the songs played from each. I did notice tho, that the time stamps changed each time, when I checked the properties.

    Below is a screenshot of clicking the properties of the files, from left to right:

    1. The original from ~/Music file.
    2. From the copied file to my external drive partition.
    3. From the file copied from my external drive partition to my desktop.

    It seems to work fine, with just the time stamps not the same (I don't know if this is important or not).

    Thanks. -> I'm going for supper.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by mikodo; October 27th, 2012 at 03:49 AM. Reason: I'm hungry

  10. #10
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    Re: Moving data to another drive before new install question.

    Well, 48.3 Gb of music copied to my USB partition through GUI copy and paste, just fine. Plays well. It took just 29 minutes for it all.

    Thanks.

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