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View Full Version : [ubuntu] Clone Ubuntu 13.10 with Clonezilla - restore on a computer with different hardware.



Nane_89
December 20th, 2013, 07:39 PM
Hey!

Today i cloned my Ubuntu 13.10 with Clonezilla - and i successfully restored it on a different pc with Virtual Box. I'm thinking about buying one more hard drive to a computer with different hardware and restore my laptops Ubuntu installation to this machine. Is this a good way to clone an installation, or can i run in to problems later on?

Thanks!

sudodus
December 21st, 2013, 12:11 AM
An installed Ubuntu operating system is portable between computers, if you have not installed any proprietary drivers (and there is no incompatible hardware). So you can clone a HDD or SSD or USB pendrive and expect that it will work in another computer.

It is possible to clone to a device with the same or larger size with Clonezilla or dd, but not to a smaller device. An alternative is to make a tarball, and expand it into the new device (HDD, SSD or USB pendrive). Then it will also be possible to port it to a smaller device. (It is not true cloning). There is a tool for that process, the One Button Installer (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2172971), that works for systems with a root partition and an optional swap partition.

C.S.Cameron
December 21st, 2013, 03:41 AM
One Button Installer +1

elim-qiu
March 21st, 2014, 04:46 PM
I'd like to confirm this in my situation: I have two Dell latitude D430, Both are multi-boot. I like to copy a ubuntu 13.10 partition from one to the other. Is it possible to use clonezilla with basic partition clone option?

Thanks a lot

sudodus
March 22nd, 2014, 04:45 PM
@elim-qiu

I think you mean not to copy the whole drive, but only one partition, the 'ubuntu' partition using Clonezilla.

It is possible if the partitions are 'the same', for example the same size. Otherwise it it possible to delete all files in the target partition and copy all files from the source partition with rsync. You may or may not need to reinstall grub depending on the situation.

You can use this command assuming you boot from a third drive and connect the source and target drives to the same computer.


rsync -Havn /path-to-mount-point-of-source-partition/ /path-to-mount-point-of-target-partition

You can also copy via a local network with rsync: user@ip-adress:/path-to-mount-point-of-{source-or-target}-partition

See
man rsync and this link

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Installing#via_the_LiveCD_terminal