Moving old SSD to new Lenovo MiniPC

[MarcoPau]

Hi all, I know this is a common topic but couldn't manage to sort it out by reading other people's threads...

I have a Pentium with Z270 chipset system with a 2.5 inches SSD I'd like to move to my newer Lenovo Thinkcentre minipc with i5 and M.2 SSD.

For now, can't even manage to boot grub after moving the 2.5 in SSD to the Lenovo.

Do I have any option rather than starting a new Ubuntu from scratch?

Thanks!

[ubfan1]

How is Ubuntu installed on the ssd from the Pentium, legacy or UEFI? Is your Thincentre set up to boot that type of install? You might be able to convert a legacy install to UEFI by adding a EFI partition, then installing grub there. A bit of cleanup is recommended after such an action, but that's doable after you get it running.

[grahammechanical]

Excuse me, but you fail to tell us which version of Ubuntu is on that 2.5 inch SSD. If the hardware in your newer machine is newer than the release date of the version of Ubuntu then the operating system most likely will not have hardware drivers for much of the new hardware.

When using Ubuntu on the Pentium did you run it with a proprietary video driver? Best to revert to using an open source video driver. There is a better chance that an open source video driver will work on the newer machine than the proprietary video driver.

You need to confirm that the BIOS/UEFI settings utility of the newer machine actually sees the 2.5 inch SSD as a boot option. Does the Thinkcentre have an existing operating system? Is it Windows? You need to determine if Windows is installed in BIOS/Legacy/Compatibility mode or UEFI mode. Also what mode was Ubuntu installed in? BIOS mode or UEFI mode. When dual booting both operating systems should be installed in the same mode to avoid problems like this.

Regards

[MarcoPau]

Thank you guys for your contribution.

Thinkcentre has a windows on its M.2 drive. Ubuntu version is groovy with open source video drivers.

The 2.5 drive is seen as a boot option in fact I set it as primary boot in the thinkcentre.

If I enter setup on both systems I see Bios version xxxx, does this mean I am running a Bios install on both of them?

/sys/firmware/efi is missing on Ubuntu, thus I assume at least Ubuntu is Bios mode.

[tea for one]

Return your Ubuntu SSD to its original PC, boot Ubuntu and open a terminal:-

[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo "UEFI mode" || echo "Legacy mode"

I suspect Windows 10 is in UEFI mode, you can check via
System Information > System Summary > BIOS mode > UEFI

Are both modes UEFI?

[MarcoPau]

Linux is in BIOS mode, Windows is UEFI.

Any option?

[ubfan1]

If I understand correctly, you have a windows disk with Windows in UEFI mode, and another disk with Ubuntu in legacy mode. The minimum needed to boot Ubuntu in UEFI mode is to get the grubx64.efi and shimx64.efi and grub.cfg into your ...EFI/ubuntu directory, and edit the grub.cfg to put in your UUID, hdx and parttiion number for your Ubuntu root. That's it. Wont boot Windows, but you can do that directly from the EFI menu (some key at powerup to allow you to select device/os to boot). Then you can add the /boot/efi mount point, add the fstab entry for the EFI there, install the grub-efi-amd64-signed and shim-signed, and rerun the update-grub to rewrite the grub.cfg to allow Windows to boot. I was surprised that a legacy grub.cfg would actually boot Ubuntu in UEFI mode, but I had to do something similar at one time -- installed Ubuntu to a new disk in legacy mode, then converted it to UEFI. I had just copied all the EFI/ubuntu files from another working computer, and edited the grub.cfg.

[oldfred]

Most legacy installs are on MBR(msdos) partitioned drives.
Windows requires gpt partitioning for UEFI installs.
But since Ubuntu will let you use MBR with UEFI (it maybe should not), you just need to reinstall grub in UEFI boot mode and that will convert your install to UEFI boot whether drive is gpt or MBR. It probably will use ESP - efi system partition on Windows drive, so you do not even have to add an ESP on Ubuntu drive.

Most find Boot-Repair easier, although you also can chroot into system. But you need to boot Ubuntu live installer in UEFI boot mode.
Lets see details, use ppa version with your live installer (2nd option) or any working install, not Boot-Repair ISO:
Please copy & paste the pastebin link to the Boot-info summary report ( do not post report), do not run the auto fix till reviewed.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair &
https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/

Long term plan on converting drive to gpt & reinstalling in UEFI boot mode.

[MarcoPau]

https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/gwCQS65pBy/

Please note that I would like to move the ubuntu installation from the 2.5 SSD to the new M.2 drive that came with the Lenovo PC and where Windows is installed.

I am now on ubuntu live and that's the link to the boot repair info. I am taking advantage of the live boot to resize the M.2 drive and create the ext4 partitions.

I used to have a big swap on a secondary 2 TB 2.5 drive I will fit into the Lenovo after finishing the migration. Do you think it is a good idea to keep the swap on the secondary HD instead of creating a swap partition on the M.2 drive?

Cheers.

[tea for one]

Therefore, you want both operating systems on your nvme drive?
If so, use Windows tools to shrink the Windows partition to make free space.

General Observations for Dual Boot Windows 10 & Ubuntu Family

Not all are applicable in every case.

Backup your data
Both systems in UEFI mode with GPT
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

UEFI settings

Disable Secure Boot
Disable Fast boot
Disable Legacy mode
Check that Legacy USB Support is enabled
Change SATA mode to AHCI where the default is RAID or Intel RST (Windows may need AHCI driver)
Disable TPM

Windows 10

Backup your data
Turn off Bitlocker
Disable Fast Start Up i.e. Windows is not hibernating
Disable applications which manage Intel Optane memory & storage
Disk must be GPT
Install Windows 10 in UEFI mode
Check via System Information > System Summary > BIOS mode > UEFI
Windows will have an EFI partition (needed by Ubuntu later)
Use Windows tools to reduce Windows partition size and create free space
Reboot Windows to allow chkdsk to run
Windows may need AHCI driver
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubunt...-enabled/15347

Ubuntu Family

Boot into a live session in UEFI mode (how you boot determines the installation mode)
Check wifi, sound, graphics, mouse, keypad etc
Use gparted to create a GPT (GUID Partition Table)
Install Ubuntu in the free space previously created (or your own partition scheme e.g. separate root and home)
Allow the installer to automatically create the necessary partitions.
Grub will find the EFI partition already used by Windows
Sometimes (although very rare) internet connection prevents clean installation