Score:0

Ubuntu dual boot move to new hardware

dk flag

I have a laptop with two SSD that I use for work, one drive with Windows 10 Enterprise (that I don't have much control over, i.e. have to go through IT for administrator access) and the other drive with ubuntu. The lease on my computer is up and so I will receive a new laptop with only one ssd (windows 10 enterprise). There will still be two SSD ports available.

How can I move the SSD that contains ubuntu from my old hardware to the new hardware? I've only been able to find information on creating a new ubuntu image on an installed ssd. I still want to maintain the dual drive system, and I'd rather not have to reinstall everything on the ubuntu only drive.

Any ideas?

user535733 avatar
cn flag
Do I understand properly that the new laptop is the property of your employer and assigned to you?
oldfred avatar
cn flag
UEFI or BIOS install? New systems are UEFI. And you either have to reinstall grub to get UEFI entry into UEFI, if employer allows it. Or use efibootmgr to add new entry to UEFI. That is what a grub total reinstall will do. Still better to do a new install & restore from your backups. It should only take an hour, if you have good backups. New install to SSD, maybe 10 min. Restore /home, depends on amount of data. and reinstall apps form list, again depends on what you have installed. If some server type apps, you should, of course have those backed up from inside / .
emielke avatar
dk flag
@oldfred UEFI. So basically my best option is to reformat the ubuntu ssd and install. I was afraid that was probably the case, but was hoping I could avoid it. Thanks!
oldfred avatar
cn flag
It can also give confidence that your backups are complete, so when a drive fails, you know you can easily restore system. And if backup now not complete, you still have old install to restore anything missing (and add to backup).
Score:0
nl flag

Couple of options I can think of:

  1. Physically move the SSD to the new machine - although judging from your question this is not possible as you need to return the machine

  2. Use a tool like Rescuezilla to backup the SSD. This requires you to prepare a USB flash drive with Rescuezilla. You will also need another large enough portable USB drive to store the backed up image file:

  • Create a disk image file of the SSD using Rescuezilla and select the portable USB drive as the destination. Be careful to select "backup" as the output option, otherwise it might overwrite all the data on the portable USB drive (better still don't have any data on there that you can't afford to lose).
  • Next you should be able to restore the disk image to the newly installed SSD in the new machine by doing the reverse: boot the new machine with the Rescuezilla USB with the portable USB HDD also connected, restore disk image to the new SSD (make sure you select the right one!).
  • Furthermore, you may also need a live Ubuntu USB to make the newly restored SSD bootable by reinstalling GRUB.
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