Migrating from existing HDD to SSD

govg · 2017-01-04 18:20:33

I have an Arch Linux install as part of a dual boot system, and I recently purchased an SSD. I tried to migrate the install to the SSD using the following steps :
0) Take a tar backup of the existing installation (creating archive of / folder)
1) Format SSD as one primary partition
2) Do a fresh install of Arch on the SSD using the live image, up until installing the base system.
3) Install Grub onto SSD (/dev/sdb)
4) At this point, untar the existing backup into the / folder, replacing all existing files
5) Editing fstab on the SSD to account for UUID change
6) Run grub to generate boot image.
7) Reboot after exiting from chroot

I face a couple of issues following this process. First, pacman warns of duplicate database entries for all the packages installed as part of the base system. Working around this, I run into issues of gcc-libs conflicting with gcc-multilibs.

Once I reboot the system (it successfully booted into my old install the first time around), systemd shows a failure for logind.service, and the booting process hangs at that point. I can't access any of the other terminals, and it is stuck at the booting status messages (successfully initialized hardware sensors, etc).

Is there a more straightforward backup process I can follow? I have an image of the drive that Arch was installed on, as well as the tar backup. Unfortunately I do not have access to my original drives.

Trilby · 2017-01-04 18:28:41

Steps 2 and 3 are completely redudant (or worse) with 4. You should do one or the other, not both.

You will have to update the grub config with the new UUID. The fstab is good, but if you have single partition you dont really even need an fstab.

EDIT: (s/1-3/2 and 3/) as noted below, step 1 is necessary, I miscounted. But in step 2 you repartition again ... just partition and format once, and don't install anything if you want to restore the backup.

Last edited by Trilby (2017-01-04 19:04:17)

govg · 2017-01-04 18:37:00

Oh, looks like I didn't read enough beforehand. Does that mean I can simply extract the tar archive into the blank partition, update grub and fstab and get it to work?

Last edited by govg (2017-01-04 18:39:08)

ayekat · 2017-01-04 18:54:30

Actually you do need step 1 (formatting), as I assume that the tarball contains the files of the filesystem, not a byte-to-byte copy (dump) of the filesystem.

govg · 2017-01-04 19:27:49

Yep, got it thanks. Works perfectly now

teateawhy · 2017-01-18 20:44:28

Don't forget to TRIM.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Solid_State_Drives

Arch Linux

#1 2017-01-04 18:20:33

Migrating from existing HDD to SSD

#2 2017-01-04 18:28:41

Re: Migrating from existing HDD to SSD

#3 2017-01-04 18:37:00

Re: Migrating from existing HDD to SSD

#4 2017-01-04 18:54:30

Re: Migrating from existing HDD to SSD

#5 2017-01-04 19:27:49

Re: Migrating from existing HDD to SSD

#6 2017-01-18 20:44:28

Re: Migrating from existing HDD to SSD

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