Arch Linux

srachko

Member

Registered: 2017-01-08

Posts: 7

What to do in case of changing a HDD in your computer

I'm in a sticky wicked. Recently I purchased a new SSD for my moms laptop and I got a sweet deal for 2 pieces, so I have one spare. I've been searching the internet for a guide if there is any possibility to migrate my current settings/files from my current setup to a new installation of Arch on the SSD drive. I'm using a desktop computer, I have room in the chasis to install 2 drives. The plan is to use the SSD as the drive where the system will be installed and my current drive will be used to store mostly pictures, music and documents.

The thing is, that this drive which is currently in use, has an installation of arch on it. In all my searching I was somewhat unsuccessfull to find answers to my questions. Since I am quite new to Arch or any other Linux distribution, I feel like I might run into a couple of troubles with this procedure. I have a small external HDD, which I can use to back up all my important data just in case.

Is it wise for me to attempt to migrate/copy my current settings to a fresh install or should I rather backup important stuff, wipe the drive and do a fresh install? And on that note - is there a tool which I can use to avoid leftover data on the drive, which might interfer with boot/installation? I use my computer mostly for browsing web, composing documents, editing photos and listening to music, so there is not much to set up. I can imagine to use up a sunday afternoon to get things the way they were.

I also would like to know, if there are some special things to consider when installing Arch onto a SSD? I want to smarten up, before I sc#*w it up. I've followed a couple of guides on youtube, but I find the methods used there kind of shady...

P.S.: Sorry if I violated the code of conduct with this post. As I said, I'm kind of new to Linux and sometimes i have trouble finding the right keywords to find my answers.

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 19,063

Re: What to do in case of changing a HDD in your computer

Have you read Migrate_installation_to_new_hardware?

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 30,518

Website

Re: What to do in case of changing a HDD in your computer

There should be no need to even reinstall.  Just partition the new disk, rsync data from partitions on the old drive to the new drive.  You will need to adjust your fstab and bootloader config to point to the right device/UUIDs, but that's it.

Once that's done, you could reformat the old drive to use for something else if you wanted.

Last edited by Trilby (2020-05-29 19:38:42)

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"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman

srachko

Member

Registered: 2017-01-08

Posts: 7

Re: What to do in case of changing a HDD in your computer

Thanks for the advices. Was a lot of interesting reading. If I think back, I used to change a lot of desktop enviroments, installed and then removed a lot of applications...

I think to make the best start would be a fresh install. However, I will try to migrate everything and see if I fail or not. In case I fail, I can still go back to the fresh install option.

The guide to migrate installation to new hardware is definitive what I was looking for.