Can I replicate my current Arch install?

chris_debian · 2010-06-23 08:43:42

Hi, all!

I'm fairly new to Arch and my main PC is running quite happily with an Arch installation. I have a spare box and would ideally like to replicate my existing system configuration, settings and packages.

Does anyone how I would go about doing this? It would save me a lot of 'post installation' time, if I didn't have to fine tune a vanilla install, to get it just the way I like it.

Any advice really appreciated.

Many thanks,

Chris.

hokasch · 2010-06-23 08:58:53

You can move the install without problems. There are many topics about it already (or so I believe), quick one: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=96220

Ramses de Norre · 2010-06-23 09:46:26

You can just copy everything from one drive to the other. The only things to be careful about are:
*permissions, use the right flags for cp, or use dd
*edit fstab, grub config (don't forget to install grub to the MBR if it's not there yet), maybe other files that I'm forgetting about now
*install and uninstall drivers in case of hardware differences

I've done this multiple times in the past without issues, but make sure you've got a live cd to fix stuff in case you forget to edit a file or so and can't boot.

synthead · 2010-06-28 00:06:37

^ Exactly. The -a flag will keep all of the file attributes in place (user, group, write/read time, permissions), -R will copy recursively, and for peace of mind, -v will make it verbose. You can also write the copy procedure to a file if you'd like: append > log to the command (will be saved in the working directory). This will give you:

cp -Rva /currentsystem /newsystem > log

Arch Linux

#1 2010-06-23 08:43:42

Can I replicate my current Arch install?

#2 2010-06-23 08:58:53

Re: Can I replicate my current Arch install?

#3 2010-06-23 09:46:26

Re: Can I replicate my current Arch install?

#4 2010-06-28 00:06:37

Re: Can I replicate my current Arch install?

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