What directories should I not copy? I realize I will have to modify /etc/fstab to reflect the different drives.

Thanks in advance.

not copy for what reason? you haven't given many details about what the end goal is.

My goal is to copy my current installation onto another computer. I wonder if /proc and others might not interfere if copied.

are you thinking about using bodhibuilder or just a regular clone/copy program?

Thanks for the speedy response. I wasn't even aware of bodhibuilder and since it involves installing yet another bit of software and learning its use, I would prefer to to use cp that I am familiar with. I was planning on connecting a clean hard drive to my existing case for the transfer and then installing the drive into the new case.

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Nothing is ever as easy as it first seems it should be.
To allay your concerns re what (and what not) to copy, do it from a liveCD and just copy the partitions across in toto. Then the work begins. fstab and re-installing the boot-loader generally gets things operational, but maybe not if you are changing hardware classes - say next gen of the CPU, or moving from AMD to nvidia or vice-versa.

Cloning solutions like that suggested or clonezilla smooth the way a fair bit, but aren't required.
Just do it - if it fails badly, simply start again, nothing lost but time, and something will have been learnt.

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understood about preferring to use something you are familiar with, but i don't believe you would have to install anything. bodhibuilder is pre-installed on both of my systems running bodhi 5.1.

one of the options (distiso) it to make an iso of your own system which you could then use to make a live usb and test your settings on the new system without a lot of the trial and error intermediate steps or trying to figure out what not to include. it has been a while since i used it so i don't recall if there is an option to install from the usb, but even if there isn't you could at least try the live usb to see if there are any settings or hardware issues as mentioned by syg00.

if you are interested in taking a look, it can be launched with the command bodhibuiler-gtk and looks like this:

Thanks for the multiple help.

Firstly, I was invoking "bodhibuilder" from a terminal, not "bodhibuilder-gtk". Which is why I thought I didn't have it installed.

Now that I started it I see the choice "Backup complete system including user data". Now to me "user data" does not include all the added third party software I have installed, some of which is in odd directories. Perhaps I am thinking like a naive user. It would be simple enough to make a new clean installation and add the .config files from my user directory, but I don't want to spend many hours figuring out what third party software I am missing, where to get it, and how to configure it all over again. Am I expecting too much from bodhibuilder-gtk?

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i tried just "bodhibuilder" first as well i had to check with the everything launcher to be reminded of the -gtk version.

i don't think i have ever used the "backup complete system" option so i can't speak specifically to what it does or does not include. what i can relate is that my live usb created with the distiso option did include all of my personally installed software. that's part of why i used bodhibuilder instead of just using a stock bodhi iso when i was working on an unknown system, so i would have access to all of my familiar tools without needing to download or install anything later.

Well that is good news. I will go ahead with distiso as suggested, and mark the post SOLVED after I achieve success.

Thanks again.

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just to check (and out of curiosity), i ran an old bodhibuilder iso in a virtual machine and was able to install it. so hopefully if everything checks out on your new machine you will also be able to use the iso/live usb to install on the new system.

i think if i recall correctly i did something similar with antiX a while back. i created an iso of my system and installed it on a second computer. i believe i had some minor trouble with dhcp when they both ran at the same time so there may be some things you need to work out/clean up as suggested in your first post, but hopefully this method can cut down on some of the guess work.

good luck

There's something elementary that I am missing here. When I start bodhibuilder-gtk it talks about creating a cd file system and iso with the possibility of added files. Now the hard drive that my running Bodhi is booted to contains some 800 gigabytes of software and data, Somehow I don't think that's going to fit on a cd, dvd, or usb stick. Where have I gone astray?

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I think my incorrect original description has misled everyone. I'm not just trying to move the OS but everything associated with it. So please let's cancel the request and forget the entire subject. I apologize for wasting your time and thank you for the help.

When or if I complete my mission I will report the method here.

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i have bodhibuilder open and see what you are saying when i click distiso.
it appears i was mistaken about using that previously. i created my last one about 6 months ago and apparently didn't remember nearly as clearly as i thought i did my apologies for the misdirect.

i will check out the dist and backup options to see if i can figure out which one i actually used. i do know from working with the virtual machine earlier that the iso i booted into didn't have my personal user data so i am inclined to believe i used the dist option. i didn't look around to see if that iso had any of my personal files, but i usually keep most of those offline anyways.

the advantage of the version i used previously was that all of my programs were there, but there was no user name or password to log in so when i installed it to the virtual machine i was able to create a new user for that particular system with all of the same programs. my thinking is you would still have to migrate your own personal data.

i will take a run at the dist option and let you know what i see.

i just saw your post after i submitted my own. it sounds like you are going a different way so i will leave you to it. good luck