Hi all, I'm wanting to find out the best way to clone a Linux OS drive. I want to make a copy of the drive I'm on now. I bought it just to try out the linux distros and see if I could make the switch from windows. Turns out I can, so now I need a bigger better SSD. This one is only 250Gb, but it was cheap and now it'll just be storage.

So what's the best way to clone a linux OS drive? To be clear, not image, but clone. I want to just perform the cloning process, and then pop the new drive into a computer and have go straight into the desktop. No messing around with settings, no need to deal with the terminal. Just plug it in, and it goes as though it's the original drive.

I used to do this with Acronis and Clonezilla with Windows, years ago. It was awesome because you could just make all kinds of backups that you knew with 100% certainty would work with no messing around. You'd plug it in, and it would just boot right into the OS. That's what I'm looking for. Thanks!

So why not clonezilla ?.

bennylavalol,

Clonezilla, as syg00 suggests:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...o-image-38106/

I've always used the dd command.

and it doesn't matter whether it's a "Linux", "OS" or any other partition. Full byte-to-byte clone.

edit:
Ah, I didn't see this.
Software might exist to aid you, but ultimately you'll need to adjust some "things".

FWIW, I think the terms you use to make that distinction are ultimately meaningless. An image is a clone.

If so, what exactly will need to be adjusted? What needs to be adjusted if you use dd?

fstab, mostly. New UUIDs. Possibly the kernel command line too.

If you never boot with both SSDs in the same PC at the same time, then these things need no changing per se, but a change might be called for in a UEFI BIOS.

In a different PC, depending on how networking was configured, it might be necessary to make a configuration change for it to function correctly, and same for sound.

Whether you use clonezilla or dd, if all you're doing is copying the entire drive and putting it in another computer, a lot of things will be resolved by the os booting.

depends on the content. You may need to adjust network related settings, fstab and any other configuration of any [other] software which may depend on the hardware (like disk layout or network interface) and on the hostname, ip address or something similar (ssh keys, own web server, ?).

If you are lucky you do not need to configure anything (but hostname?).

Why not just re-install - no command line stuff and no need to worry about uuids and so on

1 members found this post helpful.

bennylavalol,

I second GPAGent's advice to do a fresh install on the new SSD, then copy and paste the personal data from the original drive using one of these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Benfe...d_asin_0_title

It is a good idea to have a separate home partition on the new drive if you did not have one on the old SSD.

This is very useful when upgrading or changing the distro:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...-distro-37074/

A lot.!!
you said the drive you are copying from is smaller than the new one.
Once copied the new drive will appear EXACTLY as the original. Partitions, size, etc. forcing you to resize partitions and possibly even moving them. That is addition to what has already been said.

Clonezilla is the much better choice for copying, or a new install on the new disk.

Disk image vs Disk clone:
https://blog.macrium.com/techie-tues...e-e6be74abb089

Clonezilla rules!