Question about restoring a backup in a different system

tirengarfio · 01-21-2010, 12:47 PM

Hi,

im trying to clone my ubuntu system installed in a laptop in case the laptop crashes.

But, first of all: when i try to restore the system in a new PC, could be incompatibilities because the hardware of the broken laptop and the new laptop is different?

I dont mind if i have to buy another laptop with the same processor type (i386, etc), but, for example, the type of the RAM could be cause of problems?

Regards

Javi

rweaver · 01-21-2010, 01:24 PM

If you're using say rsync, you shouldn't have any issues with things like ram, etc. One thing to make sure of is that you're not using uuid as the identifier for hard drives as that will change. If your video card changes you'll need to update your xconfig and if the screen is different you'll likely need to update that.

tirengarfio · 01-21-2010, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rweaver

If you're using say rsync

And with "dd" or "cp" or partimage or clonezilla?

rweaver · 01-21-2010, 02:16 PM

I wouldn't use cp period. DD and Clonezilla you may have some minor issues because you can't exclude certain items that can cause problems on new hardware, they work well for an image, they work poorly for migrating a system intact to another system on new hardware. You generally have to reconfigure your modules and fstab and lvm information at a minimum.

A neat trick with rsync is install a base system and then just send your old system over the new one and leave the current hardware config in place using excludes.

YMMV.

tirengarfio · 01-21-2010, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rweaver

I wouldn't use cp period.

What does this mean? Sorry because my english

jefro · 01-21-2010, 04:47 PM

My suggestion is to not do it. Linux doesn't transport easily. Too many variables to correct.

Installers for most distro's make choices for you that may later be difficult to fix on a moved system.

Moved systems always seem to fail for me. Some unknown chipset issue or such.

Best of luck. If it works and is easy then maybe I'll try it again sometime.

rweaver · 01-21-2010, 04:53 PM

Don't use cp. It's not a backup tool.

rweaver · 01-21-2010, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefro

My suggestion is to not do it. Linux doesn't transport easily. Too many variables to correct.

Installers for most distro's make choices for you that may later be difficult to fix on a moved system.

Moved systems always seem to fail for me. Some unknown chipset issue or such.

Best of luck. If it works and is easy then maybe I'll try it again sometime.

Try rsync jefro-- I've done probably 30 of them and besides manually reconfiguring the xserver for desktop systems I've never had any serious problems. The key is to exclude things like modules, dev, proc, etc.