Wish to transfer home folders from mint 18.3 Hard Drive 1, to mint 19.3 Hard Drive 2

Decided I am happy with Linux Mint 19.3! I now wish to transfer my "Home Folders" on 18.3 to my barren Mint 19.3 easily? I could do it manually, and in the process toss out about half the files I longer need. Another thought would be to duplicate everything (Home Folders), from 18.3 to 19.3 and at some time in the future do my housekeeping chores.

I am confused as to which software would be the most suitable for the second option. Was thinking about "Deja Dup"? I would assume it would backup Mint 18.3 to Mint 18.3 perfectly but would things get messed up in backing up from Mint 18.3 to a different operating system like Mint 19.3?

Another question: Is there a simpler and easier way (a possible third option) to do what I wish?

Once Mint 19.3 is complete with all the folders I wish to have, Mint 18.3 would no longer be needed. Probably 18.3 will eventually have Mint 20 cleanly installed over it.

There are many tools to take a backup and restore that backup anywhere else. No need to get fancy or complex.

Even simpler if you use command line tools.

A simple approach is to use scp. Assuming your user account is scup on both computers, and your remote computer is named mint19, you would do the following on the Mint 18 computer:

cd /home/scup
scp -r . mint19:

I am 95% certain that this would accomplish what you need. If you have "difficult" files such as sparse files or hard links, perhaps rsync is a better tool, as it allows fine-grained control over the copy process. Its downside is the complexity that comes with control, but thankfully the manual page contains a few examples.

Are the 2 disks on the same machine ?. If so, a better option IMHO is to create a separate /home partition, and re-use it as you flip-flop releases on the separate disks. I do this with all my machines.
rsync would be my choice, but as mentioned there are a bunch. Maybe for a one-off like this fsarchiver would be a good (safe) bet.

The great advantage to having a separate /home partition is that you do NOT wipe it when installing or upgrading to a new version of your Linux OS. You install/upgrade without formatting the /home partition and reuse it with the newer version of the OS. I've upgraded Slackware for the last three version with the same /home directory.

The simplest way to transfer data from your current /home directory to a new one would be to just mount both partitions and COPY/PASTE ALL from /home (old) to /home (new).

Easy peasy!

Both hard drives are on the same machine. The reason I went to two hard drives is exactly the reasons given by vtel57 and sygOO. Being relatively new to Linux (if not in years but mentally) I like the idea of keeping things simple and I always had a fear of partitioning my hard drives. One wrong keystroke using Gpart; well Linux is not very forgiving for someone who has a brain fog half the time.

Both my solid state hard drives are rather small, so from the very beginning I decided not to partition anything but just to keep my operating systems on independent drives and simply boot up from the one I wish to use at any given time. I did try rsync and did not get to first base with it.

Not to mention that my hard drive with 18.3 on it, is old (maybe 7 or 8 years) and the operating system has been compromised by me doing something very stupid; but that is another subject.

Back to my current wishes, to keep things even simpler, would it be possible to have a separate /home (not a partition) on a flash drive. I purchased a bunch of Sandisk 32GB flash drives from Walmart for $5 each, they are slow, but but I am in no great hurry. The folders in my home directory that I wish to preserve are mostly receipts, cooking recipes, instruction manuals, bookmarks, and more or less book-keeping items. I do not store a multitude of photos or videos on my computer. At most, I would doubt if I have more than dozen programs that would have to be installed from the Linux Mint "software manager" for a complete reinstall as Mint 19.3 seems to be rather complete for me as is.

This is what has me very concerned: when I tried to use Deja Dup, I realized that my home folder has loads of hidden files in it. One of which neither Deja Dup nor me can open. Have no idea what these multitudes of hidden files are for. Perhaps, I have been asking the wrong question? Am I off base if all I wish to preserve are my desktop folders and what is the simplest way of doing it?

However you move the /home folder you'll need to change your /etc/fstab file to find /home in the new position. I recently did this to create a spare partition. I used rsync to copy the folder exactly (just check the options in man or --help) amend fstab and reboot.

Scup,

It would be useful to have some more detailed information about your existing partitions on the two hard drives.

Open Terminal, then type:

sudo su

Press Enter.

Type your password (not displayed).

Press Enter.

Then type:

fdisk -l

Press Enter.

Copy and paste the output into your reply, preferably using CODE tags (#) at the top of the text box.

I followed your instructions and got the following:

Disk /dev/sdc: 31 GB, 31001080320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3769 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 3770 30282493 83 Linux
Warning: Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Disk /dev/sdd: 31 GB, 31914086400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3880 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 * 1 3880 31166068 83 Linux
Warning: Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Disk /dev/sde: 31 GB, 31404119040 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3818 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sde1 1 3819 30676086 83 Linux
Warning: Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
scup-To-be-filled-by-O-E-M scup #

Do not understand what is meant by "CODE tags (#) at the top of the text box".

I never partition either one of my hard drives. I do have 32 Gb USB flash drives attached to my computer that might be partition as I reformatted them to give them a name and to change the original formatting to ext4. These flash drives might have come with a small part of the drive containing some of their vendor's book keeping or security files in a partition, but having no idea if these files were even needed, I just left them as is. Not happy with the "warning" but it does not make much sense to me that the term "cylinder boundary" would even apply to a solid state flash drive.

Judging from the time some of these responses were made, you guy's really burn some midnight oil, sorry if I messed up anyone's sleep habits.

Disk /dev/sdc: 31 GB, 31001080320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3769 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 3770 30282493 83 Linux
Warning: Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Disk /dev/sdd: 31 GB, 31914086400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3880 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 * 1 3880 31166068 83 Linux
Warning: Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Disk /dev/sde: 31 GB, 31404119040 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3818 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sde1 1 3819 30676086 83 Linux
Warning: Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
scup-To-be-filled-by-O-E-M scup #

You need to highlight all the output in the reply box and then press the CODE tag icon (#) at the top of the box (second from the right) to give the result above.

It just makes it so much easier to read and increases the chance of members responding.

Guys, I know and appreciate what you are trying to do to help me, but perhaps I should have explained that I am in my eighties, and have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Hopefully I am not stupid, but ADD forces me to focus on a single task at a time. Multitasking is just about impossible for me to do, (or for that matter any other person who has ADD). I wish to put a "hold" on my current thread and switch to why I am having so much of a problem following what appears to be some very simple instructions. Once I get my posting squared away, then perhaps I can communicate with everyone in a meaningful way.

The response by beachboy2 interested very much so. I noted that in his response there is "Code:" written on the top left of the reply. The only other difference from what I posted is beachboy2's response is written in black on a blue background (larger font size), while mine is written in black on a white background? I am really not sure why reading code material is so much easier because of the background color, but again, I am relatively new to this and noted that when I use a terminal things are written in white on a black background. What is troubling me: I am starting to wonder if what I am seeing on my display is what everyone else sees. Is black on blue nothing more than a signal to those who program code that what is being presented is in fact nothing more than code, rather than some miscellaneous text writings? If so, then I am happy, and understand there is a very precise way for those who communicate with others in the way of presenting coded material. Sorry if I violated the usual protocol way of communicating, but this is really new to me, and sooner or later I am going to have to learn how communicate better with those whom are trying to help me.

No need to apologize, Scup. All's well. Your explanation will help us help you better. Sometimes, we tend to forget that not everyone is that fluent in using Linux; methods/explanations can sometimes be a bit more complicated than the poster is able to deal with.

Anyway, take your time and absorb. If you have any specific questions about any of the explanations above, just ask.

Regards,

~Eric

Originally Posted by Scup The response by beachboy2 interested very much so. I noted that in his response there is "Code:" written on the top left of the reply. ...Is black on blue nothing more than a signal to those who program code that what is being presented is in fact nothing more than code, rather than some miscellaneous text writings?

When writing code, commands and data in most cases, text alignment and indentation is very helpful to others trying to read it and can also change the meaning in some programming languages. Wrapping that text in [CODE]...your code or data here...[/CODE] tags, or markup, does more than simply change the text and background color - it also uses a monospace font and preserves text formatting. This makes it much easier for others to instantly recognize where your comments end and the code begins, and removes much potential ambiguity.

So, to preserve formatting place your code snippets inside [CODE]...[/CODE] tags. You may type those yourself or click the "#" button in the edit controls.

Hope that helps!

Scup,

Don't worry about it.

Code tags make only a small difference on a short output.

Notice the difference between posts #4 and #5 on a very long output here:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...em-4175670072/

It just makes it easier for members to deal with a long output via scrolling and the clarity is superior.

You have explained your situation very clearly.

Thank you Beachboy2, and others! Went to the posts suggested by Beachboy2 as an example of a lengthy code, and what a mess of code that was. I am surprised that anyone would volunteer to wade through all of that.

So now it is clear to me that any reading aid available for the presentation of code, would be of great benefit to those who are trying to quickly comprehend computer issues.

Scup,

Originally Posted by Scup ....what a mess of code that was. I am surprised that anyone would volunteer to wade through all of that. So now it is clear to me that any reading aid available for the presentation of code, would be of great benefit to those who are trying to quickly comprehend computer issues.

Precisely.

Back to your original problem, I can only see three 31GB drives listed on the fdisk -l output.

You say that you have 2 SSDs, yet there is no sign of them.

I am confused. What size are they as a matter of interest?