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So I am a beginner with linux and have started learning quite a bit. I use MacOS and Windows mainly and I have started to fall in love with linux, ubuntu to be precise. One thing I was wondering is if there is a way to copy everything from one computer (files installations,configurations and programs) exactly as they are on one machine and migrate them to another easily? just like in macos for example or in windows. Please If anyone can help it would be of immense help as I switch computers often and do not want to have to reinstall and reconfigure everything all the time. Thank You.

edit: Please consider that I am not a techie or an expert in any way, I'm new to all this and still learning. so I apologise in advance if I do not immediately understand or grasp something you might've said.

Nura
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3 Answers3

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Cloning to a Smaller Disk using GParted

Here is a method that I tested with Legacy mode.

  1. Boot Ubuntu Live USB.

  2. Insert Source and Target disks if not already there.

  3. Open GParted and shrink Source partition to less than 64GB.

  4. Select Source disk and right click source / partition and select Copy.

  5. Select Target disk and right click empty space and select Paste.

  6. Stretch pasted partition to fill drive.

  7. Click Apply All Operations, (The check mark at the top).

  8. Close GParted and install Grub using Terminal

     sudo mount /dev/sdxy /mnt

    sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sdx

Where sdx is the Target drive and y is the partition number.

C.S.Cameron
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You could take a look at Clonezilla. This would allow you to make a backup of your pc and install it on any others. There are many tutorials online, just google it.

SEWTGIYWTKHNTDS
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Using dd to Clone File System from One Drive to Another

  • Create Live Ubuntu USB and Boot it

  • Plug in Target drive, (must be at least as large as Source drive).

  • Open Gnome-Disks to confirm drive designations, sda, sdb, etc.

  • In Terminal run sudo dd if=/dev/sdx of=/dev/sdy

    Where sdx is the Source drive and sdy is the Target drive.

    Some people prefer to add a block size, such as bs=256k, but I do not bother.

    The process may take a long time.

    Ref: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19455-01/805-7228/bkupsavefiles-60904/index.html

C.S.Cameron
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