#1 2024-06-23 01:36:21

JasonMehmel

Member

Registered: 2015-10-06

Posts: 186

Migrating to a new machine: tips, tools, techniques?

So, I'm planning on getting a new-to-me laptop. (Thinkpad T490)

Frankly, one of the things slowing me down is the brain work of figuring out how to transfer everything.

My current machine is a dual-boot laptop, with three partitions. Windows, Ubuntu, and BL. (When I first bought the laptop, I couldn't get BL to run. I later figured it out installing it on a separate partition.)

I currently live in BL, but I've got files I'm using in all three partitions.

I'm trying to figure out the best steps to make this as painless as possible. In terms of BL preferences, I suppose copying a back up of most of the BL config files, as well as the ones for any major program I'm using?

Or even just the whole 'Home' folder plus the other major clusters?

I suppose I could just manually copy each major file cluster to an external hard drive, and then copy them back to the new machine.

Add any other sources after BL is installed on the new machine?

I don't suppose there are any tools I haven't encountered in my googling so far?

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ThinkPad T15 Gen 2i

Bearded_Blunder

Dodging A Bullet

From: Seat: seat0; vc7

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 1,146

Re: Migrating to a new machine: tips, tools, techniques?

If you have some good backup software (I really like Macrium Reflect, only they discontinued the free version) then I'd suggest imaging the "new" system as it arrives, so you have a fallback, imaging the old system, & restoring the image to the new system.

All fairly straightforward as long as you're not migrating from BIOS to UEFI, & even that can be done if you consult the knowledgebase.

Chances are good that without that complication the new system will be just fine. You can probably do the whole task during the life of the downloaded trial version. Note ext4 filesystems are supported by it.

It has a really handy redeploy feature that'll sort Windows out on new hardware.

I'd try recommending a Linux solution, but bare metal backup & restore with Linux absolutely BLOWS. That factor alone is why my main PC is still on Windows, everything ELSE I can work around.

The Linux installs are overwhelmingly likely to just work on new hardware, it's Windows that's the main issue, & frankly Windows software is best at handling Windows.

Likely to be a very unpopular opinion on this board, but there you have it, it gets a lot more complex if you try to use Linux to transfer your system. Though there's actually a reasonable chance simply installing your old hard drive (or a clone of it) to the new hardware will work just fine.

Last edited by Bearded_Blunder (2024-06-23 02:06:37)

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marens

Member

From: World without M$

Registered: 2023-02-02

Posts: 874

Re: Migrating to a new machine: tips, tools, techniques?

Though there's actually a reasonable chance simply installing your old hard drive (or a clone of it) to the new hardware will work just fine.

My old hard drive (with five distributions) had a few bad sectors and I had to replace it.
All bad sectors were on the same partition.

Interestingly, I can always put the old hard drive back in (it's easy to change on my HP laptop) and I can boot without problems from partitions that don't have bad sectors.

I think it's worth a try, but I haven't changed laptop.

Good luck @JasonMehmel!

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If people would know how little brain is ruling the world, they would die of fear.