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I have a Linux machine that was set up over a period of two years, and I want to "clone" it to a new machine (a different computer model). I thought of booting the old machine to a flash drive, copying to root drive to an external hard drive, booting the new machine to a flash drive, mounting the external hard drive and copying the saved files to the new root drive. Will this work? I guess I will have to take some steps to make the new machine bootable. I am looking for guidance whether this procedure is practical or whether I would be better off just installing a distro from scratch on the new machine.

Anna Naden
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    Opinion: I think you are better off installing from scratch, but perhaps not for the reason you expect. I find it important to occasionally exercise the skill of rebuilding the system because stuff always breaks at the worst possible time. If you don't exercise that skill (and update your notes), you might not have that capability on a day when it would be really useful. – user535733 Apr 13 '22 at 18:23
  • Which distro and version are you using? – user68186 Apr 13 '22 at 18:24
  • Are you using Ubuntu? Which release? Please [edit] your question to add information, comments are an "Us to You" channel, used to help you make your question better, and more likely to receive an appropriate answer. How was it "set up", and what changes have you made since? Having an up-to-date, tested, backup is always a good idea – waltinator Apr 13 '22 at 18:28
  • I also believe in a new install & restore your data & configuration from your normal backup. If your backup includes /home, and list of installed apps restore should be relatively easy. You may want some settings from /etc, if you edited system settings, but not necessarily restore them as they may be different with new system. – oldfred Apr 13 '22 at 21:13

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Clone with standard tools (like redo or clonezilla) expects that your target disk is identical to the source disc.

So cloning is not a good idea.

Instead backup your home directory, install a new linux on the new machine and copy the home-backup unto it.

Another reason not to "clone" is that your hardware - and thus the drivers needed - are different. Imagine your old machine has an intel GPU, but your new one has Nvidia (or vice versa). You'll have a lot to clean up until it runs.

In addition a new installation (e.g. the next Ubuntu 22.04) will give you more leeway (aka 5 years) as a bonus.

kanehekili
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