Here is a few pointers to make your life simpler.
Scenario 1: - New hard drive, same OS, same version
Make a backup of your home directory.
There are files in use so you need to logout and login with a different user or kill the GUI.1. Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to start a console session.
Don't panic, Ctrl+Alt+F7 or 8 or 9 should take you back to a GUI.
2. Now "kill" the GUI session using the console session to ensure all locked files are released.
/etc/init.d/gdm3 stop
3. Now copy your home directory to a backup in this example a USB3 device mounted as usb3disk1. Type in "df" to quickly see the disks.
4. Dump a list of all the installed programs on your old system while still active.sudo chown -R user:user /home/user/.or use Rsync:
sudo chown -R user:user /home/user/*
cp -a /home/user## /media/usb3disk1/backups/home/user##.bckp
rsync -rptDuv -e /home/user##/* /media/usb3disk1/backups/home/user##.bckp
Get a list of all your applications.
dpkg -l | awk '{print $2}' >
/media/usb3disk1/backups/home/user##/installed_packages.txt
Install a new bigger hard drive.
5. Shutdown and remove the old hard drive.sudo shutdown -h nowKeep the old drive safe as experience has taught me.
6. Install the new hard drive.
7. Use gparted to create the partitions as required.
sudo gpartedCan you add a directory? of course not, this is linux, nothing is easy. :-)
8. You need to give yourself access to the drive first. Start a terminal session and type this:
sudo -i
chown -R username:username /media/mynewdisk/.
chown -R username:username /media/mynewdisk/*
Restore your home directory.
9. Move (or copy) the backup home directory to the new disk.mv /media/usb3disk1/backups/home/user##.bckp /home/user##or use Rsync
rsync -rptDuv -e /media/usb3disk1/backups/home/user##.bckp/* /home/user##
Re-install your applications.
10. re-install all packages. This is the magic!sudo apt-get install `cat /media/usb3disk1/backups/home/user##/installed_packages.txt`
Did that work? No? Enclose the command in " ` " and not in " ' " :-)
New bigger hard drive? DONE!
Next in this series: New hard drive, new OS, new version.
