Deleteing Windows dual boot / migrating Linux Partitions to a new PC

Alan_Surry

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Hi. Good evening everyone and thanks for the add. For my sins, I work in I.T. with Windows. I've dabbled with Linux several times over the last 20 years or so, but never really had the time to get really involved untill now. I've been using Linux Mint on two laptops, both dual booting Windows 7 Pro. I'm now more than convinced that I don't need Windows so I need to do the following:

A) Delete Windows and reinstall the grub boot menu leaving Linux Mint intact.
B) Backup the Linux Mint partition and restore it to a new laptop with dfferent hardware

A) I'm assuming that deleting the Windows partition and resizing the Linux partition wil be easy enough using gparted, I'm not sure about the boot menu

B) I use AOMIE Backupper to perform universal Windows system backups that restore Windows to different hardware. What I need to know is if its possible to do this with Linux Mint. I.E. Can I backup a Linux partition and restore it to a different machine? Is it dependent on device drivers as Windows is? If so, is there a workaround?

Or: Is it possible to create a new linux install and restore a bunch of programs in one go similar to Android or Mac restores?

Any advice would be appreciated. I can and will perform a clean install if I must, but I'd be far happier if I can do it the easy way.

Thanks in advance.

Al.
 


You could see if Clonezilla or similar could be useful. Then look into installing IsoMaster from your disto's repos.

FYI: in many cases, a clean installIS the easiestr way, unlike Windows
 
G'day Al, Welcome to Linux.org

I think the easiest, simplest way would be to make use of Timeshift

It is either already installed on your Linux Mint (depending on which version you have) or is in the Software Manager or can be easily installed.

In setting Timeshift up, it is important to include the below...
2023-01-26_10-54.png

2023-01-26_10-54_1.png

Be Sure....to save the Timeshift Snapshot/s to an External Drive

In so doing, you can simply have a usb with Linux mint 'burnt' to it....boot the new PC/laptop to that usb....make sure internet is connecting and sound is working.....and then install it. Be sure to click the 'yes' for installing multimedia codecs as it installs.

Once installed, access Timeshift, and select the Location where the Timeshift snapshot/s are stored

Restore the selected snapshot to your new hdd/ssd/M.2 (whatever it may be.) When it starts to restore, do NOT interrupt it.

That's it. Have Coffee....eat a sandwich. You are home and hosed.
 
My inclination would be to save your home folder and important files/folders to an external source, and do a clean installation of your Linux distribution, re-load your home folder + any other files/folders, then install timeshift or similar
Is it possible to create a new linux install and restore a bunch of programs
Windows runs programs, Linux, Mac, & android run applications unless you have something off the wall, I would do a clean re-install of these as well.
 
It is either already installed on your Linux Mint (depending on which version you have)
and
then install timeshift or similar

No need, Brian and Brian. (lol)

Timeshift was introduced as a default app in Mint 18.3 'Tricia' and then backported to 18.2 'Tina', 18.1 'Tessa' and 18.0 'Tara'.

So the OP will already have it.

@Alan_Surry G'day Alan and welcome to linux.org :)

A) Delete Windows and reinstall the grub boot menu leaving Linux Mint intact.
B) Backup the Linux Mint partition and restore it to a new laptop with dfferent hardware

I would be inclined to use Timeshift for all of it, I liken it to a Swiss army knife.

I run 83 Linux distros, and in June last, when the winter here was starting to show its teeth, I moved my base of operations from the garage into the study, where I commandeered the computer of my late wife. I used Timeshift to restore 50 distros whose snapshots were stored on my 4 TB Western Digital external Hard Drive onto the two drives in the Dell laptop.

Prior to doing that, the receiving laptop had Windows 10 on it, and 1 Linux Mint. I used GParted to blow away the Windows, started restoring distros into the redeemed unallocated space, and once I had the first of my fave distros restored I was back in business. Next to no downtime, and after a week I had the transfer complete, with no hiccups.

If you think you would like to follow a similar course of action, I can put together a blow by blow, allow for the timezone differences between your country and Queensland Australia. I'll be signing off for my evening shortly.

If you do not have an external hard drive, such as Aussie Brian has suggested at #3, you could use a USB stick that is just a little larger than the space consumed by your current Mint.

In line with the quote I took of yours above, let's call the current (with Windows) lappie Laptop A, and the new one Laptop B.

Any questions fire away, and I also have a thread on Timeshift here https://www.linux.org/threads/timeshift-similar-solutions-safeguard-recover-your-linux.15241/

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
Yes and no. If you upgraded from the previous version, then No.

If you upgraded in terms of doing a fresh install, Yes.

Timeshift has a files called timeshift.json which captures your settings for next time.

If you do a fresh install, and do not attend to Timeshift within a short timeframe, it will by default take a daily snapshot on the turn of the next hour, which you may or may not want to happen.

Nite all

Wizard
 
Correct me if i'm wrong, but in the advice what we are doing is making an .iso of the linux portion of the hard drive, then replacing the whole thing with that, correct? I'm pretty sure that you can't just "delete" the windows bootloader without making the whole computer unusable...
 
Not exactly.

The OP can use GParted from his existing Mint to eliminate Windows from the first laptop. It is Windows 7 so no ESP (EFI System Partition). However in order to grow the existing Mint install to fill the unallocated space redeemed, he would need to do that from a Linux Mint Live stick or a Gparted Live stick, as it cannot be done from within the existing Mint install (safety feature).

Then run

Code:
sudo update-grub

and reboot. He will no longer have a Grub Menu unless he wants one, in which case he could modify /etc/default/grub first before updating.

I would be inclined to attend first to Laptop B and get Mint onto it (via Timeshift or other means), before performing the voodoo on Laptop A with Windows and Mint. In that way, he has a working computer if something goes wrong with Laptop A.

On a computer using UEFI and featuring Windows 8 and above (which will have an ESP), you can actually follow the above procedure, and after you have deleted the Windows partitions, updated Grub and rebooted, you can go into your Linux distro, open your file manager (if it allows Open as Admin/Root, else use the command line emulator) and under /boot/efi/EFI you will find a folder for Windows Boot Manager. You can safely delete that without trashing your computer.

Just a heads up @Lord Boltar on


Tony George's presence there is archived now, as Linux Mint from June 2022 took over stewardship of disseminating and upgrading Timeshift. Although Tony said as recently that you could still use that method, there is no guarantee for how long that may continue.

That being said, distros like Ubuntu and other Debian-based distros are now providing Timeshift via their Repositories. You could tell us what is best for Expirion Debian.

Cheers and

Avagudweegend

Wizard
 
You could tell us what is best for Expirion Debian.
Backintime - in the Debian repositories or Timeshift - also in the repositories - whatever works on Debian works on Expirion

Deja-Dup is installed by default on Expirion Cinnamon
 
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