[SOLVED] Transfer LL from laptop to desktop w/ win7 sp1 (side-by-side)

[tripple aught]

Hi... After much searching, can't find info on how to transfer without losing LL setup.

Have LL iso boot disk.

Know how to do the install on desktop, but need to know how to move LL setup from laptop.

Please point me to article / blog / thread (if there is one)... or advise.

Thanks, Lester

[bitsnpcs]

Hello Lester,

here is a discussion about backups with links to software various members use for this

https://www.freecinema2022.gq/forums/index...79#msg6779

[gold_finger]

Hi... After much searching, can't find info on how to transfer without losing LL setup.

... need to know how to move LL setup from laptop.

What exactly do you mean by "move LL setup from laptop" to the desktop?

Are you planning to just take the hard drive from laptop and add it to the desktop?  If so, then very easy.  Just add the drive to the desktop, go into Bios and change boot order to boot from LL drive instead of the Windows drive, then just run this command in a terminal to add Windows to the LL boot menu:

Code:

sudo update-grub

That's it -- done!

[N4RPS]

Hello!

To do what you suggest will take a good bit of work to pull off, but it is possible. You could defrag the Windows drive, free up the space you'll need on the Windows drive using an LL LiveCD and GPartEd, shrink what's on your lappy's HD to fit inside the space you freed up on the Windows box (if it's larger, that is), install LL on the Windows box, use Clonezilla to copy your current setup to the Windows box, and if something won't boot afterwards, use boot-repair from a LiveCD to fix GRUB.

Sorry for not providing specific step-by-step instructions right now, but if you're interested in going to all that much trouble, ask, and we'll tell you how to pull it off in more detail...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[tripple aught]

Thanks for your replies....

  In doing research on your suggestions, I came to the conclusion that 'KNOWLEDGE IS POWER BUT INFORMATION IS CONFUSING' !

  So I decided to put LL on the desktop (side by side with Win 7) by using the ' live LL install disk' and do all the set-up broo-ha-ha that I did on the laptop ONLY TO DISCOVER that for some reason this lenovo M58 desktop with pre-configured Win 7 SP1 will not show the Win 7 OS when I run the INSTALL program. I get a blank 'Install - Installation Type' screen.

    With the 'live' CD running GParted  I see                    /dev/sda
    /dev/sda1 -  System (boot & diag) 3.15GB of 3.75GB
    /dev/sda2 -  Windows  21.93GB of 70.78GB
      unallocated - none of 1.09MB

How can this be ? Why would GParted see the OS system live and not during the install ?

  Rob, I was trying to follow your paragraph 1 instructions (similar to install in the manual). 73s N5EDX

Do I start a new thread on this situation or can we stay here? There 'aught aught aught' to be a way to make

this work.

Thanks again for suggestions,
Lester

[N4RPS]

Hello!

Like I said, it is possible, but somewhat labor-intensive. Yes, all this IS confusing, and even more so for me to try and explain it all in a form that most people will understand. I'm just glad that gold_finger has done such a good job at getting some of it incorporated into the user manual.

On the desktop, it looks like you're working with an 80 GB drive here that has not yet had its Windows partition reduced in size to make room for Linux Lite, as you seem to have very little unallocated space to work with.

If you haven't done so already, start by running Disk Defragmenter in Windows 7, to congregate the data so that changes can be made safely. After that, if you can, back up the ENTIRE desktop drive.

You can use with Redo Backup, which boots from its own LiveCD or LiveUSB. This will give you an exact copy of what you had, so you can restore it if something goes haywire on you.

Afterwards, boot the desktop into LL using a LiveCD/LiveUSB, then use 'Partition Drives' (GPartEd) in the System Menu on the LiveCD to make enough allocated space to hold a Linux Lite system. We'll proceed further from there.

The most difficult decision will be how much space you want to leave behind for Windows 7, and how much you want for LL. IMHO, 80 GB is a little small for a shared system.

I'd try all this on a new, bigger drive. Then, you will have the original intact, in case something goes haywire. But then again, that's just my opinion...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[gold_finger]

So I decided to put LL on the desktop (side by side with Win 7) by using the ' live LL install disk' and do all the set-up broo-ha-ha that I did on the laptop ONLY TO DISCOVER that for some reason this lenovo M58 desktop with pre-configured Win 7 SP1 will not show the Win 7 OS when I run the INSTALL program. I get a blank 'Install - Installation Type' screen.

If the installer's partitioning program does not "see" that Windows partitions are on the drive when you try again, cancel the installation and see this tutorial:  HowTo: Use Fixparts.  In your case, your drive is definitely using MBR partitions so you can skip over the warning at the beginning of tutorial and go straight to "Now you're ready to begin the fix".

[tripple aught]

Rob -

Got the backup done using 'Redo'. Everything worked.

gold_finger -

Tried the Fixparts first after backup...got error message "ERROR: WRONG ARCHITECTURE 'AMD64'(I know my system is 64)  sooooo....

I aborted... back to using Live LL disk and GPartEd.

Rob the live GPartEd is a little different from the 'install'. I didn't know whether to click the 'Device tab' or the 'Partition tab' to get to the part where I can move the partition for resizing.

I aborted.... I remember reading about not creating a partition when resizing... and I wasn't sure where we were headed with this AND since I'm taking baby steps here... and here... I thought that I aught aught aught to wait to hear from you guys again...

I know what it's like to train a newbee and I want you fellas to know that I really admire your patience. I consider myself a quick study, BUT I'm also very cautious when treading in unknown territory. 

[gold_finger]

I know what it's like to train a newbee and I want you fellas to know that I really admire your patience. I consider myself a quick study, BUT I'm also very cautious when treading in unknown territory.

That's a good thing.  Better safe than sorry.

Tried the Fixparts first after backup...got error message "ERROR: WRONG ARCHITECTURE 'AMD64'(I know my system is 64)

Computer may be 64-bit capable, but you need to use version of FixParts that corresponds to the version of LL on the live DVD/USB you're using.  Sounds like you've got 32-bit version of LL and tried to install 64-bit Fixparts to it.

Rob the live GPartEd is a little different from the 'install'. I didn't know whether to click the 'Device tab' or the 'Partition tab' to get to the part where I can move the partition for resizing.

I aborted.... I remember reading about not creating a partition when resizing... and I wasn't sure where we were headed with this

Don't know how long it will be before Rob signs in again, so I'll go ahead and answer this too.  (He may chime in later.)

I'll answer how to use GParted for this below, but it would probably be better to resize your Windows partition from within Windows disk management instead -- less chance for corruption of the file system that way.  (I've used GParted in past to shrink Windows partitions without any problems, but as a general rule it's best to use Windows tools to adjust Windows partitions whenever possible.)  So after you've defragmented the drive, just shrink the partition (probably "C:/ drive") from within Win disk manager.  Then reboot once more into Windows to make sure everything still works and let it make any necessary adjustments to new size.  (If you end up using GParted, reboot into Windows once for this reason also.)  Then proceed to reboot with your live LL disk and install.

To do resize with GParted, highlight the partition you're going to resize, click "Resize/Move" button, grab right end of partition with your mouse and pull it to left to resize (make sure you leave some room for Windows to grow).  Hit "Apply" button when you've got it sized the way you want.  (You were right to stay away from "Device" tab.  Whatever you do, do not ever click Device -> Create Partition Table unless you want to wipe out the whole drive.)

[ukbrian]

I tried out redo for curiosity  and failed!

I backed up a 20 GB Lite partition on my internal 1 TB drive(sdb1) and tried to install it on a 20GB partition on a 250GB external drive(sdb2)

When it asked for a drive to reinstall to and I pointed at sdb2 it threw an error that the drive is smaller than the original.

I would expect an error if the partition was smaller but not the drive.

I don't think it will work for you but!"

I've just used saline-backup to save an ISO type image to a backup file, I then booted the Lite DVD in another machine.

I then installed saline-backup, ran it and restored the backup image to the new machine with a windows install already on it'

During the install it looked at the new HDD and wrote the new grub to the MBR so that on rebooting I could boot into windows or LL.

I'm doing a video of installing/using saline-backup at the moment, I'll then make a post with links to the video and files but I want to use a bog standard new install of LL in the videos.

Check these videos out but the new ones will be shorter.
Creating a backup image https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27uXXnM1rVg
Installing the image https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcSA3xk7zxA