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PC Construction

I need some suggestions. I've been fiddling around all day trying to move the Linux Mint system I installed and configured on a HDD onto an SSD. Of course, the SSD is smaller than the HDD so I can't just clone it, but the files should fit.

I tried building a new install onto the SSD (which produced three partitions - the boot loader, the main volume, and the swap file) and then wiping the main volume and overwriting it with the files from the main volume on the HDD (as root), but some of the "special" files refused to copy. I tried rebuilding again and then copying the HDD main volume into the SSD main volume (so the "special" files should already be there). Either way, a reboot either leaves it upset or the boot loader redirects the boot back to the HDD (even though it's not selected for boot in the BIOS). The SSD installation boots fine so long as I don't fiddle with it.

I'm on the verge of giving up and starting from scratch, but I hate that idea because I spent a lot of time a couple of years ago getting Windows VMs up and running, amongst other things. I guess I could do a compare with a fresh install and then move things across manually.

Ultimately I want the swap partition to be on the HDD - I know the SSD should be faster, but I would prefer only relatively static data (essentially read-only) to be on there long term.
 
I've not done any partitioning or suchlike for years, so don't shout if this is a daft idea.
If the HDD is a single partition can you shrink that down to the same size as the SSD and then clone it?
(I have a feeling you can only clone whole discs, but hey ... )
 
prpr said:
Forget partitions and use LVM.
Click to expand...
I've reported the physical circumstances of what the Mint install sets up for itself. It may already be under LVM for all I know - on the command line, when I looked in /mnt there was nothing listed, neither was anything listed under /dev/sda1 or /dev/sdb1, and I had one hell of a job trying to work out what was stored where. It seems to me this is a significant disadvantage of LVM.

MikeSh said:
If the HDD is a single partition can you shrink that down to the same size as the SSD and then clone it?
(I have a feeling you can only clone whole discs, but hey ... )
Click to expand...
Not a silly idea at all; in the absence of anyone telling me how to patch up a fresh install to look like a more developed one I'll give it a try (I'm happy to destroy the fresh install, but I am preserving the developed one until it clones!).
 
I'm refreshing the base install (again), and I notice there is a box to tick for LVM (I haven't)!

prpr said:
Well there won't be, because it doesn't work like that.
Click to expand...
So educate me. I'm used to seeing stuff in /mnt on the 'Fox, why wouldn't there be stuff in /mnt on the PC?
 
The sods! I've discovered the process of installing Mint alters the boot order in the BIOS to favour the new installation! Damn you, I want the optical drive at the top of the list AT ALL TIMES!!!!
 
MikeSh said:
If the HDD is a single partition can you shrink that down to the same size as the SSD and then clone it?
Click to expand...
The installation creates three partitions: a boot partition (at the beginning), a swap file partition (at the end), and the rest of the disk (in the middle) is the main file system. So I created a fresh set on the SDD, checked it booted (HDD disconnected), then reconnected the HDD and ran the live Mint DVD to run GParted.

I shrank the 1.8TiB main file system on the HDD to 222GiB (the size of the equivalent on the SDD) and copied the result over the existing SDD partition (the shrink took a while, but surprisingly the copy took a long time too - these are SATA drives connected to a modern mobo with a 3.? GHz 6-core processor!).

That done, I disconnected the HDD again and booted from the SDD... but I'm getting the same again: a GRUB prompt. My guess is that GRUB is now not configured properly for what's actually there and I need to learn about that so I can put it right.
 
Yeah, my idea was a long shot.
I seem to recall that there are some files on the discs that are copied by a clone but not a partition copy. Looks like that is as I thought.
I imagine it can be done but would need something more than 'consumer' software and knowledge.

Good luck with it anyway - I know what a pain it is having to rebuild even a basic Windows system from scratch.
 
There has to be a way to "measure" the (non-trivial) differences between a fresh install and an old install...
 
There are varieties of diffn which may ne of use to spot extra/missing files.
I remember battling with grub, quite a few years back, to discover that the vital locators were patched into the boot code, and, at the time limited so that I couldn't use a larger HDD without very careful partitioning an positioning of partitions . I'm not sure that I have any applicable notes still.
For other booting oddities in linux installs you mught find a need to modify /boot/cmdline.txt, aand also that fstab entries for positioning the various partitions within root may use partiton UUIDs or labels.
 
dandnsmith said:
partiton UUIDs or labels
Click to expand...
Yeah, that seems to be the case.

I had a hack using Super Grub2 Disk and still couldn't make it boot. I think the fundamental problem is that I have been working with my understanding of the old-school PC boot process (BIOS), and now I have to learn about the UEFI boot process. I have been confused that when I go into the boot setup (I can't call that the "BIOS" it seems - is it the "UEFI"?) and change the boot order, it then tells me there are no changes to save - and then if I go in again the boot order is whatever it wants and not what I asked for.

I need to look into this some more, and fortunately I have plenty of time for that. Alternatively, maybe I can change it to BIOS instead of UEFI - it's not like I'm running Windows!
 
What the hell is this word "conp" (used twice)?:

https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmagic/uefi-vs-bios.html said:
In the BIOS setup screen, you can conp various settings like the hardware configuration of the computer, system time and boot sequence, etc. The setting results will be saved to the memory on your motherboard. After this, you can start your computer, and the BIOS will conp the PC with the saved settings.
Click to expand...
 
Difficult to even guess what "conp" is supposed to mean. The first use "change" would make sense. In the second "load" might work. Written by someone whose first language isn't English?
 
Yeah, great, but how does that turn into "conp"? P isn't next to F on the keyboard, there are no other hits on Google, and it's not a real word so it can't be a spell-check silly.
 
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