Moving an install between architectures
I have a Power Mac G5 running Debian Jessie at the moment. I've been
using it as my primary email (IMAP) server and name server for my home
network along with a couple of other services. I have it configured with
RAID 1 and an encrypted partition for system (which was very interesting
to configure). It's one of two G5 Power Macs I bought a couple of years
ago from my local Goodwill Computer Works store.
Yesterday, the logic board died on me. I ended up swapping the hardware
(RAM, drives, GPU) into the other G5 Power Mac I own, and everything is
running well again. However, I am concerned for the future.
If my backup (and now current) G5 dies, I would have to move the hard
drives and data into an Intel based system. It looks like Intel based
machines can read APM (Apple Partition Map). What I don't know is if I
would need to transfer the data to an intermediary system and then build
a whole new OS configuration for an Intel machine or if I could just
install Intel Debian (Jessie) on top of the existing partitions without
losing all of my user data. Could doing the latter (installing on top) work?
There's a part of me which wants to try it for fun if nothing else, but
I thought you guys might know. (Obviously, I would have to backup my
data prior either way.)
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