Re: Throw an hard drive with Debian installation into...
On Tue, Feb 15, 2022 at 12:31:58PM +0200, Anssi Saari wrote:
> Thomas Anderson <thomas.anderson@little-beak.com> writes:
>
> > I am curious, what would happen if I threw a fully functionally,
> >
> > Linux installation (HDD) into an entirely different hardware configuration:
> >
> > Different Process AMD->Intel?
> >
> > Ram/mobo I assume doesn't matter?
> >
> > I half expect it to boot up, and be fully functional.
>
> I fully expect this to work. It has for me in the past. Of course, with
> no knowledge of your systems the answer is actually "it depends." But
> even when I ran a custom kernel with just the drivers I needed, all I
> needed to do was add the drivers the new system needed beforehand. This
> was the bad old days when there were other common SATA interfaces than
> AHCI.
>
> In fact, I have the inner parts for a new desktop waiting as I want to
> do more than just clone my old system there. I've come to realize I want
> to build the new system in a new case so that I can work on it while
> keeping my old system running.
>
> But still, the first step for me is cloning my boot SSD and putting it
> in the new system. I'll have little difference in the old and new
> desktop. CPU architecture is still x86-64, video is same NVidia, storage
> is same old AHCI SATA + NVMe SSD. So it should boot. Networking is
> different and will need a firmware package, maybe a newer kernel from
> backports. Wifi and bluetooth are new and likely need same. I can
> actually do these things beforehand.
>
Maybe don't do this. Maybe do a clean install on new drives to start
a known system. Then you can copy across stuff from old system to new
moving only the data you want. Clean installs mean that the drivers for the
new motherboard etc. should "just work"
> Probably some other minor interfaces will need tweaking, sensors is a
> thing that's usually different on different motherboards for example.
>
See above.
> The second step for me is converting from FAT partition table and BIOS
> boot to GPT partition table and UEFI boot. Should be possible but with
> Windows 10, Debian and Arch on the drive it's a tiny little bit more
> complicated.
>
Too complicated once you've cloned an MBR - really, don't do this, go
UEFI from the start. Maybe don't install Windows 10 as a main OS but as
a VM?
All the very best, as ever,
Andy Cater
Reply to: