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I currently have a 256GB SSD dual boot with Ubuntu 16.04 and Windows 7 which I want to migrate to a new 500GB SSD. I understand I can't restore a complete disk image to a different size drive, but rather do the separate partitions individually.

Questions:

  1. Is this easily doable?
  2. Do I need to first create equal size partitions on the new disk?
  3. Is it possible to increase the size of those respective partitions after restoring from my backup?
  4. What is the process for getting the dual boot set up?

2 Answers 2

1
  • Run Clonzilla to make a full device-to-device clone copy onto your larger SSD. (You just can't go to a smaller destination drive, but bigger is ok).

  • Replace the 250G SSD with the 500G SSD and make sure it boots to both Windows and Ubuntu. Partition sizes will be the same as they were on the 256G SSD.

  • Boot a Ubuntu Live DVD/USB and use gparted to move/resize the Ubuntu partition(s) to the rear of the drive (assuming that Windows was installed first), enlarging the partition if desired.

  • Again, make sure Windows and Ubuntu boot.

  • Boot Windows, and use the Windows Disk Management app to resize the Windows NTFS partition.

  • Confirm that both Windows and Ubuntu boot.

Note: If you desire to share data/files between Windows and Ubuntu, it's best to create a new clean NTFS partition some time during this process. Both Windows and Ubuntu can use NTFS.

10
  • Ubuntu was installed first, then Win7.
    – user890375
    Nov 6, 2018 at 20:38
  • Regarding your first point, I'm not able to do a direct device-to-device clone copy, I need to back it up to another temporary drive and then restore to the new drive.
    – user890375
    Nov 6, 2018 at 20:43
  • Why can't you clone the disk? Be careful...if you move/resize the Windows partition, it may not boot any more, and you'll need a Windows repair disc to fix it.
    – heynnema
    Nov 6, 2018 at 20:57
  • What I mean is that I can't clone the old disk directly to the new disk - I can't connect the 2 drives together, so I have to back up to another drive and then restore from there.
    – user890375
    Nov 6, 2018 at 21:19
  • @djgap you must have a laptop then? How do you plan on imaging it back from another (external) drive? Do you have a Clonezilla CD, or a network-bootable Clonezilla?
    – heynnema
    Nov 6, 2018 at 21:24
0

The easiest method is to restore a complete drive's Clonezilla image to a different size drive (if the target driver is bigger, and it is in your case).

  • Please check with

    sudo parted -ls
    

    that the physical sector sizes are the same in the source drive and the target drive. Otherwise there might be problems when you run the computer from the cloned copy.

  • If there is a GUID partition table, GPT, you need to fix the backup partition table at the end of the drive, which can be done with gdisk, or easier with the shell-script gpt-fix.

  • After cloning (or restoring from an image), you can use gparted to increase the size of the Ubuntu partitions or create some new partition in order to use the extra space in the target drive.

  • If you need to increase the size of the Windows partition, you may need to move the Ubuntu partition(s) in order to get unallocated drive space near the Windows partition, and after that use Windows tools to increase the size with Windows tools (when running Windows). Please notice that moving the the head end of the boot partition (or root partition) of Ubuntu will make it necessary to reinstall the bootloader grub.

    So this is somewhat complicated, and it is much easier to create a new partition with the NTFS file system, where you can store data, that can be shared between Ubuntu and Windows.

Edit:

After cloning, please avoid booting the computer with both the source drive and the target drive connected. The drive's partition tables are identical and the UUIDs are identical too, so there may be confusion and there might be problems to boot from either of the drives separately afterwards.

(It is OK to boot from an external drive (for example an Ubuntu live drive) and connect the second of the identical drives after booting, if you want to fix something.)

4
  • I gather from the following that sector size is not an issue: Model: ATA LITEONIT LGT-256 (scsi) Disk /dev/sda: 256GB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: msdos Disk Flags: Model: Seagate FA GoFlex Pro (scsi) Disk /dev/sdb: 500GB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: msdos Disk Flags:
    – user890375
    Nov 6, 2018 at 20:14
  • gdisk shows this: Partition table scan: MBR: MBR only BSD: not present APM: not present GPT: not present
    – user890375
    Nov 6, 2018 at 20:22
  • It's actually the Ubuntu partition I would like most to increase the size of, but it is the first partition, then Win7, so I think I'm ok with your suggestion of a new separate partition shared with Ubuntu and Win7.
    – user890375
    Nov 6, 2018 at 20:25
  • @djgap, It looks good :-) I think it will be straightforward to use a Clonezilla image of the whole drive (or clone the whole drive directly). If you are happy with a new separate partition shared with Ubuntu and Win7, I think things will be easy to fix.
    – sudodus
    Nov 6, 2018 at 21:11

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