Replicating mx linux on another laptop

[sbrener]

Hi - I have a better laptop than the one that has my Linux implementation. It's currently Windows 10. I'd like to take the implementation I have on my linux laptop and replicate in the other (not as a dual boot - just pure Linux). Is there a convenient way to do this? I have Timeshift on the current one with the latest snapshot. Is there a way I can use that?

Thanks!

Steve

[richb]

I have done exactly that using MX snapshot. Access it from MX Tools and choose Preserving accounts (for personal backups). It will create an ISO you can than use with LiveUSB Maker to put the system on a USB drive. You can then install to your laptop by booting the with the USB.

[sbrener]

Hi - I tried that. The systems uses about 13 gigs or so (out of 26G). I have a 64 gig micro-SD card that I selected for the Snapshot location. During the process the image creation process was aborted. Not sure why there wouldn't be enough space, if that's the issue. The 64G SD card was essentially empty. That said, there is a 4G file on the SD card with the name "snapshot-20201220_2150.iso"

Any ideas?

Thanks

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mG2g8Ybznn4nQs5MA

I have done exactly that using MX snapshot. Access it from MX Tools and choose Preserving accounts (for personal backups). It will create an ISO you can than use with LiveUSB Maker to put the system on a USB drive. You can then install to your laptop by booting the with the USB.

[JayM]

You probably didn't exclude the directories in home so it was adding all of your data files to the snapshot. Personal data should be backed up separately, not included in the snapshot iso.

The normal snapshot storage location is /home/snapshot. Unless you're hurting for free space in your root or home partition I suggest using that default. You can delete the snapshot files (as root) to regain the space after burning the iso to tour USB flash drive if you wish.

If you are tight on free space in the root directory that could be where the "not enough space" issue came from as it uses /var/tmp as a working temporary directory when creating the snapshot. If your system partition is nearly full you're probably also having other issues or will have soon, such as not being able to log in. We would need to see your Quick System Info to tell if this is the case.

[Richard]

I have never used TimeShift. It may do what you wish?

MX Snapshot is a part of MX. It creates a bootable ISO of your system,
which you can install, in the same manner that you installed the MX release ISO,
but now it will carry over the configuration of your running system.

Sounds as if you created the ISO on your SD card but it needs to be installed on the SD, not just created there.

Apologies if I have misunderstood your issue.

[Richard]

richb explained above how to install the new ISO.

[asqwerth]

Hi - I have a better laptop than the one that has my Linux implementation. It's currently Windows 10. I'd like to take the implementation I have on my linux laptop and replicate in the other (not as a dual boot - just pure Linux). Is there a convenient way to do this? I have Timeshift on the current one with the latest snapshot. Is there a way I can use that?

Thanks!

Steve

Let's clarify what you want to do first. When you say you want to replicate the implementation on another machine, are you interested in the various data (e.g. media, music, docs) on your first machine, or just the configurations and settings in your first machine (configs/settings are in /home)?

If the former, is the media saved on a separate drive/partition, or part of your /home?

Assuming all your media and settings are all in /home, perhaps your snapshot stopped generating halfway because you were doing other CPU/RAM intensive stuff on your computer while it was in the midst of creating the snapshot (you did say the first machine wasn't so great). Maybe go make some coffee, do some chores while your machine is making the snapshot?

Also, following on from Richard's post, just save the iso onto your first machine (assuming there is space), then use Live-USB-Maker to create the live USB from the iso.

[JayM]

Also be aware that many newer laptops can only do BIOS flashes to newer versions from within Windows, so you might want to do your research about your better computer before getting rid of Windows entirely. Sometimes newer BIOS versions are marked as being critical updates as they can fix vulnerabilities or system issues, so you would need a way to update yours. Very few BIOSes have a built-in flashing utility anymore and very few manufacturers provide a stand-alone utility that can be run on a bootable USB stick like they used to do.

[Adrian]

Hi - I tried that. The systems uses about 13 gigs or so (out of 26G). I have a 64 gig micro-SD card that I selected for the Snapshot location. During the process the image creation process was aborted. Not sure why there wouldn't be enough space, if that's the issue. The 64G SD card was essentially empty. That said, there is a 4G file on the SD card with the name "snapshot-20201220_2150.iso"

Any ideas?

Thanks

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mG2g8Ybznn4nQs5MA

I have done exactly that using MX snapshot. Access it from MX Tools and choose Preserving accounts (for personal backups). It will create an ISO you can than use with LiveUSB Maker to put the system on a USB drive. You can then install to your laptop by booting the with the USB.

The image doesn't give me a good idea what was going on, if you could PM me the logfile /var/mx-snapshot.log I could check to see if there's some error in the program. As other people mentioned maybe it's a matter of exclusion if you included /home and have a lot of files it might not work.

[richb]

As others have pointed out one needs to ensure the location of the iSO has enough room to hold it. The ISO itself can be quite large. Mine is 43.8 GiB. Of course the smaller the better, a faster creation process and less of a restriction on where written to.