How to move whole partition?

[number77]

Hello
I have Xenial64 on a Dell Latitude E6230 on a 120gb ssd. I also have a 120gb ssd with win10 for the same laptop.
Is there any way I can copy or move the Puppy partition from one to the other ssd. Both ssds have multiple partitions.
I ask as my normal Xenial64 has all the additions and mods that I need and will take me considerable time at the present to reproduce from scratch.
Help appreciated.
Thanks
number77

[wizard]

Short answer is yes, but need details of exactly what you want to do. Post GParted image of both drives.

wizard

[number77]

Short answer is yes, but need details of exactly what you want to do.

wizard

The ssd I normally use is set up exactly as I want it with Xenial64. I very occasionally use windows on the other ssd. I have to change ssd, a pain to do.
I would like to copy Xenial64, set up as I want it, to the windows10 ssd without the extended time it will take me to reinstall and setup Xenial64. Or in fact reinstall win10 to main ssd. Then use grub2 bootloader.
All these things I could do but I know it will take me a week.

[williwaw]

reorganizing your windows ssd to make space for for your Xenial partition is doable but not my first choice. depending on how often you need to use the windows ssd, an alternative might be to get a ssd to usb cable and boot windows as an external drive when needed rather than opening the laptop and swapping out the ssds.

the easiest solution might be to clone your xenial ssd to a low profile USB flash drive and keep the windows drive onboard but set your boot order to boot the usb first.
just remove the Xenial usb to boot windows
if you bought both a new usb and a cable you could reserve the Xenial ssd for backups using the cable

[Keef]

If you already have a partition (on the target SSD) large enough to hold all your Xenial stuff, then that makes it simpler. I'd boot up the laptop with a live USB, with one of the SSDs in an external HDD caddy, then just copy from one to the other. Don't know what your preference for a bootloader is, but you can set that up from the USB distro (eg grub4dos from a Puppy).

[number77]

reorganizing your windows ssd to make space for for your Xenial partition is doable but not my first choice. depending on how often you need to use the windows ssd, an alternative might be to get a ssd to usb cable and boot windows as an external drive when needed rather than opening the laptop and swapping out the ssds.

the easiest solution might be to clone your xenial ssd to a low profile USB flash drive and keep the windows drive onboard but set your boot order to boot the usb first.
just remove the Xenial usb to boot windows
if you bought both a new usb and a cable you could reserve the Xenial ssd for backups using the cable

No room for any other ssd in the laptop

[number77]

If you already have a partition (on the target SSD) large enough to hold all your Xenial stuff, then that makes it simpler. I'd boot up the laptop with a live USB, with one of the SSDs in an external HDD caddy, then just copy from one to the other. Don't know what your preference for a bootloader is, but you can set that up from the USB distro (eg grub4dos from a Puppy).

Keef, that sounds good to me. Have you ever done it. I dont think grub4dos finds win10 but I think grug2 bootloader does.

[williwaw]

I am not the best at describing arrangements, but could you kindly point out to me where you see I suggested 2 ssd's in the laptop?
I can edit my previous post accordingly.

[number77]

I am not the best at describing arrangements, but could you kindly point out to me where you see I suggested 2 ssd's in the laptop?
I can edit my previous post accordingly.

Dead right williwaw, you didnt, my mistake.
The mention of low profile USB flash drive got me confused, not sure what a low profile USB flash drive is

[williwaw]

any USB flash will work, and actually puppy is optimized to run from a usb better than other OS;s
something like a sandisk ultra fit has a low enough profile that it works well on a laptop that might travel or be in and out of a case frequently

for a cable, this has worked well for me, I presume your ssd is sata?

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-SAT ... ter&sr=8-3

[Geek3579]

I have on several occasions copied boot (FAT32) and puppy *EXT4) partitions to other drives, both as a backup and re-furbishing to a larger drive..

BUT, one must start with a blank target drive (unformatted) and then add a partition table using GPARTED. Note, if you think you will need more than 4 partitions down the track, then GPT is the go, not MSDOS.

Then I boot into GPARTED on a separate USB (essential) , and literally use cut and paste to move the source partition to the target drive. Each partiton will have the same UUID)

The GRUB2 config file will then need to be edited to reflect the changes in resident OS.

[number77]

I have on several occasions copied boot (FAT32) and puppy *EXT4) partitions to other drives, both as a backup and re-furbishing to a larger drive..

BUT, one must start with a blank target drive (unformatted) and then add a partition table using GPARTED. Note, if you think you will need more than 4 partitions down the track, then GPT is the go, not MSDOS.

Then I boot into GPARTED on a separate USB (essential) , and literally use cut and paste to move the source partition to the target drive. Each partiton will have the same UUID)

The GRUB2 config file will then need to be edited to reflect the changes in resident OS.

The blank target drive is a problem as I want to keep the win10 partition on the ssd.

[mikewalsh]

I'm surprised nobody's asked this yet.

@number77 , is this a 'frugal' Puppy install, or did you go for the 'full' install with this one? I see we keep talking about partitions rather than directories, hence why I'm asking....

Mike.

[wiak]

I'm surprised nobody's asked this yet.

@number77 , is this a 'frugal' Puppy install, or did you go for the 'full' install with this one? I see we keep talking about partitions rather than directories, hence why I'm asking....

Mike.

Exactly what I was thinking. If it is a frugal install you could just copy the frugal install directory onto same partition as Windows if you don't instead want to shrink the Windows partition to make enough room on separate partition for Puppy (whether frugal or full installed). Problem left is to know how to install the likes of grub2 such that you can dual boot. Can be tricky to do, can be trickier to explain...

[wizard]

The suggestion to put your Puppy on a bootable USB made by @williwaw carries the lowest risk and will be the least work.

Otherwise, the actual moving of a Puppy install to a MS Windows drive is easy, particularly if you already have a second partition available. In any case, here are some of the considerations.

-Resizing MS Windows partitions is risky business and can fail leaving the drive unbootable.

-MBR format is easier to deal with than UEFI, the Dell E6230 is UEFI capable so assuming it is UEFI.

-As MIke pointed out you also need to know if it is a frugal or the more troublesome "full" install.

-Once you determine where to copy the Puppy and do the copying you hit another risk which is installing a new boot loader. Then you must decide if you can use Grub4dos or need Grub2(for UEFI).

-Once the bootloader is installed, you cross your fingers and hope Grub got it right and everything boots.

These are some of the reasons I suggested posting GParted images of both drives which would eliminate a lot of guessing on the best way to proceed.

Done this dozens of times, but always do so with a full image backup of the system. My imaging tools boot from USB and images are stored on another USB drive. For those interested, the imaging tools are:
-Rescuezilla - Linux based, free
-AOMEI PE Builder 2.0 - Windows based, free version

If you can, this kind of sequence would not modify the W10 drive and have low risk:
1. copy Puppy install to some USB external storage
2. repartition Puppy ssd for W10 and new Puppy partition
3. make image of W10 ssd drive
4. restore W10 image to ssd from step 2
5. copy Puppy install from storage to ssd from step 2
6. install grub

wizard

[number77]

I'm surprised nobody's asked this yet.

@number77 , is this a 'frugal' Puppy install, or did you go for the 'full' install with this one? I see we keep talking about partitions rather than directories, hence why I'm asking....

Mike.

It is a frugal install on its own partition. Has the files and directory Frugalpup_37.sfs, Xenial64 directory, Libreoffice-7.2.7_64_en_GB_xz.sfs, fsckme.flg.
The windows ssd has four partitions on it, two ntfs and two ext4. I have xenial64 on one of the ext4 partition, one spare. and the bootloader says grub2. I cant remember if it is uefi but think it is.

[wizard]

The windows ssd has four partitions on it, two ntfs and two ext4. I have xenial64 on one of the ext4 partition, one spare. and the bootloader says grub2. I cant remember if it is uefi but think it is.

Aha, this makes it much easier and low risk.
-copy all files from Puppy ssd partition to W10 ssd spare ext4 partition
-edit grub.cfg on W10 ssd to add new entry for above.

wizard

[number77]

The windows ssd has four partitions on it, two ntfs and two ext4. I have xenial64 on one of the ext4 partition, one spare. and the bootloader says grub2. I cant remember if it is uefi but think it is.

Aha, this makes it much easier and low risk.
-copy all files from Puppy ssd partition to W10 ssd spare ext4 partition
-edit grub.cfg on W10 ssd to add new entry for above.

wizard

Thanks wizard I hoped this would be the way. As it was such a pain to install and verify win10 I will look out a hdd and do a backup copy of this first before I start.
Thanks

[bigpup]

The drive the Puppy frugal installs are on is your backup copy.
As long as you copy onto the Windows 10 SSD, the files are still on the other drive.
Just make sure to select copy.

Do not select to move!!!

[williwaw]

The windows ssd has four partitions on it, two ntfs and two ext4.

Aha, what wizard suggests

[Geek3579]

I have on several occasions copied boot (FAT32) and puppy *EXT4) partitions to other drives, both as a backup and re-furbishing to a larger drive..

BUT, one must start with a blank target drive (unformatted) and then add a partition table using GPARTED. Note, if you think you will need more than 4 partitions down the track, then GPT is the go, not MSDOS.

Then I boot into GPARTED on a separate USB (essential) , and literally use cut and paste to move the source partition to the target drive. Each partiton will have the same UUID)

The GRUB2 config file will then need to be edited to reflect the changes in resident OS.

The blank target drive is a problem as I want to keep the win10 partition on the ssd.

You can keep the win 10 partition, but any space at the end of the drive where you are copying to must be unformatted. Just shrink any partition to suit to get that space. However, that configuration would complicate things as you now can't copy the boot partition from another drive, as their can be only one boot partition on any device. I have done a work around in the past by double booting with, say MX-Linux which creates a GRUB menu which can be edited to suit any additional Puppy Frugal installs. Its a long way around and I wouldnt advise it unless you had no other options.

I always keep puppy boot partitions on a separate drive: USB, SSD, HDD, (not SD card). They can usually be made to find the partition and OS on other drives want by specifying the UUID of the partition in the gRUB2 menu - eg: search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 1c48a2d8-bdbb-4cf5-a620-e43c95e51a05

[number77]

Plenty of good suggestions, thanks everyone.
I will wait until I can free up a hdd to copy my ssd to, then when have a backup I will have a go. Starting with copy and paste and then grub2.
It may take a bit of time as if I rush its back to reinstall everything which would probably really be best.
I will report.