Clone HDD so SDD?

General Help
1

Hi

I'm upgrading my my old laptot (from 2007 lol) from 80GB HDD to a 120GB SDD.

My current setup is bit like this:

  • sda1 w/ Zorin Lite (about 37 GB)
  • sda2 w/ Manjaro XFCE (about 39 GB) this is the boot partition w/ Manjaro GRUB.
  • Swap partition is 3GB (same as RAM)

Both OS have their own /home parttition.

I would like to clone both OS but this time with a separate /home partition shared by both OS for my 120 GB.

Something like this:

  • sda1 Zorin Lite (35/40GB)
  • sda2 Manjaro XFCE (35/40GB)
  • swap file the same 3GB
  • Sda3 /home shared folder takes the rest of SDD space.

What is the best way to do this?
I have Rescuezilla and Clonezilla on USB (ventoy) Live drive and the latest version of both OSs
I tried to clone a Win10 drive that I upgraded (from 120GB to 240GB SSD) and it didn't work!
Had to make a fresh Win 10 install.

Should I do a fresh instal of both Zorin/Manjaro OS the way I want?
If so, if I copy the .config files os both OS from the old 80GD HDD to the fresh install on the 240GB SSD wil it work and have the same settings?

What is the best way to do this?

TIA

2

This is the way I would go.

You are asking to clone an existing setup - but to "unclone it" by having your home directory on a separate partition. For two different Operating Systems. That is a lot of complication.

There is much to be gained with a Fresh Clean Install.

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3

Will having a common /home
data partition shared by both OS have conflicts between Zorin and Manjaro?

This /home would be just for data and media files not .config files.

Im asking for help also on Manjaro forum and they say there might be issues and should create something like /home/jesus/data and have this partition mounted on both OS.

I like both systems and I want an arch based distro and an debian/Ubuntu based so I can learn.
Any guide on doing this?

4

A common shared Home? YES. That can and will create conflicts as your Home Directory is where you store system specific config files. I know you said otherwise - but many apps direct to ~home and that is done by the programmed app.

Definitely. You can create a Shared Media Drive, rather than a Home Directory - that both OS's can access.

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