Hey everyone,
I want to move to a new desktop computer, Lenovo IdeaCentre AIO 5 (from an old iMac). Is there a way to move everything over so that it's 1:1 the same (apps, settings, everything)? Like creating an image or something?
Thank you!
Yes, you can create an image just as you suggest. There are Many Tools out there for doing so - If you want, you can ask for recommendations. Everyone has an opinion.
I strongly recommend following a guide for creating a bootable Linux Image.
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That's one thing most people don't realize about Linux... you can clone a drive, carry that clone over to any other computer, boot it and there's a very good chance it'll boot and run just fine.
Try that with Windows and it'll throw up all sorts of errors about hardware changes and licensing and whatnot.
Companies that run Windows on bare hardware are costing themselves a lot more money in the long run... they should be running Linux, with Windows running in a VM, and the Windows software they need running under that. A critical computer that controls a central part of your organization dies (system control computer, security computer, etc.)? No problem, you've got a clone already, right? You've got a spare computer already, right? Unplug everything from the broken computer, plug in the spare computer, boot from the clone and carry on.
No need to call tech support and pay $4000 to get that critical software reinstalled and set up on a single computer (yes, I have recent experience with this... the company didn't listen to this advice, and it cost them), all while that critical company function is crippled for two weeks as that new computer is being prepared by an external contractor. I could have set it all up for them in advance of the in-use computer dying, for nothing more than my regular payrate, but the company seems to want to do things the more difficult way.
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Perfect, thank you.
If I remember correctly, Clonezilla or Rescuezilla came highly recommended.
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I admit, I like Cubic:
The guide I just posted is a general one that uses Mint, but the principles are the same.
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I use Rescuezilla as it will clone the whole drive .... partitions and all .... here is a tutorial I did with pictures if you are interested .....
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One can also use the Disks application built-in to Zorin OS.
Open Disks.
Select the drive you want to create a clone of.
Click the '3-vertical-dots' button at upper-right.
Select "Create Disk Image".
Tell it where to save it, and it'll create a .IMG file which is an exact duplicate of that entire drive.
You can then use 7z to compress that, if you like, to save drive space if you're using that .IMG file as a backup... it's best if you zero the free drive space before taking a .IMG file, as zeros compress really well (in effect, you're creating what's known as a "sparse file" backup of that drive). I compressed three .IMG files of three identical 500 GB drives into a single 7.6 GB .7z file because the free space on each drive was zero'd.
You can then use Disks to populate another drive with that .IMG file by selecting the drive you want to work with, clicking that '3-vertical-dots' button and selecting "Restore Disk Image", selecting the .IMG file you'd previously created, and letting it run. It'll be an exact duplicate of the original disk.
This can be a problem in some circumstances... the drives will have the same UUIDs and PartUUIDs... so if you're going to use both the original and the cloned drive in the same system, you should change the UUIDs and PartUUIDs of the clone.
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Thank you very much, this seems to be the easiest way.
If @Mr_Magoo 's suggestion works for you the best, please be sure to move the Solution Mark to his post number 11 to show that it worked for you.
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