This post will cover the steps required on desktop Linux to migrate to a new hardware configuration.
It is assumed that all user data is in the ~/ directory (i.e. user’s home directory).
Migration Steps
- Install, configure, test OS on New machine.
- Install, configure, test applications on New machine.
Stop updating files on Old machine and backup user’s home directory to external hard-drive. It is probably best to do this at night since the backup can take quite a while.
- tar cpf /media/external-drive/home-dir-backup.tar ~/
gzip compression can be used if necessary
- tar cpzf /media/external-drive/home-dir-backup.tgz ~/
- On New machine restore user’s home directory from external harddrive
- tar -xpf /media/external-drive/home-dir-backup.tar -C ~/
- Perform final configuration on New machine now that user data has been migrated.