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want to clone my debian install so i can test updating to trixie (lemmy.eco.br)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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i want to test debian trixie (13) so i can report bugs and troubleshoot before the release later this year. i thought about simply installing trixie alongside my current bookworm installation, but that won't be my scenario when the time comes, since i've been updating my system instead of reinstalling it since debian jessie (8) and this time it won't be different. how can i clone my current system so i can simulate an update to trixie? do i simply create a new partition and copy my files over, then chroot to it and install grub?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

You can do this with the dd command. To prep:

Set up a live boot USB stick with your distro of choice.

Install another SSD/nvme/HDD at least the same size as your bookworm install into your bookworm machine. If that's not an option connect a USB drive that's at least the same size as the drive with your bookworm installation.

Boot into the live USB on the bookworm machine.

Make sure the partition(s) from your bookworm install are unmounted.

Quadruple check the drives/devices for the dd command. Here's the basics of the command:

dd if=/device/where/bookworm/is/installed of=USB/or/second/drive/in/machine bs=8M status=progress

So, if your bookworm install is on /dev/sda, and the USB or secondary is /dev/sdb, then the Cmand would be:

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=8M status=progress

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

Be careful with disk destroyer!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

This is literally what dd does and what I would have recommended, if this person hadn’t beaten me to it.

However, if you’re cloning to another disk or partition that will be plugged in at the same time as your existing installation, you’ll wind up with two partitions with the same identifier — a recipe for eventual disaster. In that case, I would run through setup (with your current disk unplugged) and then rsync over the new root partition.