On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 12:28:41 -0400, David Rosenstrauch wrote: > On 10/30/22 7:42 AM, Spencer Collyer wrote: > > I am looking to replace my current desktop PC, which is getting on > > for 8 years old now, with a more up-to-date one. Ideally I want the > > new one to be set up the same as my current one, which has been > > running on Arch since I first got it. > > > What is the best way to set up the new one to mirror the existing > > one? I'd like to have all the same packages installed, with > > basically the same setup, except for obvious points like the new PC > > having a different IP address and name on my network. > > > > My initial idea was something like the following: > > > > 1) Install a basic Arch system on the new computer > > 2) Get the list of installed packages from the old computer (I think > > there is a way to do this using Pacman?) > > 3) Somehow get Pacman to > > install the same list of packages on the new computer. > > 4) Tidy up any > > config files that need changing - e.g. for the aforementioned IP > > address / computer name stuff. > > 5) Copy over my /home directory 6) Copy > > over various data directories/partitions I have -e.g. I have a whole > > bunch of images stored in a separate partition that I'll want to > > copy over. The stuff in here is all self-contained so should be > > easy enough to copy over. > > > Why do you even need to a fresh Arch install on the new computer? If > it were me, I would just: > > a) copy the entire contents of the drive from the old machine to the > new one > > b) boot the new machine into single user mode > > c) perform "mkinitcpio -P" on the new machine (to rebuild your kernel > image with any modules that the new machine's hardware needs) > > And you're done. > > I've done this several times before when moving to a new machine. > Any reason this wouldn't work for you? > > DR Hi David, Thanks for the suggestion. It's not something I'd thought of, nor come across when doing research on the internet for how to do it. Certainly sounds like it would be simpler than the method I'd come up with. Regards, Spencer
