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Making the plunge to SSD, now, how to move Arch ;)


ichase

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Hello all,

Well I made the plunge after finding an awesome deal on a 240GB SSD drive. Now the fun part. I have been looking at good ol' Google and reading MANY different ways to do this but it just seems like it could be easier and I know others here have migrated to SSD drives and LOVE IT.

The SATA drive in this laptop is currently a 500 GB drive. My set up as far as partitions is as follows:

dev/sda1 100 GB (This drive used to have Windows 7 on it. I originally dual booted until I got comfortable with VBox. Now it's just a data drive.

dev/sda3 - Arch Linux; 400 GB, 112 GB in use (so by moving all of my vdi files to external I shrunk it down to where it will fit on the 240 GB SSD drive.

 

Don't ask what happened to /dev/sda2 - Psssst............Ever heard of Jimmy Hoffa? (We will leave it at that) ;)

 

I of course have a current image of /dev/sda3 as of last night using my trusted friend, Clonezilla ;)

 

NOW the fun part. I don't WANT to partition the new SSD drive what so ever. I have 8 GB of RAM so no need for a swap partition. This would leave just: dev/sda1 which will be nothing but Arch Linux. I want to migrate my current Arch linux EXACTLY the way it is to the new SSD drive.

 

So I ask, what is your opinion on the most hassle free way to do this.

 

Thank you as always great wise ones ;)

 

All the best,

 

Ian

 

PS: Guarantee this will end up being ANOTHER one of those posts that many of our guest and members will want to book mark. :thumbsup:

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Hedon James

You are correct about the bookmark comment. I'll be looking to do this myself, just as soon as I find the right deal on an SSD. I'm gonna make a snack for the show, and grab a front row seat!!! :th_0142:

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@ ichase ... didn't we have a thread just like this a short while back?

 

Best move is to reinstall from scratch. But that's not what you asked.

 

So, here's what I'm pretty sure would work: do partition the drive with a small sda1 and sda2 and the bulk of it as sda3. Format the new sda3 with the same filesystem as the old. Then just do a direct copy of all files from your current sda3 to the new sda3 on the SSD. Edit your boot utility to point to the new drive and it should work.

 

I'd then install grub to the new drive's MBR so you have an alternative boot method.

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securitybreach

I do not think you will be able to move a sata install to a SSD. You will be better off installing new although you can back up things like packages list, config files in /etc/, etc.

 

Also you have to set up the ssd drive or you will not see any speed benefits:

Solid State Drives (SSDs) are not PnP devices. Special considerations such as partition alignment, choice of file system, TRIM support, etc. are needed to set up SSDs for optimal performance. ...

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Solid_State_Drives

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Isn't this one of the great benefits of Linux? You can reinstall the O/S while keeping essential data backed up. No problems with licensing or hardware detection by some DRM module in the O/S.

Frankly I've never been happy with anything but a fresh install when upgrading a Version. I'd just be afraid I'd have more aggravation with UUID and boot issues than the the time I'd save without a reinstall.

But YMMV. Surely you don't have 112 GB of OS files and apps.

Edited by raymac46
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Have been definitely leaning towards a fresh install. I removed the SATA drive and put the SSD drive in, launched Parted Magic, created a partition table and formatetd the entire drive to ext4 (which I did know had SSD support) /dev/sda1. I have always used ext3, but had read the wiki in regards to SSDs in that ext3 did not support SSDs and my Arch install was utilizing the ext3 file system. Starting from scratch is going to be the best bet. I have already backed up my packages, config files etc to an external drive so I have them there ready to go.

 

DEFINITELY want ALL of the speed increase that you can get from an SSD drive. ;)

 

I will keep you all posted :)

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So once formated to ext4 (which it is), the install method from the current Arch iso should be no different then with an HDD except for making some different changes to the fstab once you get to that portion of the installtion? Just making sure I am reading that correctly.

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securitybreach

Well I have not bought an SSD yet but it looks that way. I would read the whole wiki entry before starting though.

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Step one after installing the SSD in the laptop is to enter the BIOS/UEFI and make sure that your SATA controller is configured to run AHCI.

 

The ArchWiki SSD page, and the linked pages, are now really great for setting up on an SSD.

Pay particular attention to the advice about using gdisk to create your partitions and align them properly.

 

Definitely apply TRIM support through the fstab method, with only a few partitions it is the way to go.

Edited by amenditman
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Step one after installing the SSD in the laptop is to enter the BIOS/UEFI and make sure that your SATA controller is configured to run AHCI.

Thanks for the tip amenditman :thumbsup:

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Starting from scratch is going to be the best bet.

 

For sure if you're moving from ext3 to ext4. You should be OK with alignment to use GParted or something like it. If I remember correctly you wouldn't use gdisk unless you want a GPT disk (mostly for EFI systems.)

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amenditmans tips are top class. An you can transfer a hdd install to a ssd with the wiki,

 

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Full_system_backup_with_rsync

 

If you do remember to change the fstab on the ssd before you reboot.

 

The one thing I found was that the backup installed to a single partition rather than my multi partition set up. Everything worked just fine afterwards and it took about 15 mins to complete.

Ssd's are the biz, an mine is just a 60 GB cheapy. :shifty:

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YES, Amenditman's tips ARE top class. I don't let "pride" overrule my judgment, I know, with the help of many on here that I have become A LOT more knowlegeable in regards to Linux, I know I am no where close to the knowledge base that others like Amenditman, Security Breach, V.T. Eric Layton, Lil Bambi etc are. I'm am NOT afraid to say "I don't understand" and "Need help". Must admit the SSD wiki for Arch is not as "easy" to understand as maybe the above experts. :thumbsup: I slapped my HDD back in and am running on that at the moment. I think I got a bad Arch iso as it was failing left and right on boot earlier today. Downloaded another one and going to try it again in the morning with an ethernet cable attached to the laptop. ;)

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If you a having trouble with the SSD wiki, just take it step by step and ask here.

 

We will help and you will be the new SSD expert.

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securitybreach

If you a having trouble with the SSD wiki, just take it step by step and ask here.

 

We will help and you will be the new SSD expert.

 

Ill have to remember that when I finally buy an SSD.`

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, just because "Life" has been so hectic for a LONG time, it HAS taken me this long to provide MYSELF the time to get the SSD setup but setup it is (well, almost) running into a few things that have me scratching my head but YES it is A LOT faster especially when it comes to moving large amounts of files. 22 GB in 12 minutes, yeah; MUCH faster than the standard HDD. The desktop is ALSO built but I can't find my notes on the multi-head set up. Yes I have been reading the multi-head Arch Wiki and what not. I HAD great notes when I did this the last time and I am USING the same two 19" monitors I ran the last time, but for some reason it is still seeing the 2nd monitor running as VGA as a CRT monitor and only giving it a max of 640x480 which as you can imagine makes THAT monitor look all sorts of messed up. But this will come out in a different post. I believe I did create one for the desktop. :) Baby steps :thumbsup:

 

Added: Moving from HDD to SSD was actually not that bad. The SSD wiki though hard for me to understand does make a difference in the small nuances that are required for an SSD like adding the noatime to your fstab.

 

One simple thing that is as obvious as the nose on your face but you may not think about (well, at least for me) when essentially rebuilding or migrating an Arch Linux install to a different computer or new SSD and moving all of your configs files over is you HAVE TO REMEMBER that most config files you set up are set up for the MACHINE and when you migrate them over to a DIFFERENT machine, the configs will give you some problems. I did find I had to delete a few config files and applications and reload them with fresh configs. Yes; simple and obvious but sometimes you are looking broad and missing the few SMALL things. ;) Just to provide an example to the many guest that might be wondering exactly what I am talking about. I use Clementine as my music player of choice. (I just like it) Everytime you change something in Clementine it is updating a config file in your /home/username/.config/clementine folder (yes, I am just using Clementine as an example) so if you do what I did and just moved the .config folder from one computer to another the config file is looking for certain things the migrated computer may not have. Alas, you have problems. ;) Just some food for thought :)

 

And SSDs keep coming down and down in price. I believe I picked up the 240GB PNY SSD for $89. I just run everything else on a 1TB external which have ALSO come way down in price. :)

Edited by ichase
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securitybreach

Excellent!!! :thumbup:

 

I plan on buying a small sdd in the next couple of months and migrating my Arch install over so now I know that it can be done successfully. B)

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Well FINALLY had the time to finish getting the SSD setup in the laptop yesterday. Pretty much all the small issues I was having I was able to resolve with a tweak there, a necessary package there, re-installing some packages to get new configs etc. Much like I did on the desktop. I am still not seeing much faster boot times and I may need to delve into the SSD Arch Wiki a little bit more in order to get the most speed out of this thing. But it's up and working and it's just like being on the HDD.

 

I had asked the question about migration. I AM here to tell you from expereince of both the desktop and swapping to an SSD on the laptop; installing from scratch from the Arch Live CD and importing your packages via pacman, config files fonts etc "IS" the most less painful way to go. But as I mentioned in the other post, just remember that SOME config files were setup for the "other" machine and WILL give you problems on the new machine. ;)

Edited by ichase
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Great info abarbarian :thumbsup: May need to slap the HDD in, run systemd-analyze and systemd analyze blame to get some what of a bench mark of the speed difference between the HDD and SSD. ;)

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Well curiousity got the best of me so I swapped over to my HDD and got the following. I will definitely say the numbers tell the tale. ;) SSD numbers are below the HDD numbers.

 

HDD

[ichase02@arch64 ~]$systemd-analyze
Startup finished in 5.693s (kernel) + 31.335s (userspace) = 37.028s

[ichase02@arch64 ~]$systemd-analyze blame
18.758s man-db.service
9.262s wicd.service
8.737s dkms.service
7.673s net-auto-wireless.service
4.928s lm_sensors.service
4.219s logrotate.service
2.982s alsa-restore.service
2.724s shadow.service
2.611s systemd-logind.service
2.564s systemd-modules-load.service
1.131s nfsd.service
1.036s systemd-fsck@dev-sda1.service
905ms tmp.mount
890ms dev-mqueue.mount
866ms rpcbind.service
834ms sys-kernel-debug.mount
820ms systemd-user-sessions.service
808ms dev-hugepages.mount
786ms systemd-vconsole-setup.service
692ms systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service
636ms systemd-remount-fs.service
534ms systemd-rfkill@rfkill0.service
497ms udisks2.service
467ms systemd-random-seed.service
445ms systemd-udev-trigger.service
436ms systemd-binfmt.service
389ms rpc-idmapd.service
356ms rpc-mountd.service
302ms polkit.service
301ms kmod-static-nodes.service
233ms user@1000.service
202ms systemd-journal-flush.service
192ms systemd-backlight@backlight:acpi_video0.service
188ms systemd-udevd.service
175ms mnt-data.mount
166ms systemd-sysctl.service
165ms proc-sys-fs-binfmt_misc.mount
132ms systemd-update-utmp.service
131ms systemd-rfkill@rfkill1.service
125ms systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service
94ms var-lib-nfs-rpc_pipefs.mount
86ms systemd-backlight@backlight:intel_backlight.service
65ms systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
2ms sys-fs-fuse-connections.mount
1ms sys-kernel-config.mount

 

SSD

[ichase@arch64 ~]$ systemd-analyze
Startup finished in 3.208s (kernel) + 685ms (userspace) = 3.894s

[ichase@arch64 ~]$ systemd-analyze blame
321ms wicd.service
163ms systemd-backlight@backlight:acpi_video0.service
86ms systemd-logind.service
80ms alsa-restore.service
75ms systemd-binfmt.service
71ms systemd-modules-load.service
40ms systemd-udev-trigger.service
17ms tmp.mount
15ms dev-mqueue.mount
15ms sys-kernel-debug.mount
14ms systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service
14ms dev-hugepages.mount
12ms systemd-update-utmp.service
11ms user@1000.service
11ms systemd-remount-fs.service
10ms systemd-random-seed.service
10ms systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
8ms systemd-journal-flush.service
7ms kmod-static-nodes.service
6ms systemd-vconsole-setup.service
5ms systemd-rfkill@rfkill1.service
5ms systemd-rfkill@rfkill0.service
5ms systemd-user-sessions.service
5ms systemd-udevd.service
4ms systemd-sysctl.service
2ms proc-sys-fs-binfmt_misc.mount
1ms systemd-backlight@backlight:intel_backlight.service
1ms sys-kernel-config.mount

Edited by ichase
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securitybreach

Wow, 37 seconds on a normal drive? That is pretty high. Perhaps you have some things running you may may not need. I get around 10 seconds on my sata drives so your 3 seconds is amazing IMO. B)

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Yeah, I have less services running after I performed a fresh install. I guess over the course of time, I had some services running on the Sata I thought I might have needed, but DEFINITELY a HUGE difference between Sata and SSD in regards to the numbers. I did miss one thing in the Wiki that I fixed that made a much better difference. My boot time in between boot and grub menu does still seem slow but I don't reboot all that much so no big deal there. Transferring files, moving from app to app etc is SO MUCH faster. ;) Now that the SSD is set up, I now have a 500 GB Sata that can come to good use. ;) I'm a data storage junkie. I have more external and internal hard drives and flash drives then I know what to do with. Let it be on sale and Ian is snatching it up. ;) Like some woman when it comes to shoes :) No offense ladies, I know all woman are NOT like that. :) But you have to admit, many are. :hysterical:

Edited by ichase
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abarbarian

Later that same evening, removed lvm-related stuff -

systemctl mask lvm2-activation-early.service

systemctl mask lvm2-activation.service

Startup finished in 3.542s (kernel) + 3.724s (userspace) = 7.266s

Sunrat 03 02 2014

 

 

You left sunrat for dead and I thought he was unbeatable. :worthy: :worthy: :worthy: :worthy:

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You left sunrat for dead and I thought he was unbeatable. :worthy: :worthy: :worthy: :worthy:

No,not at all, just worked out that way and he probably just had more services running than I do. I did disable a couple of services I knew I did not need that were more than doubling that speed. :thumbsup:

Speaking of sunrat, where has he been hiding?

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amenditman

Speaking of sunrat, where has he been hiding?

Probably out soaking up some rays. No time for online when you can be out in the sunshine.
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Probably out soaking up some rays. No time for online when you can be out in the sunshine.

Nice rhyme ;)

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