(SOLVED) PC=>PC transfer; An obstruction in going win=>Lin !

The biggest obstruction: Disk Imaging.

Less important, but still very needed: Virtualization.

Short summation=>
Remastersys is sadly lacking in the configuration dept. and as a result I need a disk or OS imaging application which has preferences for WHAT, WHERE & HOW to backup & transfer my chosen OS.

The longer version:
I needed to see & use ZorinOS so I could know it is what I really want; also it needed to update which clearly made it bigger, and I needed to make some changes for myself like getting rid of some stuff like Evolution, that (awful) Chrome; and then getting Firefox/Thunderbird=> so having it on a smaller PC first made sense to me.

Put ZorinOS on my (older) netbook and was very happy with it - until it's HDD failed.
So I made space on the HDD of my notebook instead and installed it very nicely there.
Update manager came around to tell me it had work to do - so I let it work.
I got rid of some apps I know I'll never, ever use and added a few small things.
Very good so far.

Mostly got ZorinOS the way I want it for my desktop - but also want to use XP-sp3 for a handful of apps that I still need and seeing ZorinOS has VirtualBox I made a VM of XP (rather than dual-booting).

Now the troubles start...the 2 files were made without any errors, but when I follow the instructions to open the VM in ZorinOS it throws an error - which, it turns out - is a known and UNFIXED bug in VB (Not ZorinOS).
Looked all around - posted a couple of places about this error - blah - nothing doing. Gave it up.

Still I decided it was time to switch my desktop PC completely to ZorinOS 5.2.

So then it was time to get the ZorinOS which is in a good shape over to my desktop, and seeing all the nice things about Remastersys I fired that right up.

Let it run a while and it tells me the system is too big to fit on a CD=> WHAT !? CD !?
Does it not speak of DVD media at all ?

Looked around for help and found talk of junk files, extra mount points, VM files and so forth.
Unmounted XP, got rid of anything extra (trash, VM files...) and tried again.
STILL TOO DAMNED BIG. Woof.

Next I'll try making the Clonezilla disc and see if that works well - but here's my point by all the above:

I don't want to waste time & life doing all that stuff over again on another PC; nor do I wish to get a college education all over again just to move into a better OS - and THIS is why I went with ZorinOS specifically !!!!

OK, so now I'm as ready as ever to transfer it - but the app which claims to do this work WILL NOT WORK.

Is there a configurable way to get a transferable image of ZorinOS ?
Please, will someone tell me ?!?!

If I'm to be forced into repeating ALL that I have already done OR staying stuck in XP for a while I may just give up on this idea altogether as XP does what I need a PC for even though it is old & tired.
Linux IS the future for sure; newer versions of win-doze are OUT IMO, but I need for things to work more smoothly NOW if I'm to become a full-time ZorinOS user.

For now, ZorinOS is a dual-boot option on my notebook which means that for me to use some important non-Linux apps I need to reboot TWICE which is a time-consuming nuisance.
I suppose I shall find a workable way to get an XP session into ZorinOS, but with VB refusing to accept it's own VM that will take time & work to figure out.

Thanks for any useful help.

Hi,

have you tried dual booting yet, I would stick with that for the time being and then you can still boot into windows when needed!!. I don't use VM so I cannot help you there!!.

All I can say is that you should dual boot and make sure it really is what you want before you dump Windows!!.

I have W7 and W8 (Preview) on 2 boxes but only use them for games really!!, they take up space but there really is very little that I need them for!!.

Regards Wolfman

Hello Wolfman and thanks for replying.
I have edited my OP to better explain the situation.
When that was posted I was tired & cranky after wasting an afternoon & evening at a useless effort to get ZorinOS into a transferable usable image.
Today I am freshly rested & ready to resume this effort...

Dual-booting is neither the main problem nor the solution to my needs.
I am already quite certain of changing to Linux and dumping the M$ stuff as my daily-use OS.
The BIG problem is getting my ZorinOS (as configured by me) over to this PC that I am using right now which has ONLY XP in it.
Unless there is a better disk imaging option - perhaps one that can handle Linux AND with the ability to span DVDs, all hope is lost.

Thanks and Best Wishes.

Hi 2moldy4me
Have a look here http://redobackup.org/ I use it for backups Vista & Zorin it's been good so far and has very good compression you might be able to get your Zorin on a DVD I can get mine on a 16G USB stick.

Cheers Auldyin

Thank You Very Much Auldyin !!!!
Downloading Redo presently.

Before your reply arrived I was running Clonezilla with the destination of a 16GB USB stick - and it failed to save - got to 4GB and that was it.
I then searched for alternatives and found Parted Magic, R-Linux, and all sorts of others which though good-looking, most do not support the ext4 FS.
Another possibility may be Total Recovery Express, but it is vague about Linux support so I'll likely skip trying it unless ALL else fails...(which would also force me to pay it's 37.77 price).

Links:
http://partedmagic.com/doku.php?id=downloads
http://www.r-tt.com/free_linux_recovery/Download.shtml

Thanks Again !!!

There are no VM images stored because I found the one I had and removed it.
Yes, this notebook has a DVD RW drive.

Hi,

lets look at this from another angle, what exactly do you want to save, if it just files and pics, a simple copy and paste might be the answer, or are you looking to do something far more complicated??.

Regards Wolfman

Looks like I've confused you a bit Wolfman.
I've got ZorinOS on my notebook.
I made some changes to suit myself, allowed it to fully update via update manager's suggestions, and it is pretty much as I wish for it to be.
This took days of learning and trying things after messing it up and re-installing it once.

I want to transfer this entire installation AS-IS to my desktop PC now.

Following Auldyin's advice I got the ISO of Redo Backup and have used it already to make an image on my 16GB USB stick in under 20 minutes including /, /Home, and swap.
I shall not try to get this onto my desktop PC.

I did not as yet have any personal documents or photos or the like saved into ZorinOS as it had not yet become my full-time, daily-use OS; but hopefully that is happening soon.

Transferring files is not any problem for me, thanks.
Getting a ready-to-use OS transferred is another matter however.

Hi again

Glad Redo was useful.

When you are installing on your desktop I think I would first do a fresh install of Zorin then, if it is booting and running OK, would overwrite the Home partition with the saved Home image. If this works it would prevent boot-loading problems when copying to a different computer.

Cheers Auldyin

Hello Again Auldyin and Thanks !

Redo wasn't merely useful - it was Wonderful !!!
I very highly recommend it (and haven't a clue why the ZorinOS folks even include that Remastersys as it is soooo primitive by comparison...).

As silly as it may seem:

When you are installing on your desktop I think I would first do a fresh install of Zorin then, if it is booting and running OK, would overwrite the Home partition with the saved Home image. If this works it would prevent boot-loading problems when copying to a different computer.

I didn't see your helpful and very intelligently thought-out reply until after I'd moved ahead.
But it has come out very well all the same.

Redo very handsomely restored /, /home & swap to my desktop HDD in under 15 minutes.
(It had compressed everything down to 5.35GB very neatly in one folder of my 16GB USB stick.)

Worthy of note is that it restores EVERYTHING from a backup and insists that it must wipe out any existing data, so if there's any existing partition with needed data on it - best save it outside the drive being restored to.
Also worthy of note is that Redo boots very nicely from a CD (and is small enough for a 1GB stick if that's desired.).
It recognizes the stored backup and is all ready to use it without delay.
It has some very useful tools included with it - even includes boot-repair.

Auldyin was right, of course, and when finished restoring it would not boot the 1st time=> but no worries there as I had the 'Super Grub' CD right at hand to fix that and I just kept moving forward.

I then installed and used 'boot-repair' with suggested settings which completely restored Grub2.

After testing that I went ahead and installed BURG in it's place as I truly prefer it over Grub; which I don't care for in any form that I know of.

And finally - now it boots right up, looks good and all works; very cool and VERY MUCH appreciate the help in getting past this major hurdle !!!

Now it's time to try getting the P2V hurdles solved and it'll all be in the bag...

Hi,

glad to hear that Auldyin could help you out

As a rule in the future, keep your post shorter and precise, if you put too much info in a post, somethings will get overlooked which is what I did!!. (sorry for that).

I will mark this as solved unless you have something else to add!!.

Regards Wolfman

YIPEEEeee
Where's my Blue Jewels




Smart a*** Auldyin