jam <[email protected]> writes:
> On Wednesday 28 October 2009 09:00:06 [email protected] wrote:
>
>> I am about to upgrade a HP notebook to a larger hard disk (replace the 90Gb
>> disk with 500Gb) and double the RAM (from 2Gb to 4Gb). In addition, to
>> complicate matters, I would like to LVM on the larger disk to manage the
>> linux partitions.
That seems reasonable.
[...]
>> 1. What do I need to do to get Ubuntu to use 4Gb RAM? My current Jaunty
>> installation only recognises around 3Gb. Is this just a kernel upgrade
>> or ....
It is possible that you will *never* see more than 3Gb on that hardware: some
motherboards can only address 4GB of RAM, and some part of that space is
needed to talk to the PCI bus, graphics card, and so forth.
You may find that running another 32-bit kernel, or a 64-bit kernel, improves
the situation, but you may not. That depends entirely on what your hardware
supports.
>> 2. How complicated is it to move my "linux setup" from a single partition
>> to the lvm partitions on the larger disk.
Using the same software? Reasonably easy. All you need to do is copy the
files from the old machine into the new machine, where the new filesystem is
inside an LVM container.
If you want to move from 32-bit to 64-bit, though, that is harder. In that
case, and perhaps generally, you are better off with a clean install on the
new machine, then coping /home/<myusername> over.
>> My latest thought is to:
>> a. update Ubuntu on the hard disk to match the current working environment
>> (fix apt-get config files and/or dpkg -l on both and diff them, and them
>> update)
*nod*
>> b. If I copy /usr and /var from the working environment to the new
>> environment will that cause problems? (it will save re-installing some
>> software that isn't managed by apt)
If you /just/ copy those it should go OK. A better bet is to copy the entire
system wholesale, though.
>> c. copy /home from working environment to new disk (recommended method?
>> rsync to new drive connected via USB?)
I tend to use rsync over a network connection, with a LiveCD on each machine,
but *anything* that copies the files while you are not logged on is fine.
>> d. use pgdump / pgrestore to move postgres databases across
If you shut down postgresql before the move, and copy /var, the database data
is already copied over.
>> e. Backup new disk
>> f. find out what doesn't work? What have I missed?
>
> Based on what you have said do yourself a favour and don't do LVM. LVM is a
> wonderful idea but it requires that you understand statistics related to
> disk failure and the consequences of that.
This comment makes no sense to me: in what way does LVM change the risks
associated with disk failure? I can't think of *anything* that is at all
different in that regard.
[...]
> Transfer the OS from 1 disk to another is easy unless you've never done it
> <smile> umm hint boot on a CD and transfer not-live file systems. Heck I'd
> tell *my mate* to re-install, not to try to fiddle kernels to use all ram
> and not to contemplate LVM.
Heh. Aside from the LVM bit, this is almost certainly the best advice the OP
has gotten. (Even LVM may be right; I just don't understand what James is
trying to say the problem is yet. ;)
FWIW, reinstalling a new 64-bit Ubuntu on the new machine, then copying your
home directory and using pg_dump / pg_restore would be the easiest path.
Daniel
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