Contents<= /p>

The purpose of this= how-to is to describe how to move your Ubuntu Linux partition to a differe= nt partition either in same hard-disk or different hard-disk.

Many other article of same subject in Internet s= eems to be outdated on following parts:

Grub2 (Ubuntu 9.10 and later)
UUID for partition identification= (Ubuntu 6.10 and later)

Hence,= the main purpose of this article to fill in the gap as well as one stop re= ference for the entire steps. =

Follo= wing are outlines of steps involved: =

Create new target partition
Clone current Linux partition to target partition=
Generate and update = UUID for target partition
Update grub and fstab
Update MBR to point the new grub.

Few assumptions I make are:

Your Ubuntu is 9.10 or later
Your Ubuntu is on ext4 partition= (gparted should be to copy/paste any other file-system as well, however th= ese steps were tested on ext4)
Your Ubuntu configuration is of standard (not too customized)
Grub2 is your boot loade= r
SystemRescueCd - I prefer this rescue CD as it comes with gpa= rted utility
You = are not changing swap partition

If any of above assumptions do not apply to your system, then you will n= eed to execute following step= s with cautions.

Step 1: Booting through Re= scue CD

A= copy of SystemRescueCd can be obtain from here.
Burn this to a CD
And reboot the machine to boot from the rescue CD
- You may need to change c= onfiguration in your bios to enable boot up from CD
Choose default booting option and = type "wizard" once it goes to prompt =
Now you should have X desktop loaded.

Step 2: Create new partition

Launch gparted from st= art menu
Using gparte= d create a new partition on your target hard-disk.
- Make sure the size new pa= rtition is same or bigger than your current Ubuntu partiti= on used space.
- Yo= u may also mount current Ubuntu partition to clean up unnecessary files in = the partition to reduce the size.

shell> mkdir ~/ubuntu
shell> mount /dev/sdZY ~/ubu=
ntu
or
shell> mount /dev/hdZY ~/ubu=
ntu
# where ZY is your ubuntu parti=
tion's block device name (you can find this from gparted window)
shell> cd ~/ubuntu

And once you are done, mak= e sure to unmount

shell> umount ~/ubuntu

Step 3: Clone= Ubuntu partition to new location

On gparted window, rig= ht-click on Ubuntu partition and select "Copy"
Then right-click on the new partition you have ju= st created and select "Paste" =
- gparted will start step-by-step copy process. This may take a while= .
- You may also opt to= use dd for the same purpose, but I prefer gparted because
  - It does calculate optimal way to copy = over the data (block size)
  - It able to verbose current progress status
  =

Step 4: Generate and update= UUID

Since step 3 copy and = paste produce the new partition with exact same UUID, this will conflict an= d grub not able to tell the partitions apart. Hence we need to update UUID = information on new partition. =
Following is to check current UUID (You should notice duplicate UU= ID)

=
shell> blkid

A= nd following is to generate and update UUID.

shell> tune2fs -U random /dev/sdZY
or
shell> tune2fs -U random /=
dev/hdZY
# where ZY is your new partit=
ion's block device name (you can obtain this from gparted window)

Verify UUID (All UUIDs sho= uld be unique now)

<= p class=3D"line867">

shell> blkid

<= /span>

Step 5: Update grub and fstab<= /h1>

Reboot your system fro= m Rescue system back to normal Ubuntu
Once you have booted to your original= Ubuntu, mount the partition via gnome -> Places option
Edit grub.cfg file from new parti= tion.

shell> gksu gedit /media/<new partition uuid>/boot/grub/grub.cfg=
 &

Note that you should edit grub.cfg from new partition = and not from "/boot/grub/grub.cfg"

Using gedit, find and replace every "(h= dX,Y)" appropriately
- X= and Y should be replaced based on your new partition's /dev/sdZY or /dev/h= dZY, if Z is 'a' then X should be '0', if Z is 'b' then X should be '1' and= so on.
Using gedit, find and replace every "--fs-uuid --set <= ;UUID>" based on new generated UUID.
Also still within the same file, find and replace e= very 'menuentry 'Ubuntu..." to "menuentry 'UBUNTU...". This is just to veri= fy which grub is used for main boot menu. This will be overwritten by grub-= update later.
Edit fs= tab file from new partition

<= span class=3D"anchor" id=3D"line-96">

shell> gksu gedit /media/<new partition uuid&=
gt;/etc/fstab &

Note that you should edit grub.cfg from new= partition and not from "/etc/fstab" =

Using ge= dit, find and replace root mount point's (line with "/") <UUID> based= on new generated UUID.

St= ep 6: Update MBR to point the new grub

By now, you have 2 pr= oper bootable Ubuntu in your system, and the idea now is to make the new Ub= untu partition self bootable without any dependencies to old Ubuntu partiti= on. And to get ride the old Ubuntu partition eventually.
Before updating MBR, backup current MB= R data
shell> sudo dd if=3D/dev/sdZ of= =3D~/sdZ.img bs=3D1 count=3D512 or shell> sudo dd if=3D/dev/h= dZ of=3D~/sdZ.img bs=3D1 count=3D512 # where Z is your old Ubuntu = partition's block device name # note that device name is wi= thout 'Y'; without partition id.
Mount the partition via gnome -> P= laces option (if is not mounted)
Run grub setup for new partition
shell> sudo grub-instal= l -d /media/<new partition uuid>/usr/lib/grub/[instance] /dev/sda
Where = [instance] is the version you want to make bootable
Update new ubuntu partition as bootable =
gnome> Run the "Disks" application
Find and select your old Ubuntu partition to highlig= ht the partition
Cli= ck the "Settings" gear button and select "Edit Mount Options"
Uncheck "Mount at Startup" and = click "OK"
Find and = select your new Ubuntu partition to highlight the partition
Click the "Settings" gear button an= d select "Edit Mount Options"
Set "Automatic Mount Options" to OFF
Check "Mount at startup"
"Show in user interface" and "Require addit= ional authorization to mount" should NOT be checked
Mount options should be "errors=3Dremount-r= o"
Mount point shoul= d be "/"
Click "OK" =
Reboot you = machine again
On boo= ting, make sure new partition's grub menu is displayed as.
1) UBUNTU...

<= ul>
Finally, once rebooted successfully on new Ubuntu partition.
Refresh the GRUB 2 menu

<= span class=3D"anchor" id=3D"line-139">

sud=
o update-grub

Ma= ke sure Ubuntu from new partition is perfectly fine before deleting the old= Ubuntu partition.
I= n case to revert back to old Ubuntu partition, all you need to do is restor= e the backed-up MBR image.
= <= /span>
shell> sud= o dd if=3D~/sdZ.img of=3D/dev/sdZ bs=3D1 count=3D512 or shell> sudo dd if=3D~/sdZ.= img of=3D/dev/hdZ bs=3D1 count=3D512 # where Z is your old Ubuntu = partition's block device name # note that device name is wi= thout 'Y'; without partition id.

See Also

= Information on Grub2
Information = on UUID
Moving partition via gparted

External Links

= Thanks to tact
How To Backup Operating Systems =

CategorySystem

Ubuntu Documentation

MovingLinuxPartition

Step 1: Booting through Re= scue CD

Step 3: Clone= Ubuntu partition to new location

Step 4: Generate and update= UUID

St= ep 6: Update MBR to point the new grub

See Also

External Links