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Jaka Belec
Asked: 2020-06-18 23:48:32 +0800 CST

Replace disk with a smaller one without reinstalling Ubuntu?

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I have 1TB disk with Ubuntu and I want to replace it with 500GB without uninstalling the system. Is this possible?

partitioning clone dd cloning

1 Answers

  1. Yes, it should be possible.

    First, plug in your new hard drive e. g. using a hard drive enclosure and boot from a live CD. Shrink root partition so it fits the new hard drive. Then, create images of boot and root partition. If you're on UEFI, backup the EFI partition too. You can create images either using GNOME Disks or the dd command.

    I recommend creating partitions of the same sizes as on old hard drive first. You can then just copy one partition and flash it to another using dd.

    Power off your computer, if you're on a laptop, remove the battery or put it in battery safe mode.

    Replace your hard drive with the new one and power on your computer.

    NOTE: If you're using legacy boot, there's one more step. Your computer will probably fail to boot because you haven't copied the MBR too. You can fix this by using boot-repair in the live CD.

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