Linux plug n play?

[Jetz7]

Hi everyone 

 

I am moving from a laptop to a desktop system, my second drive in my laptop is a Linux(Ubuntu 20.04) drive with some rather important data pertaining to my research. 

I wanted to ask if I can plug my Linux drive into the new PC (Ryzen-based) and will it work straight of the bat? or will it require tweaking?  Or a full backup and format and re-initialisation of the Linux drive?

 

I would like not to have to backup and reinstall applications obviously to save time, but will this have adverse effects on anything I do on my Linux system?

I will be using the Linux drive for CFD simulations and rendering in FreeCAD.

 

Thanks in advance

[Sauron]

There's no guarantee but it might work. If it boots you'll just need to install a bunch of new drivers. If it doesn't, well... unless you want to go insane trying to find the issue and fixing it with a chroot you'll have to install from scratch.

 

Regardless if you have any important data you should make a backup as soon as possible, not just for this but in general.

[igormp]

3 minutes ago, Jetz7 said:

I wanted to ask if I can plug my Linux drive into the new PC (Ryzen-based) and will it work straight of the bat?

Yes, I've moved an arch install between an old amd apu laptop, to a not-so-old i5 4210u laptop, to a fx6300 desktop and finally to my current ryzen 3700x desktop without problems. Just make sure that you haven't blacklisted anything that might be required in the new system.

[Drama Lama]

39 minutes ago, Jetz7 said:

Hi everyone 

 

I am moving from a laptop to a desktop system, my second drive in my laptop is a Linux(Ubuntu 20.04) drive with some rather important data pertaining to my research. 

I wanted to ask if I can plug my Linux drive into the new PC (Ryzen-based) and will it work straight of the bat? or will it require tweaking?  Or a full backup and format and re-initialisation of the Linux drive?

 

I would like not to have to backup and reinstall applications obviously to save time, but will this have adverse effects on anything I do on my Linux system?

I will be using the Linux drive for CFD simulations and rendering in FreeCAD.

 

Thanks in advance

It might work. But as others already wrote you're better off with a clean new install.

[igormp]

41 minutes ago, Sauron said:

If it boots you'll just need to install a bunch of new drivers

In most (if not all) cases the drivers should be already built into the kernel. Even nouveau should work out fine so you can later on install the proprietary drivers.

 

7 minutes ago, Drama Lama said:

It might work. But as others already wrote you're better off with a clean new install.

That might be the case with windows, but not with linux, unless your kernel is ancient (not the case with ubuntu 20.04)

[wasab]

It will be plug and play more often than not. All the drivers are in the kernel so you shouldnt need anything extra. None open source Nvidia drivers require a reinstall if the graphics card changes of course.

[el_murdoque]

Just apt update and apt upgrade the 20.04 install before taking it out of the old system, then pop it into the new one, select it as boot device and stare in awe and wonder at how it just boots and works. 

Some minor tweaking might be in order, depending on the hardware (if you used an AMD gpu in the old system and a Nvidia gpu in the new one), but more often than not, it'll just work - like magic. 

 

[Jetz7]

1 hour ago, el_murdoque said:

Just apt update and apt upgrade the 20.04 install before taking it out of the old system, then pop it into the new one, select it as boot device and stare in awe and wonder at how it just boots and works. 

Some minor tweaking might be in order, depending on the hardware (if you used an AMD gpu in the old system and a Nvidia gpu in the new one), but more often than not, it'll just work - like magic. 

 

Current laptop is an intel CPU with Nvidia GPU, the system I am going to is an AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G APU, I won't be having a GPU in the new build at least for a few months. 

So I guess I just need to apt update before removing it and should still work. 

[igormp]

49 minutes ago, Jetz7 said:

Current laptop is an intel CPU with Nvidia GPU, the system I am going to is an AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G APU, I won't be having a GPU in the new build at least for a few months. 

So I guess I just need to apt update before removing it and should still work. 

Yeah, AMDGPU is built into the kernel, so it'll probably work flawlessly without needing to mess with any drivers.

[Jetz7]

11 hours ago, anodos said:

For Ubuntu 20.04 you will likely need a newer kernel to support the 4750. 5.4 kernels will not work well and may not work at all; you'll need 5.8 or later, with later being preferred.

 

The output of `uname -r` will tell you what your current kernel version is. 

A apt update should solve this right?