[ale] dd vs clonezilla to replace hard drive

[DJPfulio at jdpfu.com]

On 12/31/22 03:54, Steve Litt via Ale wrote:
> This is what I do. I do so using the following command:
> 
> xbps-query -m > packages.sh

I suspect you've assumed a specific distro or flavor.

$ xbps-query
xbps-query: command not found


For Debian-based distros, I use the

   $ apt-mark showmanual > ~/apt-manual-list

to capture manually installed packages which can be fed into the new system after a based OS is installed. Note the target location ... which is included in backups.  I actually put system info like this in /root/backup/ along with lshw, storage information (parted -m), lists of cpanm packages, crontabs, etc. Sometimes having the exact partition layout is handy.

My restore process (or migration into a NEW OS) is 4 major steps:
1) Base install
2) Restore all HOME directories
3) Restore selected system settings and data (say nginx configs and DBMS data)
4) Feed the ~/apt-manual-list, into APT for installation.

All that takes about 45 minutes, at most. Settings, data, and programs are all back ... er ... except the deprecated programs.  In an OS upgrade 2 yrs apart, of 1000+ packages, perhaps 3 won't make the transition.