I would not recommend dd for this task. It will copy sector by sector, raw disk data; so it will work only if the partitions are exactly the same size and layout (leading to corruption otherwise). And then you have again another almost-full partion, that you have to extend... messy. And if the source filesystem is almost full, it's probably quite fragmented, and using dd will copy the fragmentation over.
rsync is a good option, but in this case, giving that you are copying locally to a blank, new disk, I think that the good old cp will do(1). Use it as(2)(3)
cd sourcedir; cp -av . /destdir
...and be patient. This will rewrite all files, and in the process, the fragmentation of the new filesystem will be better than the original one.
On the speed point of view, this should fill the I/O buffers and then the copy will proceed at the maximum data transfer that the disks (and the bus) allow. If the system is otherwise idle, I do not think that there will be huge difference in speed between any method.
Notes:
(1) caveat: if you have a LOT of small files, cp can be slow. There is an old tar trick for this case... but it's a bit dangerous, so ask if you need it.
(2) v here means verbose, it will print each file it's copying. It will slow down a bit (or a lot if you have a lot of small files) the copy. YMMV.
(3) if there are files of different users, you will need to say sudo cp... to maintain correct ownerships and modes.
Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu.
Main Desktop Environments:
- Ubuntu -> Unity
- Linux Mint -> Cinnamon
That means that some of your configuration files may not work correctly, and do not overwrite any system/user file that will affect how the system work. Unless you are sure its ok to modify.
The best thing you can do is to copy your files using this system:
- Open the file manager
- Browse to the
/home/user directory
- Copy (don't move!) all the files from Downloads to
/home/user2/Downloads
- Check you did a good job.
- Now delete
/home/user/Downloads
- Go back to step 3 and repeat for Documents, Videos, ...
And write somewhere a list with the programs that you have installed. And if you installed them manually take a note where you find it.
If you have modified any files, like .bashrc, then remember to copy the changes you made.
Linux Mint has already installed configuration files and it is not the same as Ubuntu's.
Best Answer
That's one of the biggest advantage of BackInTime! You can access the snapshots from everywhere. Even without BackInTime because they are just normal files which you can browse with every file browser.
But you can also install BackInTime on your new PC and just copy over the config file
~/.config/backintime/configor reconfigure everything in the same way like on your old machine.You will have to uncheck
Auto Host/User/ProfileIDinSettings > GeneralTab and changeHostand maybeUserto match the name and user of your old PC. After that is done all your snapshots should show up in BackInTime again.Disclaimer: I'm member of BIT-Dev Team