I am wanting to move a complete RedHat 8 install from one box to another. Current box is a IBM server (SCSI drives etc etc). Not sure of the new box spec yet (it may only be temporary) so may have normal IDE drives (though i'd guess having SCSI also would be much easier)

While yes i could load up a fresh install and bring everything over, i am no exactly Linuxperienced a great deal and the box has some prorietary software (locally produced and rare) that i KNOW i could never get up and running again (the customer wants to avoid the software house as they are moving away etc).

Any suggestions would be great. Ive though maybe load up a fresh RH 8 install (have to find such an old distro first) and copy over folders of relevance (though im not to certain here what i should pull over). Another is perhaps a ghost of the existing system, but i guess it would be unlikely this would boot on a new/different setup?

Thanks

andrescasta

Moving installed Linux system from one box to another is not really the best option and perhaps not even possible without causing headaches since the hardware may vary a lot and you could experience lots of problems.

The only thing I can think of right now is to make new installation on your new box and move software there, because it's not possible to move the whole Linux system and expect it to work..This is how I would do it.

First thing you should do is make backup of your system.Make backup copies of all software you installed and plan to use on your other computer.
Backup configuration files, which are mostly in /etc folder or in your home directory and don't forget symbolic links some programs create, mostly under /usr.
Now move the files to your new box and restore them exactly as they were on your first box.

That would be it.Easier said then easy done but I don't see any other way of doing it.

I seriously advise you not to move your installation from one box to another.Try with new installation of the system and its software and consider this option as the last possible.I've never done such thing so I can't be 100% sure it works but looks like you have to try and I hope I gave some useful pointers.