I have a laptop with a broken screen that I've been using with an extra monitor, and everything is working fine. I'm currently running Linux Mint on it because it's clean and supports everything I need. I recently bought a new laptop and need to return the monitor to its owner. I'm trying to decide whether I should buy a cheap monitor, or if there's a way to run the Linux OS from my old laptop on my new one without losing any data. I'm not keen on opening my new laptop, so I'm considering options like connecting both laptops to the same network to access the old one, or using a LAN cable. Any recommendations or working solutions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone!
2 Answers
I suggest installing the new operating system on your new laptop normally. You can get a USB disk enclosure that fits your old laptop's system drive. Just remove the drive, put it in the enclosure, and you'll be able to copy any data when you have the time.
If you're comfortable with it, swapping the SSDs between the two laptops is the best route. I understand you want to be careful with your new laptop, but using a proper prying tool and a screwdriver makes it quite manageable. If you really want to avoid this, you could boot a live Linux USB, mount your old laptop's partitions, and copy them to an external drive, then transfer everything to the new laptop.
Could you provide steps on how to do that? I'm also considering making my old Linux OS run as a virtual setup on my new Windows laptop.