Migrate Data Drive from Old Client to New Client

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The Basics

  • Nextcloud Server version (e.g., 29.x.x):
    • 30.0.15 (nextcloudpi)
  • Operating system and version (e.g., Ubuntu 24.04):
    • Ubuntu Studio 25.04
  • Web server and version (e.g, Apache 2.4.25):
    • `curl -head` only shows "Apache" not sure where else to find it.
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    • 8.3.17
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  • Installation method (e.g. AlO, NCP, Bare Metal/Archive, etc.)
    • NCP
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    • Cloudflare for DNS but not proxied.

Summary of the issue you are facing:

I am in the process of migrating my desktop from Windows 10 to Ubuntu Studio 25.04. I am about to set up the nextcloud client.

Is it supported to configure the nextcloud client to use the same hard drive that already has nextcloud data on it? (E.g. on Windows, it was called F:\Nextcloud-heavy. On linux it will be mounted to a /media/ subdirectory). Or will doing this cause some kind of data corruption / re-write / change all the dates / etc.,)

I know to be safe I could just wipe the hard disk, configure the Nextcloud Client to use it, and re-download all the data again, but this seems like a waste for about 0.5 TB of stuff.

Is migrating data from client to new client supported? If so, how do I do it, or how do I read how to do it? I searched the forum but didn’t find any posts.

Thanks!

–Trees

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Most likeky yes but in another way ypu most likely have in mind.

Your old Windows F:\ drive is most likely an NTFS file system. It is not recommended to permanently mount NTFS file systems into Linux file systems. Linux has its own file systems. Use these, such as ext4, jfs, or btrfs. If you plan to use Windows and Linux on the same hardware for a while, you should create a smaller partition using exFAT or FAT32 to exchange data between Windows and Linux.

Mounting NTFS in Linux will likely also cause problems with user permissions to files and directories. These differ significantly between Linux and Windows (NTFS).

So better you backup the Data and reformat the formerly F:-Drive with ext4. Then restore the files.

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Thank you for pointing that out!

My plan is to now reformat that F drive as btrfs for use in linux, and copy the data back onto it.

Do I have to do anything special when I am copying data over to the new partition to maintain the creation/modification timestamps? Or when I am setting up sync with the desktop client? Or just specify the correct folder, and it will intelligently tell that these are not new versions of the server files, and not overwrite them?

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Well usually, if you add a new Folder-Sync to you NC-Client, the Client shall download all existing files from NC-Server to the Client-Computer. So you don’t need to use the backup to restore the files from F:\ to the new btrfs-formated drive.

But the prior backup is nevertheless recommended, since some shit may happen and then you will be happy to have a good backup.

But to download the files via NC-Client from NC-Server ist preferable, since that way you will automatically get correct Linux-User-Rights for all Subfolders and Files.

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