SKYHOUSE.dev Journal

Why: The ~2011 Corsair Force GT boot SSD is being replaced with a 1 TB SSD (arriving ~2026-06-03). This entry captures the prep done in advance and the step-by-step clone procedure to follow on swap day, so the actual swap is mechanical and reversible.

This is the migration anticipated in the 2026-05-31 prep entry: a single larger SSD, whole-disk clone (not a reinstall), since all Docker configs + DBs live on root and only bulk media is on the media drives.

0. Current boot disk layout (reference)

Captured to /home/plex/docs/bootdisk-pre-swap-snapshot.txt. /dev/sda is GPT/UEFI:

• sda1 — 1 MB BIOS-boot partition (GPT+GRUB)
• sda2 — 513 MB EFI System Partition (vfat), UUID 5941-6062, mounted /boot/efi
• sda3 — ext4 root, ~111 GB, UUID 879bcc42-…, ~78% full (81 G used)

UEFI boots Boot0000 Ubuntu → \EFI\UBUNTU\SHIMX64.EFI (shim+GRUB, references the ESP by PARTUUID).

1. Prep done in advance (✓ before swap day)

• Config/DB safety backup — /home/plex/bin/pre-swap-config-backup.sh dumps the live DBs (immich Postgres, NPM MariaDB, vaultwarden SQLite) and rsyncs all app configs, NPM certs, compose stacks, /etc, and crontabs to /media/plex3/pre-swap-backup-<date>/. This is the restore path if the clone is bad; bulk media is already mirrored by the nightly jobs.
• Disk-layout snapshot — partition table, UUIDs, EFI entries, root usage (the file above).
• Live USB — build a SystemRescue or Ubuntu live USB before swap day. A boot disk must be cloned offline (unmounted) for a consistent filesystem, and the live USB doubles as the boot-repair tool.

2. Enclosure & USB port (read before cloning)

• CORRECTION (2026-06-03): the spare 128 GB drive was physically confirmed a 2.5" SATA SSD (Kingston SSDNow V+ 325), not NVMe — the earlier "JMicron JMS583 / USB NVMe" reading was the USB bridge mislabeling the drive. So the new 1 TB SATA SSD would fit that enclosure — but its bridge still hangs on SMART pass-through, so don't rely on it for monitoring.
• Best path — skip USB, clone internal-to-internal. The hardware inventory found 6 SATA ports with ~3 free, so connect the new SATA SSD to a free internal SATA port (no need to unplug anything), clone offline from the live USB, then remove the old Corsair and make the new drive boot. Most reliable — no flaky USB bridge in the clone path. (If you must use USB, use a rear port and a non-JMicron SATA enclosure.)
• Front vs rear port: yes — move it to a rear (motherboard I/O) USB3 port. Front-panel ports run through an internal header cable (longer, noisier, sometimes USB2 or a shared hub); rear ports wire straight to the chipset with better signal integrity and power. It won't cure the JMS583's SMART quirk, but for a bulk clone it meaningfully improves stability and speed.
• Best option if available: skip USB entirely — if a SATA data+power lead can be freed (temporarily unplug one HDD), clone disk-to-disk internally. Most reliable.

3. The clone (offline, from the live USB) — recommended

1. Connect the new SSD (rear USB3 port, or internal SATA). Power on, boot the live USB (firmware boot menu).
2. Identify both disks by serial — do NOT trust /dev/sd* letters: lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,MODEL,SERIAL,TRAN. Source = Corsair Force GT (~120 G). Target = the new 1 TB. Call them /dev/SRC and /dev/DST below.
3. Whole-disk clone (carries GPT, BIOS-boot, ESP, root, swapfile — bootable as-is; ddrescue rides over any weak sectors on the aging Corsair):
   ddrescue -f /dev/SRC /dev/DST /root/clone.mapfile
4. Fix the GPT for the larger disk (moves the backup GPT header to the end of the 1 TB; clearing the "backup table not at end" warning):
   sgdisk -e /dev/DST
5. Grow root into the new space (~900 GB unallocated otherwise):
   growpart /dev/DST 3
e2fsck -f /dev/DST3  then  resize2fs /dev/DST3

4. Physical swap — mind the duplicate UUIDs ⚠️

A whole-disk clone gives the new disk identical filesystem UUIDs and PARTUUIDs (that's why /etc/fstab needs no edits). The hazard: with both drives attached at boot, GRUB/systemd resolve root by UUID and may pick the wrong one. So:

1. Power off.
2. Physically remove the old Corsair before booting the clone.
3. Install the new SSD internally (same SATA port the Corsair used is cleanest for the EFI entry).
4. Boot. The cloned ESP + the PARTUUID-based Boot0000 entry should boot straight to Ubuntu. If not: firmware boot menu → the new disk; or boot the live USB and re-point with efibootmgr / re-run grub-install --efi-directory=/boot/efi from a chroot.

5. Post-swap verification

• Run the cheat-sheet verification checklist (services, mounts, containers, external reachability).
• df -h / should now show ~900 GB+ free (confirms the resize took).
• free -h / swapon --show — swap on the cloned /swapfile is active.
• All containers up; NPM serving the site; Plex, immich, vaultwarden reachable.
• Keep the old Corsair untouched for ~1 week as a fallback before wiping/repurposing.

Note: this swap is independent of the dying sdb/plex2_backup replacement — do that separately, and when you do, follow the drive-swap steps (smartd by-id line + fstab UUID + re-check netdata's device_selector).