1 [[!meta title="Manually copying your persistent data to a new device"]]
3 These instructions explain how to manually copy your persistent data to
4 a new device. Follow them if you have good reasons to think that your
5 persistence settings are corrupted or if you want to be extra careful.
10 1. Install the latest Tails onto a new device using the usual
11 [[installing instructions|installation]]. Do not use the Tails device
12 that might be corrupted in the process of installing the new one.
14 1. [[Create a persistent volume|configure]] on this new device. We
15 advise you to use a different passphrase to protect this new
18 1. Enable again on this new device the persistence features of your
21 1. Restart Tails, enable persistence, and [[set up an administration password|startup_options/administration_password]].
23 Rescue your files from the old Tails device
24 ===========================================
26 Mount the old persistent volume
27 -------------------------------
29 1. Plug in the old Tails device from which you want to rescue your data.
32 <span class="menuchoice">
33 <span class="guimenu">Applications</span> ▸
34 <span class="guisubmenu">Accessories</span> ▸
35 <span class="guimenuitem">Disk Utility</span>
37 to open the <span class="application">GNOME Disk Utility</span>.
39 1. In the left pane, click on the device corresponding to the old Tails
42 1. In the right pane, click on the partition labeled as
43 <span class="guilabel">Encrypted</span>. The
44 <span class="guilabel">Partition Label</span> must be
45 <span class="label">TailsData</span>.
47 1. Click on <span class="guilabel">Unlock Volume</span> to unlock the
48 old persistent volume. Enter the passphrase of the old persistent
49 volume and click <span class="guilabel">Unlock</span>.
51 1. Click on the <span class="guilabel">TailsData</span> partition that
52 appears below the <span class="guilabel">Encrypted Volume</span>
55 1. Click on <span class="guilabel">Mount Volume</span>. The old
56 persistent volume is now mounted as
57 <span class="filename">/media/TailsData</span>.
59 Copy your old files to the new persistent volume
60 ------------------------------------------------
63 <span class="menuchoice">
64 <span class="guimenu">Applications</span> ▸
65 <span class="guisubmenu">Accessories</span> ▸
66 <span class="guimenuitem">Root Terminal</span>
68 to open a terminal with administration rights.
70 1. Execute the <span class="code">nautilus</span> command to open the
71 file browser with administration rights.
73 1. In the file browser, navigate to
74 <span class="filename">/media/TailsData</span>
75 to open the old persistent volume.
78 <span class="menuchoice">
79 <span class="guimenu">File</span> ▸
80 <span class="guimenuitem">New Tab</span>
83 <span class="filename">/live/persistence/TailsData_unlocked</span> in
86 1. Click on the <span class="guilabel">TailsData</span> tab.
88 1. To copy a folder containing persistent data from the old persistent
89 volume to the new one, drag and drop that folder from the
90 <span class="guilabel">TailsData</span> onto the
91 <span class="guilabel">TailsData_unlocked</span> tab. When copying
92 a folder, choose to <span class="guilabel">Merge All</span> the
93 folder, and <span class="guilabel">Replace All</span> files. Do not
94 copy a folder if you do not know what it is used for.
96 - The <span class="filename">apt</span> folder corresponds to the
97 <span class="guilabel">[[APT Packages|configure#apt_packages]]</span>
98 and <span class="guilabel">[[APT Lists|configure#apt_lists]]</span>
99 persistence features. But it requires administration rights to be
100 imported and this goes beyond the scope of these instructions.
101 Note that this folder does not contain personal data.
102 - The <span class="filename">bookmarks</span> folder corresponds to the
103 <span class="guilabel">[[Browser bookmarks|configure#browser_bookmarks]]</span>
105 - The <span class="filename">claws-mail</span> folder corresponds to the
106 <span class="guilabel">[[Claws Mail|configure#claws_mail]]</span>
108 - The <span class="filename">cups-configuration</span> folder corresponds to the
109 <span class="guilabel">[[Printers|configure#printers]]</span>
111 - The <span class="filename">dotfiles</span> folder corresponds to the
112 <span class="guilabel">[[Dotfiles|configure#dotfiles]]</span>
114 - The <span class="filename">gnome-keyring</span> folder corresponds to the
115 <span class="guilabel">[[GNOME Keyring|configure#gnome_keyring]]</span>
117 - The <span class="filename">gnupg</span> folder corresponds to the
118 <span class="guilabel">[[GnuPG|configure#gnupg]]</span>
120 - The <span class="filename">nm-connections</span> folder corresponds to the
121 <span class="guilabel">[[Network Connections|configure#network_connections]]</span>
123 - The <span class="filename">openssh-client</span> folder corresponds to the
124 <span class="guilabel">[[SSH Client|configure#ssh_client]]</span>
126 - The <span class="filename">Persistent</span> folder corresponds to the
127 <span class="guilabel">[[Personal Data|configure#personal_data]]</span>
129 - The <span class="filename">pidgin</span> folder corresponds to the
130 <span class="guilabel">[[Pidgin|configure#pidgin]]</span>
133 1. After doing the copy, close the file browser and the terminal.
136 <span class="menuchoice">
137 <span class="guimenu">Applications</span> ▸
138 <span class="guisubmenu">Accessories</span> ▸
139 <span class="guimenuitem">Root Terminal</span>
141 to open a new terminal with administration rights. In the new terminal,
142 execute the following command to fix the ownership of your personal files:
145 pre { max-width: 100%; }
148 find /live/persistence/TailsData_unlocked/ -uid 1000 -exec chown -R 1000:1000 '{}' \;