[malborodog]

So should I just use dd or something? Or can I actually just rsync from one root to another and that will capture all of the dependencies, nginx config, literally everything? GPT-4 tells me I can just shut off everything that might change the file system in source (nginx sshd etc.) then literally rsync from root to root with

sudo rsync -aAXv --exclude-from=exclude-list.txt --delete --numeric-ids --rsync-path="sudo rsync" / user

(the exclude list is just /dev /proc /sys /tmp /run /mnt /media /lost+found).

At a certain point you start to wonder if saving the 50 bucks a month is even worth it....

[ratorx]

Yes just rsync should work if you are stopping everything on the first system. The second system should be completely switched off. If you can just mount the drive, that’s the way to go.

[malborodog]

No, don't think so -- I would be going from one digital ocean VM to another. So the target machine will be in operation. I honestly might just leave it and think of some other use for the server to justify keeping it running in current state.

Thanks for explaining this though - really appreciate it.