Clone ubuntu installation from one drive to another on the same machine that has dual with windows? will grub still work?

Solution 1:

Clone Ubuntu installation on the same machine that has dual with Windows

Assuming GRUB is installed on the Windows SSD

You should be using a Live USB to clone Ubuntu from the HDD to the SSD. You do not want to run dd from the disk you are cloning.

The Windows SSD can then be removed during cloning without a need for it's bootloader.

The cloned SSD will use the same UUID's as the old HDD, so there should be no problem booting the new SSD once the Windows disk is plugged back in.

It is best not to plug two drives with the same UUID's into the running computer at once.

Solution 2:

balenaEtcher Clone Drive

The latest version of Etcher now has a Clone Drive option. This should add a layer of safety to just using dd.

This works with both Internal and External drives. (Select show hidden when selecting system drives for Source or Target, I have not tried flashing with a running drive). Etcher will flash to multiple drives at a time.

With this method you should not need to unplug Windows drive.