16 GB SSD boot device requirement for CORE (13.0-U6.1) to SCALE (24.04) upgrade

Hello!
SCALE Hardware Guide specifies “16 GB SSD boot device” but so does CORE Hardware Guide yet I’ve been running with Boot Pool of 2x 8GB USB dongles for years.
I wish to upgrade to SCALE, but my Boot Pool of 2x 8GB USB dongles seems a showstopper. Is SCALE’s 16GB a strict requirement or more (best-practice) recommendation? Will upgrade or post-upgrade execution fail if I keep current Boot Pool?
Thanks, Fern.

I’m fairly sure it’s just best practice and as long as there is enough space it should upgrade fine. I’ve run SCALE in a VM with a lot less.

I have tried once to install core on bare metal, with a 8gb USB, but no way that GUI let me do It.
And for Scale USB boot Is discouraged, use at least a cheap small SATA SSD with an adapter

Thank you!

One more question:

“After booting and gaining access to the UI, go to System Settings > General and [upload the system config file].This migrates your CORE settings, imports your pools, shares, etc. into SCALE.”

Why do I need to do this’s manually - doesn’t “migration” perform this automatically?