Arch Linux

subatomic

Member

From: Berlin

Registered: 2005-06-26

Posts: 180

user home dir on a separate partition?

is it possible to add a user and create the directory on another partition?

I have

/disc0/part1 as boot
/disc0/part2 as swap
/disc0/part3 as / with system files

and I would like to use /disc0/part4 as my home directory

can I do this?

Dusty

Schwag Merchant

From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada

Registered: 2004-01-18

Posts: 5,986

Website

Re: user home dir on a separate partition?

Yep... you can mount /disc0/part4 to the /home folder if you want it to be the entire home partition, or /home/yourname if you mant it to be just one user's home directory. This is what I have in my fstab to mount my home directory on sda4:

/dev/sda4 /home reiserfs defaults 0 0

You might have to chaneg the filesystem from reiserfs, and cahnge the device.

Dusty

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FJ

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2005-03-17

Posts: 75

Website

Re: user home dir on a separate partition?

Not to hijack this thread, but what about migrating a user instead of simply creating another?  What if you have a user on one partition and you want to move that user (and all files and references) to the new partition?  My impression is that it would be sort of a nightmare finding all the different things that reference Home and to change them.  Is it doable?

Euphoric Nightmare

Member

From: Kentucky

Registered: 2005-05-02

Posts: 283

Re: user home dir on a separate partition?

I would say that it is definately doable.  I wouldn't think that it would be that much trouble.  I'm having problems imagining what could break (I'm sort of having an A.D.D. day)

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archdaemon

Member

Registered: 2005-01-27

Posts: 83

Re: user home dir on a separate partition?

I would say that it is definately doable.  I wouldn't think that it would be that much trouble.  I'm having problems imagining what could break (I'm sort of having an A.D.D. day)

Yep. If things reference $HOME, they reference /home/$USER, rather than /dev/hdXn. Changing the partition underneath requires only a move of the files and an edit to /etc/fstab. /home=/dev/hdX-this and /home=/dev/hdX-that are still the same $HOME. The device is 'underneath' the filesystem and variable references. I once moved an entire drive that was hda on one system to a different box where it was hdb and about all it took (aside from reconfiguring for hardware) was editing fstab.

Good luck.

FJ

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2005-03-17

Posts: 75

Website

Re: user home dir on a separate partition?

Thanks for the info.

I also found this impromptu guide.