Reinstall While Preserving /home

dr0p · 2009-04-07 05:13:14

Okay, I want to switch from x64 to i686 because there are some key packages that aren't supported for x64 that I just can't live without anymore. The problem is, I don't want to lose my /home. It's ~850gb and I don't want to lose any of my media, etc. that's on there, but I have no where to temporarily back it up to. So in the end, I was just wondering how I would go about reinstalling without loosing my partition in the process, and how to make the freshly reinstalled system/users have the appropriate permissions to my home folders. Thanks a lot.

SkonesMickLoud · 2009-04-07 05:19:48

If your home is on a seperate partition, you don't need to format it at all. If you choose to mount it during the install, make sure you select no when it asks you if you want to create a filesystem.

When you reinstall and run adduser or useradd (I forget which one is the "interactive one") it'll tell you that your username (as long as you use the same one) already has a /home and it'll ask you if you want to chown it. Say yes and it'll do it for you.

If your home is on the same partition as root, I'd suggest making it's own partition.

Last edited by SkonesMickLoud (2009-04-07 05:21:11)

h4mx0r · 2009-04-08 10:15:41

~850gb /home wow thats getting on the large side. Have you thought of using any compression methods on it? Perhaps some access time based methods of compressing unused files?

Based on what sort of files you have saved you mght consider using a different file system to save space and increase performance. What file system are you currently using?

I was thinking about using a separate file system partition for family photos or perhaps a raid setup for extra failsafe security. Seems everyone has a digital camera now a days and keep syncing photos with relatives and etc. F-spot does a nice job at organizing pictures but there are also some other apps that categorize videos by using their metadata.

Oh also if you tried sending some huge files over ntfs or samba might want to check that they were fully sent before you start changing up things, I'm not sure how though. Do you host an ftp server or something? I'd be interested in subscribing if you pm me.

bender02 · 2009-04-08 10:38:13

SkonesMickLoud wrote:

If your home is on the same partition as root, I'd suggest making it's own partition.

That's a good idea in the long run, but considering that OP says that s/he doesn't have a space now to back it up, it will be hard to achieve right now.

As for reinstalling - I think the following should work:
boot the install cd
mount the root partition
delete everything except home (on that partition)
unmount it
when the installer asks whether you want to format the root partition say NO (this is important, otherwise you'll lose the data!)
-> the installer should just install a fresh arch on that partition, and the stuff in home should be still there.

However I haven't tried the installer lately (I installed in november 2007 last), so you could try installing on another machine (or a virtual one in qemu or virtualbox) to see what does the installer do exactly. I'm pretty sure that the installer displays a big fat warning before formatting anything.

cb474 · 2009-04-10 00:45:15

I want to do the same thing, reinstall, while keeping my /home partition intact. Is there any reason to prefer bender02's method over SkonesMickLoud, or vice versa? Is there a reason why two different methods have been offered? SkonesMickLoud's method seems more straight forward to me, since it can all be performed from within the installer.

Last edited by cb474 (2009-04-10 00:46:08)

dswann · 2009-04-10 02:03:48

cb474 wrote:

I want to do the same thing, reinstall, while keeping my /home partition intact. Is there any reason to prefer bender02's method over SkonesMickLoud, or vice versa? Is there a reason why two different methods have been offered? SkonesMickLoud's method seems more straight forward to me, since it can all be performed from within the installer.

bender02's method was deaing with the fact that the /home folder was not on its own partition. SkonesMickLoud's was.

SkonesMickLoud · 2009-04-10 02:11:46

bender02 wrote:

SkonesMickLoud wrote:
If your home is on the same partition as root, I'd suggest making it's own partition.
That's a good idea in the long run, but considering that OP says that s/he doesn't have a space now to back it up, it will be hard to achieve right now.
As for reinstalling - I think the following should work:
boot the install cd
mount the root partition
delete everything except home (on that partition)
unmount it
when the installer asks whether you want to format the root partition say NO (this is important, otherwise you'll lose the data!)
-> the installer should just install a fresh arch on that partition, and the stuff in home should be still there.
However I haven't tried the installer lately (I installed in november 2007 last), so you could try installing on another machine (or a virtual one in qemu or virtualbox) to see what does the installer do exactly. I'm pretty sure that the installer displays a big fat warning before formatting anything.

Might as well delete all of / except for /home, then resize /home and make a / partition. Kill two birds with one stone. Of course, this is only possible with a filesystem that supports shrinking.

Last edited by SkonesMickLoud (2009-04-10 02:13:06)

cb474 · 2009-04-10 06:29:05

dswann wrote:

bender02's method was deaing with the fact that the /home folder was not on its own partition. SkonesMickLoud's was.

Ah, I see that now. Thanks.

dedanna1029 · 2012-11-27 22:46:12

SkonesMickLoud wrote:

If your home is on a seperate partition, you don't need to format it at all. If you choose to mount it during the install, make sure you select no when it asks you if you want to create a filesystem.

Where in the installer do we do this? I myself am finding nothing on just mounting a partition, and telling the installer not to format it.

I'm at a frustrated point. Need to do as the OP here.

Thanks.

Last edited by dedanna1029 (2012-11-27 22:47:22)

Trilby · 2012-11-27 22:55:28

dedanna, this post is two and a half years old. The installation process is entirely different and this information is irrelevant.

With the current install methods you control everything - so just don't format your home partition.

jasonwryan · 2012-11-27 22:56:28

This is why you shouldn't necrobump: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … Bumping.27

The Arch install process has changed significantly since this thread was active (3.5 years ago).

Closing

Arch Linux

#1 2009-04-07 05:13:14

Reinstall While Preserving /home

#2 2009-04-07 05:19:48

Re: Reinstall While Preserving /home

#3 2009-04-08 10:15:41

Re: Reinstall While Preserving /home

#4 2009-04-08 10:38:13

Re: Reinstall While Preserving /home

#5 2009-04-10 00:45:15

Re: Reinstall While Preserving /home

#6 2009-04-10 02:03:48

Re: Reinstall While Preserving /home

#7 2009-04-10 02:11:46

Re: Reinstall While Preserving /home

#8 2009-04-10 06:29:05

Re: Reinstall While Preserving /home

#9 2012-11-27 22:46:12

Re: Reinstall While Preserving /home

#10 2012-11-27 22:55:28

Re: Reinstall While Preserving /home

#11 2012-11-27 22:56:28

Re: Reinstall While Preserving /home

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