Arch Linux

anti-destin

Member

Registered: 2009-02-14

Posts: 234

migrating to arch and keeping /home [solved]

really simple question, but i just want to be sure.

i'm running ubuntu right now, but i'm thinking of installing arch on this computer. i have /home with all my data on a separate partition (ext4). could i simply wipe the root partition and put arch on it and use my existing /home partition? i don't see why not, but i thought i should ask before i try.

thanks.

Last edited by anti-destin (2010-01-09 09:20:24)

liquibyte

Member

Registered: 2007-11-11

Posts: 91

Website

Re: migrating to arch and keeping /home [solved]

Yep, and it works just fine for the most part.  One of the things you may have to watch out for is your configuration files being a tad bit different from one distro to another, that and the locations that they are put in.

JuseBox

Member

Registered: 2009-11-27

Posts: 260

Re: migrating to arch and keeping /home [solved]

Yep, and it works just fine for the most part.  One of the things you may have to watch out for is your configuration files being a tad bit different from one distro to another, that and the locations that they are put in.

I had issues with quite a few files when I did that. Not that its a bad idea.  I just stored everything on an external HDD and copied it over after a fresh install.

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Raffles10

Member

From: London, UK

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 115

Re: migrating to arch and keeping /home [solved]

No need to wipe your root, you can just format it when you install Arch. I have seperate / & /home it makes life a lot easier, especially for a distro-hopper. You might want to clear out your config' files to give yourself a clean slate, unless you're going to install Gnome on Arch.

Vamp898

Member

From: 東京

Registered: 2009-01-03

Posts: 907

Website

Re: migrating to arch and keeping /home [solved]

i have only one partition and when im installing an other OS i just mount the partition to /mnt for example and do

cd /mnt
for i in $( ls | grep -v home ); do rm -rf $i; done
mv home home.old

Install Arch/Gentoo/Ubuntu/whatever _without_ formating the partition (Arch asks you for formating it, you can just say no)

after install just

mv home.old home

and thats all

but when you have /home on a extra partition you can just say that he should use but not re-format /home and thats all

anti-destin

Member

Registered: 2009-02-14

Posts: 234

Re: migrating to arch and keeping /home [solved]

when i said 'wipe', i meant format. actually, i ended up just redoing the whole drive, as i had to play around with the partitions.

but thanks for all the information.