[Solved]Format from Ext2 to Ext4? And change /home mount place?

Zivs · 2010-03-13 17:19:41

I have system on HDD, fstab configuration:

/dev/sda4 / ext4 defaults 0 1 #Arch instalation
/dev/sda5 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sda2 /mnt/windows ntfs-3g users,uid=1000,gid=100,fmask=0113,dmask=0002 0 0 # just remain of Vista
/dev/sda6 /mnt/linux ext2 defaults 0 1 #left from old PCLinuxOS instalation

So - I would like to convert /dev/sda6 Ext2 to Ext4, and mount it as /home

I started like that:
su
umount /dev/sda6
................... but so how to convert Ext2 to Ext4?

Last edited by Zivs (2010-03-14 09:39:35)

genisis300 · 2010-03-13 17:44:22

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda6

it will wipe the contents of that partition though so i'd backup first.

n0dix · 2010-03-13 17:52:14

You can backup all your files, then format ext2 to ext4. I don't think there is a direct way to do this.

.:B:. · 2010-03-13 18:09:33

You can mount it as an ext3 file system, then migrate it to ext4. In theory it can be done without data loss, but if you can spare the time I think it's best to back up and format, so you'll get the best performance.

tavianator · 2010-03-13 19:46:34

I think "tune2fs –O extents,dir_index,uninit_bg,has_journal /dev/<device>" followed by "fsck -fDC0 /dev/<device>" should do it in one step. B is right about initial performance, but eventually most files will be converted to extents and it'll be basically just like a fresh ext4 fs.

Also I doubt those commands are safe to run on a mounted filesystem, although "tune2fs -j /dev/<device>" will get you safely to ext3.

Zivs · 2010-03-13 21:13:36

Done, I just wiped off sda6 with mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda6, after backuping some importand files.
So last thing - how to mount sda6 as /home ? I alreadey have one /home on sda4 ?

And thanks that moved me to Nowbe corner

Last edited by Zivs (2010-03-13 21:33:20)

tomk · 2010-03-13 22:14:31

Boot with a live cd, mount your / and your new home partition, copy everything from the existing /home dir to the the new home partition.

cesura · 2010-03-14 04:25:21

And I'm guessing you already know this (I hope), but just for someone else reading this in the future, you need to change the ext2 to ext4 under /dev/sda6 in fstab

Zivs · 2010-03-14 07:35:34

I know. But I can not understand - what will happend with /dev/sda4 old /home? As I do not want risk - just ask you
-----------------------------------
Edit:

Ha, of couse there was a trick
So my way:
boot from live CD, rename /home to /home2 # just for backup
then boot in root, change fstab: mount /dev/sda6 to /home
umount and the again mount /dev/sda6 as /home

umount /dev/sda6
mount /dev/sda6

and copied user file form /home2 to /home , without changing permisions (!!!) (if you copy just with cp command, you can not access user directory, you can log in root only)

[# cp -ax * /home2/eriks /home

When everything after reboot - delete /home2

Last edited by Zivs (2010-03-14 09:51:51)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-03-13 17:19:41

[Solved]Format from Ext2 to Ext4? And change /home mount place?

#2 2010-03-13 17:44:22

Re: [Solved]Format from Ext2 to Ext4? And change /home mount place?

#3 2010-03-13 17:52:14

Re: [Solved]Format from Ext2 to Ext4? And change /home mount place?

#4 2010-03-13 18:09:33

Re: [Solved]Format from Ext2 to Ext4? And change /home mount place?

#5 2010-03-13 19:46:34

Re: [Solved]Format from Ext2 to Ext4? And change /home mount place?

#6 2010-03-13 21:13:36

Re: [Solved]Format from Ext2 to Ext4? And change /home mount place?

#7 2010-03-13 22:14:31

Re: [Solved]Format from Ext2 to Ext4? And change /home mount place?

#8 2010-03-14 04:25:21

Re: [Solved]Format from Ext2 to Ext4? And change /home mount place?

#9 2010-03-14 07:35:34

Re: [Solved]Format from Ext2 to Ext4? And change /home mount place?

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