Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

Dr_hawes · 2024-02-01 18:02:02

So I want to reinstall Arch on my laptop and was wondering if there is a way to copy the home folder to put on an SD card or flash drive to save all the files. I don't think I am going to copy the home folder back on to the fresh install of Arch. Is it as simple as dragging and dropping the folder on to the drive or do I have to change some things first?

d.ALT · 2024-02-01 18:41:59

Dr_hawes wrote:

or do I have to change some things first?

Well... In this case I think just a $ cp -ar $HOME /MOUNTPOINT/TO/SD_CARD would suffice. I have a pretty simple-stupid $HOME layout so I've never encounter any sort of weird behaviors at all (be aware of some symlinks, maybe, eg.: Steam and wine's prefixes)

jonno2002 · 2024-02-01 18:47:54

why do you want to re-install ?

Dr_hawes · 2024-02-01 19:58:56

To clear up space because I'm to lazy to just do it manually. Plus installing Arch or any OS is fun. Might also try a different DE.

seth · 2024-02-01 20:58:25

If the SD card is FAT32 you're gonna trash your ownership and permissions.
If you don't have access to external storage w/ a usable FS, create a (compressed or not) tarball and copy that.

d.ALT · 2024-02-02 07:32:58

seth wrote:

If the SD card is FAT32 you're gonna trash your ownership and permissions.

Wouldn't a copy-back into the new $HOME take care of re-creating proper dmask= fmask= combo? O.o

seth · 2024-02-02 08:31:34

You're not gonna be able to restore whether a file was executable, read-only, foreign owned, … after you flattened that by copying it onto fat32 - the information is lost.
Another issue w/ fat32 can be the limited set of valid filename characters.

fat32 is no suitable backup FS (so I was poiting that out because for "SD card" it also a common choice/pre-formatted)

dogknowsnx · 2024-02-02 08:34:18

If you enjoy reinstalling so much, you may want to consider putting your /home on a separate partition...

d.ALT · 2024-02-02 09:41:31

seth wrote:

after you flattened that by copying it onto fat32 - the information is lost

Gotcha

d.ALT · 2024-02-02 09:44:00

dogknowsnx wrote:

/home on a separate partition...

Or a BTRFS subvolume per-se

ewaller · 2024-02-02 14:59:41

Or, good old-fashioned tar. It does not matter if the underlying file system is from the last millennium (even though tar is).

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Archiv … ompression

seth · 2024-02-02 15:06:29

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 0#p2148110
We're moving in circles

ewaller · 2024-02-02 15:51:22

seth wrote:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 0#p2148110
We're moving in circles

My bad, missed line two. More coffee for me.

Arch Linux

#1 2024-02-01 18:02:02

Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

#2 2024-02-01 18:41:59

Re: Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

#3 2024-02-01 18:47:54

Re: Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

#4 2024-02-01 19:58:56

Re: Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

#5 2024-02-01 20:58:25

Re: Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

#6 2024-02-02 07:32:58

Re: Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

#7 2024-02-02 08:31:34

Re: Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

#8 2024-02-02 08:34:18

Re: Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

#9 2024-02-02 09:41:31

Re: Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

#10 2024-02-02 09:44:00

Re: Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

#11 2024-02-02 14:59:41

Re: Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

#12 2024-02-02 15:06:29

Re: Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

#13 2024-02-02 15:51:22

Re: Copy home folder on to SD card/flash drive

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