Arch Linux

whitetimer

Member

Registered: 2010-05-23

Posts: 207

Changing from Xubuntu to Arch Help

Hi All ...

Well for a while i have been considering changing from Xubuntu to Arch and finally decided to make the leap ... So how can i install Arch and be able to keep my home folder intact ?

I could copy my files etc to my windows dual boot partition and start from scratch if need be.

Any advice is greatly appreciated

Whitetimer

loci

Member

Registered: 2008-05-11

Posts: 4

Re: Changing from Xubuntu to Arch Help

I assume that your home folder lives on the same partition than your current Xubunu partition.  In that case the only way is to back it up, ideally onto a different drive, not onto a partition of the same drive (accidents happen.).  Take care to also get all the hidden files in your home folder.  After you have reinstalled copy back all your data files to your new  home dir and copy back the hidden settings files one by one as you need them or use them as reference to create new ones. 

I would advise that you create separate partitions for / and /home on your new installation.  This makes reinstalling later much easier as it de couples your installation and your personal stuff.  You probably need no more than 15 Gig in the / partition for an Arch Install.  I have all of Gnome most of KDE and virtually every window manager within the reach of the package manager installed in 10 Gigs.  All the rest of my drive barring the swap space is allocated to /home.

whitetimer

Member

Registered: 2010-05-23

Posts: 207

Re: Changing from Xubuntu to Arch Help

Hi Loci

Thanks for the reply ... I have my / /home directories on seperate partitions, always have from the start of me using linux/ubuntu ... I have tried installing arch in virtualbox so i get to see the process, but what i am uncertain about is installing with an already created /home directory ....

I think i may back up my /home ( will take a while, but probably worth the effort ) before i clean install arch ...

Many thanks

.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

Website

Re: Changing from Xubuntu to Arch Help

The installer will ask you at a certain point to specify mount points, and whether the related partition should be formatted or no. It's as easy as pointing /home to your existing partition, and telling the installer not to format it.

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ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,355

Re: Changing from Xubuntu to Arch Help

The installer will ask you at a certain point to specify mount points, and whether the related partition should be formatted or no. It's as easy as pointing /home to your existing partition, and telling the installer not to format it.

For emphasis. I've forgotten that before

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Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
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Mr.Elendig

#archlinux@freenode channel op

From: The intertubes

Registered: 2004-11-07

Posts: 4,092

Re: Changing from Xubuntu to Arch Help

If you are afraid of messing up, don't poke at the partion containing /home at all during the install, and simply add it to fstab yourself in the configure step (or after the install is done)

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Evil #archlinux@libera.chat channel op and general support dude.
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