[SOLVED] Reusing an "old" /home partition

Black Cat · 2011-03-11 20:29:40

Hi everyone

II want to install Arch in my laptop. I'm currently a Fedora user, but that's about to change

My doubt is: how can I install Arch, reusing an existing /home partition, without losing any data? I've went to "Manually Configure block devices, filesystems and mountpoints" and I've selected my /home partition, but it asks me what filesystem I want to use for it... Of course formatting it is the last thing I want to do, because I have all my files and personal stuff there.

I'm guessing I have to install Arch, without defining any /home partition and then defining it in /etc/fstab... Am I correct or is there any other way?

Thanks for your attention.

Last edited by Black Cat (2011-03-13 17:26:54)

ANOKNUSA · 2011-03-11 20:51:34

Simply choose not to recreate the filesystem, and select the filesystem the partition is formatted to. This info's used to create /etc/fstab after installation. Of course, it's always a good idea to make backups of sensitive data before making major changes.

oliver · 2011-03-11 21:05:42

ANOKNUSA is correct. When you tell the installer what f/s to use, that is what gets populated in /etc/fstab - it will only format it if you tell it to re-create the file-system.

I did the exact same thing recently... I followed these steps
1) booted off arch disk
2) mounted /home
3) renamed my home directory from oliver to oliver.OLD
4) umounted /home
5) when thru installer and once booted, created a new/empty 'oliver' user account
6) migrated the stuff I wanted from oliver.OLD to oliver

Black Cat · 2011-03-11 21:09:08

As simple as that? If I choose to not recreate the filesystem, I won't lose any information? The partition will not be formated? I just want to be sure about it, don't get me wrong

EDIT: I didn't saw oliver's post when I was writing this one, I'll install and I'll let you know how it went

Last edited by Black Cat (2011-03-11 21:14:22)

whatshisname · 2011-03-11 21:13:07

Like Anoknusa says, make a backup.

But since you're moving from Fedora to Arch, you may want to consider starting with a fresh, new home partition. I've had old config files from previous distros screw with my new install. It's easy enough to copy your documents over one folder at at a time to put your new stuff back in its proper place if you have a sane method for storing your docs.

If you use Firefox and Thunderbird, for ex., take a look at the name of the new profile directory after you install those 2 apps and copy your old profile into the new one. That gives you all your Firefox settings and bookmarks back as well as your local folders in Thunderbird.

Follow the same principle for your other apps. As you install them, and it's a program that you've done a lot of customization to, copy over the "config" files and replace them as you need them.

This will give you a lot "cleaner" system which is what you're trying to get with Arch anyway.

Black Cat · 2011-03-11 21:16:45

Yes, I do want a clean operating system!

And I guess I'll finally rearrange some files in my home, to make more organized

EDIT: It's installing, I did as you guys said and my data is perfectly safe in my home partition. Thanks for the help

Last edited by Black Cat (2011-03-11 21:39:14)

graysky · 2011-03-11 22:06:52

If you haven't already considered it or are doing it, backup your data so if you lose the entire disk, you can always restore them. Backintime is one of the best diff-backup utils I have ever used. It's also in the AUR.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-11 20:29:40

[SOLVED] Reusing an "old" /home partition

#2 2011-03-11 20:51:34

Re: [SOLVED] Reusing an "old" /home partition

#3 2011-03-11 21:05:42

Re: [SOLVED] Reusing an "old" /home partition

#4 2011-03-11 21:09:08

Re: [SOLVED] Reusing an "old" /home partition

#5 2011-03-11 21:13:07

Re: [SOLVED] Reusing an "old" /home partition

#6 2011-03-11 21:16:45

Re: [SOLVED] Reusing an "old" /home partition

#7 2011-03-11 22:06:52

Re: [SOLVED] Reusing an "old" /home partition

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