Backing up using partitions

[Crawdad]

Hi all,

As I posted here: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showpo...postcount=2299
I'm having a bit of a problem with backing up my ~/ on my Ubuntu. Because of this problem I couldn't go on and install Fedora on my netbook.

Now I'm thinking of doing it this way, please let me know if this will work or if there are other potential problems I need to be aware of: I plan to create a new partition where I can transfer my ~/, or at least just my files in my ~/ so when I install Fedora I can just leave that new partition as it is and NOT format it to keep my files.

Will this work? Am I correct in planning it this way?

Thanks in advance.

[ElderSnake]

I'm pretty sure it would work, but you would have to be very careful during the installer to make sure you definitely do not accidently format the /home partition.

You would have to avoid Fedora's automatic partition setup and explicitly define your partitions manually. This is assuming you're still going to separate partitions. If you're planning on doing it the "Ubuntu" way of putting everything on one (/) partition I'm not entirely sure. Someone else will have to chime in there.

Personally I'd just section off part of the hard drive as a "backup" partition and transfer the files back over later. But it all depends how much you have and want to sacrifice.

[paulr]

My first post on Fedora forums. Oh well, I have to start somewhere.

ElderSnake sounds about right. To add to that, as long as you have enough space on the disk to create a single root partition for Fedora you can do it. A separate partition for swap space is also recommended, although OSes can share a single swap partition. The other consideration is an extended partition. You can only have 4 Primary partitions then you can't create any more even if you have disk space remaining. Create the fourth partition as an extended, and you can create quite few more from there.

[Crawdad]

Thanks ElderSnake and paulr (and thanks for giving me the honor to force you to make your first post, lol!).

Will try it out soon when I'm not too busy and could afford a bit of down time.

[ElderSnake]

Oh yes, and welcome to the forums, both of you

[Crawdad]

Thanks for the welcome, ElderSnake

[sea]

AFAIK: Anaconda (the Fedora GUI Installer) handles a 4th partition automaticly as extended and adds the 5th with your settings.

As an additional note;
On the laptop i have a shared /home of about 150gb, as Windoz eats up the first 100gb, so another 120gb which are spared into 3 diffrent linux atm
On the netbook i have no windows, thus 200gb for the shared /home dir for 2 diffrent linux, plus 1 spare for rawhide (18).
The root partion usualy suffices to have like 16gb, if you think thats too few, 25gb is usualy over the top, as you have your storage (/home/$USER) on another partition.

[Crawdad]

Hi Sea,

Just a clarification: when you say "shared /home" it means you only use 1 /home for the different Linux distros you have installed? Did I understand that correctly?

[flyingfsck]

Howdy,

I'd suggest that you be VERY careful and make a backup to a stack of CD/DVD discs. The first time one does a Linux install, it is very easy to make a mistake.

There are only two kinds of computer users:
Those that have lost data and those who will.

[Crawdad]

Originally Posted by flyingfsck

There are only two kinds of computer users:
Those that have lost data and those who will.

This is SO true! Thanks for the warning, FlyingFsck

Anyway, while I still couldn't really prepare my netbook/files for the install I decided to do a but more researching on the problem I'm having with Samba and I read somewhere to try opening the shared directory via command line:

nautilus smb://<IP address>

and it worked. Will try to backup via that way then put my /home in its own partition during the Fedora install.

[Crawdad]

Originally Posted by Crawdad

Will try to backup via that way then put my /home in its own partition during the Fedora install.

I hope the Ubuntu logo on my posts will be gone starting now and be replaced with the pretty logo of Fedora! I was quite surprised to see how fast the install was. What took so long was the updating after installation, but that's to be expected.

So now I'm working on getting my wireless to work then looking for the proper graphics driver then installing of all other apps I need.

Thanks for all the help guys. I'll see you around the forums.

How can I mark this thread as Solved?

EDIT: Hmm, it's showing Tux and not the Fedora logo... oh well.

[ElderSnake]

Yeah unfortunately for whatever reason the modern Fedora's dont show up as Fedora in the forum posts Kinda ironic. Still, you're rid of Ubuntu

[Crawdad]

Originally Posted by ElderSnake

Kinda ironic. Still, you're rid of Ubuntu

VERY ironic! Ubuntu has more support? LOL!

(Just got my wireless working, woohoo!)

[sea]

Originally Posted by Crawdad

Hi Sea,

Just a clarification: when you say "shared /home" it means you only use 1 /home for the different Linux distros you have installed? Did I understand that correctly?

Yes, thats what i wanted to say

[Crawdad]

Originally Posted by sea

Yes, thats what i wanted to say

Thanks again, Sea! I've already set-up my /home to be in its own partition so if I want more headaches again in the future and try a different distro I know my /home is safe