Q: Add /home partition

[aero-z]

I added a picture of my current partitions. From there, I would like to make /home partition from the free space. What filesystem should I use- ext2 or ext3? How do I have to do this? In windows I have Partition Magic 8 and in Linux QTParted.
OR IS IT POSSIBLE AFTER ALL???

[Firewing1]

Hey, y is the Win 50 GB? Win sux...
It depends on wt you want to do, fresh install or simply add
I'll assume add - If not, just say so... It'll be easier to re-install... But, if you'd like to keep your exsisting files, then do this:
use partition magic to make a new ext3 partition. (rightclick on free space > new > use all 15 GB free.
then, if it worked OK, type this in a terminal (I've notices sometimes there's an error making ext3. If there is, just delete the errored 15 GB partition, click apply, then after deletion re-create it):
su -
enter password
mkdir /mnt/tempstorage
mount -t ext3 /dev/hda# /mnt/tempstorage
/dev/hda# is the drive number assigned to the new 15 GB /home partition.
cp -r /home/* /mnt/tempstorage
umount /mnt/tempstorage
mv /home /home2
mkdir /home
gedit /etc/fstab
Now, you have just temporairily mounted your to be /home parition, copied the real /home to it moved the real /home to /home2, and unmounted it. The next thing to do is to add this line to /etc/fstab:
LABEL=/home /home ext3 defaults 1 1
once again, # is the drive number assigned to the /home partition.
then, in a terminal, type
e2label /dev/hda# /home
umount -a
mount -a
ls /home
If files are listed, then it worked. Log out and log back in. If it all works and your docs are there, then run this in a terminal:
su -
rm -drf /home2
rmdir /home2
You're done! Now, if you wanna fresh install FC5 when it comes out, all you have to do is "Manual Partitioning" and tell it to re-use the /home partiton, but re-format everything else. Or, just select "Upgrade..."
Firewing1

[aero-z]

what kind of partition I have to make- Logical or Primary? And what label should I use- /home or hda something or Partition Magic names the new partition by itself(hda#) or should I leave the box empty? And if I label it /home then how can I later find out what name it has(hda#)?
ANY ANSWERS!?

[Firewing1]

Labeling doesn't matter for now. Leave it blank. the e2label makes it /home later on. Good question: Make it a primary partition.
Firewing1

[aero-z]

Originally Posted by Firewing1

Labeling doesn't matter for now. Leave it blank. the e2label makes it /home later on. Good question: Make it a primary partition.
Firewing1

That's nice. I accidentally made it Logical and now I can't remove it Partition Magic gives me some error 520: not supported filesystem or something. How can I delete it now???

[ben s]

It doesn't matter if you make it a primary or extended. The type doesn't matter in the least to Linux.

[aero-z]

Originally Posted by ben s

It doesn't matter if you make it a primary or extended. The type doesn't matter in the least to Linux.

My table now:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 6139 49311486 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 8690 9866 9454252+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 9867 9964 787185 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda4 6140 8689 20482875 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 6140 8689 20482843+ 83 Linux

So I just use hda5?

[aero-z]

So I did like Firewing1 said. I have the files in my /home again but now I can't login with my account anymore. It gives me some error about permissions. I think the access to /home files is denied because I copied and moved them as root. Now I don't know how to give the permissions back

[ben s]

Log in as root and do the following:

cd /home
for a in `ls` ; do chmod -R $a:$a $a ; done

[aero-z]

Originally Posted by ben s

Log in as root and do the following:

cd /home
for a in `ls` ; do chmod -R $a:$a $a ; done

"code I enter": for a in `ls` ; do chmod -R $a:$a $a ; done

"It gives me this": chmod: invalid mode string: `aerozolic:aerozolic'
chmod: invalid mode string: `lost+found:lost+found'

[ben s]

Aw, crap. That's supposed to be chown, not chmod. Sorry!

[mjman]

I made it here to late. I was gonna say, dont do cp -r cause that borks up all the permissions. You should have done cp -a
oh well. You can just do a chown -R I guess

[aero-z]

Originally Posted by ben s

Aw, crap. That's supposed to be chown, not chmod. Sorry!

Thanks, that worked

[Firewing1]

Oops... Sorry about that one, aero-z was right. Should have used cp -a not cp -r... my mistake...
Firewing1

[aero-z]

Originally Posted by Firewing1

Oops... Sorry about that one, aero-z was right. Should have used cp -a not cp -r... my mistake...
Firewing1

PS Can I later Resize the /home partition from Windows?