I am moving a machine from 12.04 to 14.04. I am leaving a bunch of space so I can put in other distros as I am starting to search for something to replace Ubuntu, I use compiz, and I use it big time, as Ubuntu has moved forward they are killing bits and pieces of it, one thing I liked was the 3d effect of viewing open screens behind others, I would flip a cube face to the side and see what I had opened under it, but seems that 3d and the abortion that is Unity get in a mingitorial contest so Unity wins out as it is Ubuntu's pet baby.
But until I settle on something that is really compiz friendly, I will stay with the devil I am dealing with. Funny, it always looked in a way like Microsoft tried to follow Ubuntu with Windows 8, you would have thought they would have read the comments about it prior to trying to do the same voodu. Maybe I am wrong, but sure seems like both of them crawled out of the same tar pit. Back on the original move of the home directory, I have always tried to keep the thing in a separate partition so that if something happened to all of the rest, I still had my home stuff. I back the whole thing up to another disk every so often so if it does pass gas and die, I can go and get a copy, that is not too rancid. I tried to use the partitioner that is in the Ubuntu distro to do the partitioning but it kept on telling me I did not have a bootable partition, but when I viewed the thing the / was marked as "bootable". So then I used gpartd to partition it and got the same thing, backed up and let it do the noob "wipe the disk" and go, that seemed to go OK, but now it is a single partition with a bunch of directories vice a bunch of directories and a few partitions like /home. On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 11:27 AM, Nat Taylor <[email protected]> wrote: > So, when you use the Ubuntu installer, if you go to advanced partitioning, > you can select /dev/sda2 (to keep with the thread) as /home (and this > already has your home directory copied onto it, rsync does seem like a good > way to do this) , and make sure the box for Format is not clicked, and > /dev/sda1 as / with Format selected, and the /dev/sda3 as swap > and then just install. ( I would def keep a backup first) > > What I'm getting from this thread is that people think the .files might > mess up a smooth transition, if you were to just go ahead and try it this > "easy" way? I would think if it was the same distro and the same version > you'd be golden, and if it were a slightly older version, it still might > work but throw some weirdness every now and then? > > > > On Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 10:14 PM, Chuck Hast <[email protected]> wrote: > > > So far so good. > > Ed, that is what I remember as what I did the last time I went through > > this. > > Indeed this morning I did the same thing I partitioned the HD on the new > > machine with gpartd, I set the following > > /root > > /home > > /var ( I like to keep that one as it usually has some stuff in it that > gets > > passed > > down to the next HD) > > /swap > > I installed the OS rebooted and nothing, I guess either it did not > install > > grub > > or something else was wrong. Anyhow I whacked it and told the system to > > just do a NOOB install to make sure all was OK, it did so, now I have got > > to > > go get near a network link that is not over satellite and re-try it again > > so I can > > download all of the stuff I will want, but at least I know that all is > > well, just have > > to see where I messed up. I flagged the / as bootable, as usual, but no > > joy. > > > > I even installed Compiz on the thing, it is working great (well some > stuff > > does > > not work because the zombies at Ubuntu seem to have messed things up > > with the Unity thing) but it works enough to at least check all out and > get > > on > > with making sure all of the hardware is working. > > > > Tomorrow I will go where I can get a hard wired connection and reload the > > thing but my way then I will do the transfer of my junk to it, sans > .files. > > > > Thanks for the good info so far. > > > > Little Thinkpad X201 screams. Once I get a couple of VM's running on it I > > will > > know for sure how well it does. My little X200 runs two of them at the > same > > time and still keeps up with things pretty well. Even when I am running a > > Win7 session in one and some other variant of Linux in the other. > > > > On Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 7:54 PM, King Beowulf <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > On 03/29/2015 08:03 AM, Chuck Hast wrote: > > > > Folks, > > > > It has been a long time since I had to do this one, but I am going to > > > > set up a new (yea it is relative) machine a refurbed X201 that I just > > > > got. I put a 1 tb HD in it and am going to move my present work to > > > > it so I can refurb my X200 ( screen has bad tubes or PSU) and I > > > > need to do some other things to it. I did this I think about 5 years > > > > ago and recall that I messed some things up but can not remember > > > > what I did, I finally got it all going right, but would like to do it > > in > > > one > > > > fell swoop without having to go in and fix issues, and no surprises > > > > on the road either. > > > > > > > > So I am all ears as to how to do it properly. The last time I did > this > > > > of course the machine created a home directory for my login, but > > > > I had to go in and replace it with my original home directory after > the > > > > whole thing had been created, then like now the disk was a clean new > > > > disk, and I copied the home directory from another disk. I am > thinking > > > > to go ahead and move the home directory to the new disk prior to > > > > installing OS as I always set up a separate partition for the home > > > > directory. > > > > > > > > I am now ready to hear any and all recommendations. > > > > > > > > > > Chuck > > > > > > I do this all the time. Don't listen to all those nancies with their > > > scary stories. It's straight forward, if sometimes a bit tedious. > > > > > > Step 1: > > > identify all software you added that is not part of your base distro > > > install. Make note of the ones you still use. > > > > > > Step 2: > > > mount a backup drive and rsync /home/<user> to it, dot files and all. > > > > > > Step 3: > > > Install a fresh copy of your distro on the 1TB drive of the X201 with > at > > > least 3 partitions: > > > > > > /dev/sda1 (for the new /root) > > > /dev/sda2 (for the new /home) > > > /dev/sda3 (ie /swap ... mostly optional these days > > > > > > (BTW, flame wars have started over partition schemes. So, separate out > > > as you see fit. I rarely use more that 2 or 3 partitions). Now you > > > have a clean install with no kruft. Boot into your new install. > > > > > > Step 4: > > > Format and mount /dev/sda2 as, say, /data, for example. > > > > > > Step 5: > > > Mount your backup drive /mnt/hd, for example, and then (!) > > > cd /mnt/hd > > > chown -R <newuser>:users . > > > > > > That should normalize the ownerships. Adjust as needed for multiple > > > users and if you changed your username. Also, delete any old crap > while > > > your are at it. > > > > > > Step6: > > > rsync your backup to the previously mounted /data DO NOT COPY any dot > > files > > > > > > Step7: > > > Edit /etc/fstab so that, for example > > > > > > /dev/sda2 /home ext4 defaults 1 1 > > > > > > If your distro uses drive UUIDs, I leave that as an exercise to the > > reader. > > > > > > Step7: > > > Reboot > > > > > > Step8: > > > After you log in, a fresh clean set of dotfiles will be generated. > > > Mount your backup drive and sift through any that you need to copy over > > > > > > .ssh > > > .firefox > > > .mozilla > > > .bashrc > > > > > > and any others, as required (based on the software you will reinstall > > > from your repositories). Mostly I stop at the above and reconfigure > the > > > desktop and software configurations/defaults from scratch (and > sometimes > > > browser settings as well). Sometimes .kde, .xfce, etc and .local and > > > .config can get horrible mangled over time (new software, updates). > > > Same goes for browsers - often just better to copy just the > > > bookmarks.html file and manually reinstall plugins/extensions. > > > > > > a final reboot and DONE! > > > > > > Enjoy. > > > -Ed > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > PLUG mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > Chuck Hast -- KP4DJT -- > > Glass, five thousand years of history and getting better. > > The only container material that the USDA gives blanket approval on. > > _______________________________________________ > > PLUG mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > > > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > -- Chuck Hast -- KP4DJT -- Glass, five thousand years of history and getting better. The only container material that the USDA gives blanket approval on. _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
