2008/3/4 Cassian Luppu <cassian.luppu@xxxxxxxxx>: > 2008/3/4, Richard Shaw <hobbes1069@xxxxxxxxx>: > > 2008/3/4 Cassian Luppu <cassian.luppu@xxxxxxxxx>: > > > 2008/3/4, Patrick O'Callaghan <pocallaghan@xxxxxxxxx>: > > > > On Tue, 2008-03-04 at 14:11 +0100, Cassian Luppu wrote: [SNIP] > > > > 1. Booting to the rescue disk > > 2. Chroot-ing to the root of my installation. > > 3. Making a backup directory off the root and moving everything I want > > to keep into it. (/home,/var,/etc) > > 4. Deleting everything else I could (not everything is a real file) a > > la 'rm -rf' > > 5. Reboot loading the normal install and choosing to preserve my > > current partitions. > > 6. Copying as needed out of /backup after install. > > > > Worked like a charm for me but YMMV. > > Oh, Richard, that sounds perfect for me! > However, why did you chrooted your / to create /backup? It's certainly not a necessary step but I like to think in terms of the root of the host system and not the root of the rescue disk system. that way all my directory references start with "/" instead of "/mnt/<mount name>/" e.g. my commands are mv /home/richard /backup instead of mv /mnt/<mount name>/home/richard /mnt/<mount name>/backup etc... I didn't have any problems doing this but in just thinking about it I guess the mv command preserved everything that need to be similar to 'cp -a' > Isn't it enought to just create /backup and move everything into it? Well, you would have to create a '/mnt/<mount point>/backup instead since the rescue file system would be read only (except for the ram drive which wouldn't be big enough, or persistent for that matter). > I mean, why booting using the rescue disk and all that to move just /home? That guarantee that none of the host files are open which makes moving the stuff you want to keep and deleting everything else possible. Richard
