Setting up a Home Partiion queries

[Colin23erk]

I had a Windows OS and  Data on  separate partitions so that I could re-install Windows without loosing my Data .
When I installed Lite I installed it on a new partition so I can Duel Boot and use the  NTFS Data Partition with both after using the NTFS configure tool to enable Lite to read and write to my old files.

After messing about with problems with Bluetooth Audio and a USB WiFi adapter I would like to restore Lite to its default state . The only wayto do this  involves a New install and re-doing the settings etc again

Looking on the Forums there does not appear to be a way to
1-  "Repair" Linux installations .
2- Install Lite and keep my setup
3- Save my Setup options and reapply them after a new install
4 - Make a backup  of the Lite OS to allow a quick install later as I did with Windows

I am wondering if to save some time later I should Create a Home Partition so that I at least can keep that safe during a re-install. I do not keep much Data in my "Home folder"as I created shortcuts to my Folders in my shared Data partition

Does anyone have any advice
(a) Is it possible with Lite .
(b) Is it a good thing to do .
© What is the simplest way to achieve it using GUI as I am getting too old and need prompts .

I am not good at blindly following commands until I understand what they are  supposed to be doing so if something goes wrong I know how to fix it .

Colin

[robert]

Hi Colin

There is a post in the tutorial section on creating data partitions.  Have a look there and see if it helps you.

[gold_finger]

Colin23erk,

You can create a new home partition and move what is currently in your home to that; but it is not easy and there is no GUI method for doing that as far as I know.  Here are two links describing the procedure if you want to have a look:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Partit...ome/Moving
http://www.howtogeek.com/116742/


It might be better to just copy a few things from your current installation to a USB stick, then do a new install and make a separate partition for home with the new install.  Then if you ever need to do this again, you can re-install only the system files and keep the home partition in tact.

Open file manager to your home; then do View -> Show Hidden Files to show files and folders with names that begin with a period (.).

Copy/Paste the following to a USB stick:
.config (folder with its contents)
.local (folder with its contents)

Copy/Paste these also if you use Firefox and Thunderbird:
.mozilla (folder with its contents)
.thunderbird (folder with its contents)

If you see anything else that you know you need (because you may have customized it yourself), save copies of those too.  I'm not familiar with Wine or Skype, but if you use them and see config files (ones that begin with a period) for those, save them too.  Only save things that you know you made customized settings for -- the new install will have normal config files for the programs too, so don't bother saving those.


Go through your Menu and make a list of additional programs you know you installed yourself to the basic system.  Eg.  If you installed Wine, Skype, another music player, etc., add them you your list.


To re-install, boot live DVD/USB and open the GParted partitioning program (Menu -> System -> Partition Drives).  Delete your Linux Lite root partition; keep the Swap partition unless you have decided to change its size or position on the disk.  (If you want to delete Swap, you need to right-click it first and choose "Swapoff"; then it can be deleted.)  Hit "Apply" (arrow button beneath "Help") to carry out the deletions.

Now create two new partitions in the resulting free space:  one for root and one for home.  If your home partition will not be used for storing data files, primarily just your configuration files, you don't need to make it very big -- so just make it 5GB.  If you have room, make root 20GB.  (You could probably get away with a 10GB root partition, but make it bigger if you can just in case.)  Make each partition "ext4 file system" type, and give each a label if you want to (no spaces in label name).  Hit "Apply" to make the partitions.

Once done making new partitions, run installer and choose "Something else" when you get to the "Installation Type" screen.  The next screen will display all partitions on the drive.  You will need to select the new LL partitions and set their mount points for installing.  Click to highlight each one (one-at-a-time) and do the following:

• Click "Change" button (which pops-up a new window for the partition)
  
• "Use As" = ext4 file system
  
• "Mount Point" = / (for the root partition), and /home (for the home partition)
  
• "Size" = keep as you already set it in GParted
  
• "Format" check box = does not matter; you already formatted them in GParted.  (If you made labels for partitions in GParted, formatting again will erase the labels.  You can use GParted again later to label them again if you want to.)
  
• Don't bother doing anything with the data partition right now.  You can add that after installation is done by following tutorial robert referred to here:  https://www.freecinema2022.gq/forums/index...opic=203.0.  Or just do whatever you did the last time to make links to it.
  

When you boot the newly installed system, perform updates first.  Then take your list of additional programs you had installed yourself before and install them to the new system.  After that, plug in your USB with the saved config files.  If you use Firefox and Thunderbird, copy the ".mozilla" and ".thunderbird" folders from the USB and paste them in your home folder to replace the default files for them.  Do the same for any other program config files you know you saved.

I would not recommend copying the full ".config" or ".local" folders into the new system.  They might contain configs that bring back some of the problems you described before.  If you run into a situation where you know you had special settings done in a program and the new install version is not using them; then look through those two saved folders to see if there are files specifically for that program.  Copy what you find for it into the corresponding location in your home and restart the program to see if your prior settings are back.

Hope this helps.  Good luck.

[Colin23erk]

Hello Gold+Finger

Thanks for the information and recommendations. You have given me the confidence to give it a try.

My problem with finding "how to do things" on the internet is they are often written for a different distro so will they work on Linux Lite 2 with its own set of applications that may not be in the other Distro

Am I correct in my understanding that if Solutions are written for Ubuntu 14.04 they should work OK .
If they are for an older Ubuntu or a Ubuntu Distro they are likely to be relevant and will probably be OK  but be aware they might not always work .
It is unwise for a non-expert to attempt to use any other ideas just because it says Linux

Colin

[gold_finger]

Am I correct in my understanding that if Solutions are written for Ubuntu 14.04 they should work OK .
If they are for an older Ubuntu or a Ubuntu Distro they are likely to be relevant and will probably be OK  but be aware they might not always work .

Generally speaking that is correct.  Solutions that you find for Ubuntu and/or other distros based on Ubuntu will normally apply to LL as well, so when possible stick to those.  (The closer the version is to that of LL 2.0, the better -- but an exact version match is normally not necessary.) GUI-based solutions may need some minor adjustments due to differences between Desktop Environments (DEs), but most terminal based solutions will work.  LL uses the Xfce DE, while Ubuntu uses Unity.  Others may use Cinnamon, Mate, or KDE DE.  Each of them have some unique core programs for the DE operation and Menu structure may vary somewhat.  So you might not be able to follow instructions exactly, but if you understand what they are describing you can probably figure out the equivalent in Xfce.  Terminal commands, on the other hand, tend to be the same no matter what DE is being used, so most of the time they will work.

One common difference you may see often is when a solution calls for you to open a file with a text editor.  LL 2.0 uses the leafpad text editor.  Posted solutions may use gedit, pluma, or kate.  Anywhere they call for one of those, just substitute leafpad where they have gedit, for example.

When looking for solutions, what I normally do is try to find more than one that confirms a particular method works.  Unless I understand it right away, I normally won't just implement the first thing I stumble across that claims to be a solution.  I've found this search engine to be very good for finding solutions to things.  You might want to bookmark it for yourself.  Half the battle with searches is knowing what terminology to use to get the best results.  Over time you'll learn how best to phrase your search questions, but it can be frustrating at first if you don't know the best way to describe something.

By far, the best way to learn and get more comfortable with Linux is to go ahead and try things for yourself.  As long as your important data files are backed-up somewhere or on a different partition from the system files, you don't have much to worry about.  If you break something and can't fix it, just re-install.  Each time you do, you'll learn something new and get a little better along the way.

So, I'd say go ahead and backup the few config files I pointed out above.  Then go ahead and try to follow one of the posts on making a new home partition while you are still using the currently installed system.  If it works out, you now have a separate /home partition that you can keep and just re-install the root partition.  You'll also end up learning a lot by doing that.  If it doesn't work, you can just wipe out the partitions and re-install as described above ... and you will still have learned a bit more by the attempt anyway.

For future reference, VirtualBox is a great program to use for learning and testing new things.  If your computer has 2GB or more of RAM, I'd recommend installing it.  The program allows you to run another operating system in it's own self-contained area while running your Linux Lite system.  Basically it's like having a second computer running at the same time on your one computer.  You can experiment to your hearts desire and not have to worry about messing up your primary system.  If you break the Virtual OS, just delete it and start again.  So you could load another copy of LL 2.0 into the VBox application and have one to practice on with no fear of messing up the main system.  I'm almost done writing a tutorial for that and it will either appear in the Help Manual, or be posted to this forum within the next week or two.