directory to another drive?

Linux@lemmy.ml – 31 points – 11 months ago

This was I can wipe the drive it's on and install a new OS without losing anything in /home/

You are viewing a single comment

Step 1: copy data to new drive. Mount new drive to /mnt/. cp -ra /home/* /mnt/. -a means that all permissions remain the same which will mean that your user can still read them. Check the man page for more details. This command will take a while. Use -v to see progress. You should see a folder with your username appear.

Step 2. Prepare /home for new drive. Move the files to a new folder. This is done to make sure you can still easily go back. mv /home/ /home-bak/ keep your old home dir safe in case a mistake was made. mkdir /home/.

Step 3. Mount your new drive. Mount your drive to /home/ and check if you can login. If everything went correctly, you should be able to just login. Finally you need to update your /etc/fstab to include this new drive. This will make sure your home drive mounts when you start your os. If everything is working, you can delete your home-bak as well.

I dont like the MV home. 😅

My advice :

login as root.
rsync -av /home, on the new disk.
fstab : comment the old home's line, don't delete, and copy it to change the identifier (path or uuid).
noob tips, add a new file in the new home.
login to check it is ok (with su - user), and check there is the new file.

You can now delete or keep it as a save.

the mv home is just renaming the folder so you can mount home in the same space. Rsync is probably better than cp but I didn't want to suggest tools that op doesn't have installed.

Oh ok I see why no use of rsync. Clever.

I've read your solution, OP, you can go. Good tuto written on mobile.

This is a rough guide written on mobile. its probably best if someone double check some of this stuff before op tries it.