Guess it's time, couple questions about moving from v2009 to v2010

[Old-Polack]

Here you are sir:

Disk /dev/hda: 30.8 GB, 30758289408 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3739 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x8f800000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1        1912    15358108+  83  Linux
/dev/hda2            1913        2166     2040255    5  Extended
/dev/hda3            2167        3695    12281692+  83  Linux
/dev/hda5            1913        2166     2040223+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/hdc: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77545 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2a5815e1

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdc1   *           1       77535    39077608+  83  Linux

Oooh, no Windows... how neat.

Now, what's on each partition, and where did you want to do the new installation? If there's room available on /dev/sdc we could create another partition there.

Keep in mind that I'd like to do this to a new partition, at least until we know everything works well for you. We can move the installation to where the present 2009 installation is later. Just in case there are problems, which I don't anticipate, I don't want to leave you without a working installation.

[SuperKev]

Ok, I hope I am understanding your question:

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1        1912    15358108+  83  Linux = / (root)
/dev/hda2            1913        2166     2040255    5  Extended = boot (I think)
/dev/hda3            2167        3695    12281692+  83  Linux = /home
/dev/hda5            1913        2166     2040223+  82  Linux swap / Solaris = of course swap

Is that the info you needed?

I backed up my "I absolutely cant lose them" files to the slave drive which is mounted as /mnt/data

[Old-Polack]

Ok, I hope I am understanding your question:

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1        1912    15358108+  83  Linux = / (root)
/dev/hda2            1913        2166     2040255    5  Extended = boot (I think)
/dev/hda3            2167        3695    12281692+  83  Linux = /home
/dev/hda5            1913        2166     2040223+  82  Linux swap / Solaris = of course swap

Is that the info you needed?

I backed up my "I absolutely cant lose them" files to the slave drive which is mounted as /mnt/data

And... what's on /dev/hdc1? How much of the total capacity is used? How much empty space is left? Is there a means to move it somewhere else, if need be? Something like an external drive, maybe?

[SuperKev]

hdc1 is mounted as /mnt/data, used basically as a storage cabinet. I backed up all my /home data on it in preparation for this reinstall. 40GB total size, 20.3 GB used of 36.7 available. 45% used.

I don't have an external HD, I did try to back all this stuff up on to a DVD-ROM but K3b threw an error halfway through, that's when I decided just to back it up to the slave drive.

[Old-Polack]

hdc1 is mounted as /mnt/data, used basically as a storage cabinet. I backed up all my /home data on it in preparation for this reinstall. 40GB total size, 20.3 GB used of 36.7 available. 45% used.

I don't have an external HD, I did try to back all this stuff up on to a DVD-ROM but K3b threw an error halfway through, that's when I decided just to back it up to the slave drive.

You're making things interesting, Kev. To put that in perspective, the last interesting thing I did was extract one of my own teeth, using a buck knife, without anesthetic.

You could shrink the hdc1 partition, to make room for another partition to install to. Problem with this is we usually tell people to back up the partition being shrunk, which then begs the question... to where? 

Looks like we get stuck with "take a chance" mode. Where would you rather take a chance? Install on the 2009 / partition, or shrink the backup partition, without a further backup?

Choices... choices...

[SuperKev]

Not trying to be difficult, believe me

My instinct would be that since I backed up all my critical files to hdc1, best thing to do is take a chance and install on the master hd. At least I know that those "can't afford to lose" files will be on the slave drive if it all goes pear shaped.

[Old-Polack]

Not trying to be difficult, believe me

My instinct would be that since I backed up all my critical files to hdc1, best thing to do is take a chance and install on the master hd. At least I know that those "can't afford to lose" files will be on the slave drive if it all goes pear shaped.

Fair enough. Is there room on the /home partition to hold 700 MB of files, outside of your user directory? Actually, two directories and a compressed file; the contents of the .iso image.

[SuperKev]

I do have enough room within my /home partition, yes. Trying to figure if 'outside of your user directory' is the key phrase there or not. But there is room on the partition itself, yes.

[Old-Polack]

SuperKev:

First thing you need to do is create a directory named iso in your ~/ directory, to mount the .iso image on. You can do that as your normal user.

Next, you need to navigate to the directory that has the .iso image you downloaded. Open a terminal, su to root, then cd to that directory

[kev@localhost ~] $ su                  <Enter>
Password:                                    <-- Enter the root password and press the Enter key.

[root@localhost kev]# cd /path/to/image/directory             <Enter>

Replace /path/to/image/directory with the real, correct path to the location of the image.

[root@localhost <directory>]# mount -o loop *.iso /home/kev/iso && konqueror /home/kev/iso                  <Enter>

The image will be mounted on the /home/kev/iso directory, and konqueror will open in that directory. You will see this;



From the Window menu choose Split View Left/Right.



Click on the right pane background, then click the Up Arrow in konqueror, twice.



Your right pane will show your kev directory, like mine shows polack.

Click on the background of the left pane, hold the button down and drag a square that includes all three items in the pane.



Release the button, then right click any one of the highlighted items and select Copy.



Right click the background of the right pane, and choose Paste 3 Items.



After about a minute or less, depending on the speed of your computer, all the files are copied to the root of your /home partition, which is what we want.



Click the Windows menu and choose Close Active View



You should be back to the iso directory.



Click the Up Arrow three times, to be in the / directory.



Click the boot directory;



then click the grub directory. Scroll down until you have a clear view of the menu.lst file.



Right click the menu.lst file and choose Open With --> Kwrite



In Kwrite add this stanza, below your regular boot stanza;

title Live HD - install
root (hd0,2)
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz livecd=livecd initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=791 splash=verbose fstab=rw,auto
initrd /isolinux/initrd.gz

Watch for word wrap; there should be only 4 lines;

title ...
root ...
kernel ...
initrd ...

Copy/paste, from this post, to kwrite, should work.

Save the file.

Close Kwrite, close Konqueror, and in the terminal

[root@localhost <directory>]# umount /home/kev/iso          <Enter>

Reboot, for a test run. Choose the new Live HD - install option from the boot menu. If it boots up, you can play around with it for a while, but do not, repeat, do not try the installation. If your internet connection works, open FF, log in here, at the forum, and post your results.

[SuperKev]

Booted up and internet is working. What's next?

Seems a little laggy but that may be because it's not installed to the HD.

[Old-Polack]

Booted up and internet is working. What's next?

Seems a little laggy but that may be because it's not installed to the HD.

Amazing! It really worked! Who'd have thunk it? 

Does the live OS see all your hardware? If you open a terminal, su to root, and enter;

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l     <Enter>

are both hard drives seen? Post the output, if so.

Outside of being laggy, does it otherwise seem like a fully functional OS? Try playing a game or two, Write a few simple text files and save them; then delete them. Try mounting what now should be /dev/sda1, your installed / partition.

[root@localhost ~]# mkdir /here                    <Enter>

[root@localhost ~]# mount /dev/sda1 /here                 <Enter>

Try looking at the contents of the installation's fstab;

[root@localhost ~]# cat /here/etc/fstab              <Enter>

Post the results.

Label your /home partition.

[root@localhost ~]# tune2fs -L home /dev/sda3           <Enter>

[root@localhost ~]# blkid /dev/sda3            <Enter>

Post that result too.

Play around as much as it takes to convince yourself that this is a fully usable environment. After that, we need to make some changes to the partitions on the hard drive, to insure that if things go badly in the first installation attempt, we'll at least have a chance for a second try. As is, if the first attempt to install fails, your menu.lst with the boot instructions for the live session will no longer exist, so we need to make a small boot partition, and copy the present /boot/grub directory to it, then reinstall grub to the MBR, using that /grub/menu.lst as the new master menu.lst.

[SuperKev]

Booted up and internet is working. What's next?

Seems a little laggy but that may be because it's not installed to the HD.

Amazing! It really worked! Who'd have thunk it? 

Does the live OS see all your hardware? If you open a terminal, su to root, and enter;

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l     <Enter>

are both hard drives seen? Post the output, if so.

Outside of being laggy, does it otherwise seem like a fully functional OS? Try playing a game or two, Write a few simple text files and save them; then delete them. Try mounting what now should be /dev/sda1, your installed / partition.

[root@localhost ~]# mkdir /here                    <Enter>

[root@localhost ~]# mount /dev/sda1 /here                 <Enter>

Try looking at the contents of the installation's fstab;

[root@localhost ~]# cat /here/etc/fstab              <Enter>

Post the results.

Label your /home partition.

[root@localhost ~]# tune2fs -L home /dev/sda3           <Enter>

[root@localhost ~]# blkid /dev/sda3            <Enter>

Post that result too.

Play around as much as it takes to convince yourself that this is a fully usable environment. After that, we need to make some changes to the partitions on the hard drive, to insure that if things go badly in the first installation attempt, we'll at least have a chance for a second try. As is, if the first attempt to install fails, your menu.lst with the boot instructions for the live session will no longer exist, so we need to make a small boot partition, and copy the present /boot/grub directory to it, then reinstall grub to the MBR, using that /grub/menu.lst as the new master menu.lst.

It looks as if it sees them all:

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x8f800000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        1912    15358108+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2            1913        2166     2040255    5  Extended
/dev/sda3            2167        3695    12281692+  83  Linux
/dev/sda5            1913        2166     2040223+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77545 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2a5815e1


[root@localhost guest]# cat /here/etc/fstab
# Entry for /dev/hda1 :
UUID=3c5542d0-c6b3-418c-89a5-315ee72164db / ext3 relatime 1 1
# Entry for /dev/hda3 :
UUID=d3160b57-e569-4019-828d-b5df627f7a0e /home ext3 relatime 1 2
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/hda5 :
UUID=77cb6b79-72e2-4915-ae8c-5390f01e2109 swap swap defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0
/dev/hdc1 /home/kevin/Documents ext3 user,exec,rw,auto 0 0


[root@localhost guest]# cat /here/etc/fstab
# Entry for /dev/hda1 :
UUID=3c5542d0-c6b3-418c-89a5-315ee72164db / ext3 relatime 1 1
# Entry for /dev/hda3 :
UUID=d3160b57-e569-4019-828d-b5df627f7a0e /home ext3 relatime 1 2
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/hda5 :
UUID=77cb6b79-72e2-4915-ae8c-5390f01e2109 swap swap defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0
/dev/hdc1 /home/kevin/Documents ext3 user,exec,rw,auto 0 0
[root@localhost guest]# tune2fs-L home /dev/sda3
bash: tune2fs-L: command not found
[root@localhost guest]# tune2fs -L home /dev/sda3
tune2fs 1.41.9 (22-Aug-2009)
[root@localhost guest]# blkid /dev/sda3
/dev/sda3: LABEL="home" UUID="d3160b57-e569-4019-828d-b5df627f7a0e" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
[root@localhost guest]#

Played with it, even submitted an article to a client, so everything is fully functional as far as I am concerned. Just going to have to restore my bookmarks and emails and such. Sure seems like a whole lot of work for a simple upgrade but I sincerely thank you for the effort you have put forth to give me a hand here and the clear instructions were very much appreciated as well- It actually worked with me at the controls, who'd a thunk that!!!!!!!!!!

[Old-Polack]

It actually worked with me at the controls, who'd a thunk that!!!!!!!!!!

Well, me for one, or I wouldn't have spent the time. 

[SuperKev]

Thanks, I'm glad one of us was confident so what's next? I did notice that I was not able to reboot in to my existing system after I booted this up the first time.

[Old-Polack]

Thanks, I'm glad one of us was confident so what's next? I did notice that I was not able to reboot in to my existing system after I booted this up the first time.

You should be able to still boot to the installed system. So far we've not done anything to change any settings or the stanzas that existed for that installation. If you still have the installed / partition mounted on /here;

[root@localhost ~]# cat /here/boot/grub/menu.lst            <Enter>

Post your results.

You also have a PM to read.