This is going to be awesome, as if I change distros my .config files and personal data will remain. I *think* this means I can switch from Kubuntu to KDE Neon, only overwriting that '/' partition.
Am I correct?
I have been learning Linux as my only OS for the past couple years.
I run older hardware, Lenovo Thinkpad T430s machines that are specced
out w/ Core i7 chipsets and 16gb RAM.
The other problem you might have - is what if that distro needed more space than the partition required?
I know I am a total newbie to Linux as I have just started using it more and more over the past several weeks, what I have found is when
installing a new Distro you can go into gpedit and change partitions
etc. Just choose the partition you want to install to and leave the other.. I have 2 machines which I have repurposed both the same HD setup although not partitions but actual HD's I have installed and reinstalled Distro's on the "Boot" HD and have no lost anything on the other HD at all. Like was said make sure you have a backup.. My backup setup is
pretty simple, I use VEEAM free version to make bare metal backups of my Distro HD's and I use RSYNC to backup the 2nd HD..I have a cron setup to RSYNC the 2nd HD daily and VEEAM every 2nd day. I know I am rambling but that is my stuff in a nutshell..
Al
I thought I could boot with GParted and change them around later if needed... but 200G for system install should be ok for a long while??
I have been learning Linux as my only OS for the past couple years.
I run older hardware, Lenovo Thinkpad T430s machines that are specced
out w/ Core i7 chipsets and 16gb RAM.
I've usually just installed a distro and let it partition (or not!) the media how it sees fit; this always means that to change a system I
either have to dump all my data or backup, which is never easy.
So, wondering if someone with more knowledge than me can answer 2 questions: 1, is the following new setup I'm running seem good - in that
I could decide to change the distro (/) and keep my data (/home)... and
2, is there a way to also keep the program files around by creating another partition for like... (/bin)?
The setup I've now changed to, while using a 1T SSD, is:
'/' is a 200GB partition where I install the OS.
'/home' is a 780GB partition where I can throw all my data/files.
'swap' is a 20GB partition that my ubuntu flavor will hibernate to.
This is going to be awesome, as if I change distros my .config files and personal data will remain. I *think* this means I can switch from
Kubuntu to KDE Neon, only overwriting that '/' partition.
Am I correct?
As I said before "in theory"...
Anyway, the take away from this - is yes, in theory it should be OK, but make sure you do "that" backup before you do anything potentially destructive... :)
That's a cool laptop, I have a Lenovo Thinkpad T440p running Ubuntu
20.04 and i3-gaps =)
Am I correct?Yes, mostly =)
The main things you want to keep whenever you re-install any distro is your /home folder but if you're changing between flavours of distros,
like say mint to ubuntu, things probably would be ok to also have /usr
and /usr/local as partitions to keep too.
However if you're swapping distros like say from Fedora to Ubuntu, or
from Mint to CentOS as an example, some of the applications might not
work properly, or even at all, so then you probably would want to
install over the applications in /usr and /usr/local as well.
At work we have separate partitions for / /home /var /usr /usr/local /tmp /root /boot for most projects.
Not sure if any of this helps, or at least confirms what you already
know =)
Good luck, glad you're spending time with Linux and enjoying it. I've
been running Ubuntu on my pc's and laptops for years now.
You know, in the 90s I was a DOS/Windows BBS guy... and then walked away from computers to start my career.
Switched to ALL-Apple for the next couple decades, because I hadn't learned things after the move away from DOS by the entire PC community.. While Apple was a great platform for me to enjoy computing and actually
do some powerful things, without investing the hours into learning the platform, when I came back to BBSing a couple years ago, I was yearning
to be able to CONTROL my systems again..
Linux was a great choice. AND, I quickly learned that I could get away with buying CHEAP, rock-solid ThinkPad machines that still had enough
pep to last for some time.
As long as you're not into gaming, I still think a specced out ThinkPad T420+ can do a lot of daily driving for the average user.
This weekend, I got a dead ThinkPad working again (It was the trackpad... which causes the LCD to be dead to the world when plugged in, and sometimes gives an 8-beep POST similar to a motherboard failure. It
WASN'T - thank gosh I kept digging..) But anyway, they are easy to work on, upgradeable and China still has every part you might need. (I
ordered a new keyboard bezel, it'll be here in a couple weeks.)
They are tanks.
Yea, thats what I was talking about up there. Ok, so I guess I should
also invest more time in learning the exact file structure of linux. I thought /bin was where my apps were..
At work we have separate partitions for / /home /var /usr /usr/local /root /boot for most projects.
Ok... that helps too, knowing how you tackle this is a production setting... As a home user, I don't think I need to go overboard... but this is nice to know. :P
Not sure if any of this helps, or at least confirms what you already know =)
VERY much so. The other replies were great and helpful... yours
delivered the answers that I needed. Thanks a ton - I think I'll use
more of what you described on another laptop I have laying around and
then actually switching some distros after a month. :P THANKS.
:P I hopped around a lot... and ARCH system was customizable, but almost to much... KDE Neon was cool, but finicky and had many bugs- even if
they were user-creations.. :P I ended up on Kubuntu, I like the ease of Ubuntu and being able to change anything I WANT to w/ KDE...
Backups weren't my highest priority, but I'll make sure that I learn it top to bottom so I don't lose my data... I completely know what you're
FWIW, I use restic. May take you a bit to get your head around using it,but I
like it because its effecient (only backs up changed data),compresses/dedupes
automatically (so source size != target size), pretty fast and can use a variety of targets - another disk, another server, an S3 target (which iswhat
I use).
stuff anyway... that does all that you say Restic does, I
wonder if Restic is easier to configure and manage than bareos lol.
Also, in case you venture down this particular path... those partitions I mentioned above are slightly different for BSD variants =) But then you probably wouldn't even want to consider hopping from Linux to BSD and keeping anything except your home files haha.
Sounds good, it's always fun to try new distros etc, I am quite fond of
my Ubuntu setup right now, I think the only distro I might consider ever changing to would be one called Pop_OS! by System76. It's Ubuntu/Debian based, but it has been heavily customised to work best for gamers and the latest version even has a tiling window manager in it as standard, although it's not any comparison to the likes of i3-gaps (which I use)
or dwm.
Ah yeah Arch is nice, considered by many as a hardcore Linux distro, Mandrake Linux is Arch based but I believe it has a slightly easier more user friendly way to install and look after lol. I have considered Arch before myself, but I might do that on my TP sometime in the future
rather than my desktop.
Best regards,
Christian aka MeaTLoTioN
Until you loose that first thing that you spent hours curating... (We've all been there...)
FWIW, I use restic. May take you a bit to get your head around using it, but I like it because its effecient (only backs up changed data), compresses/dedupes automatically (so source size != target size), pretty fast and can use a variety of targets - another disk, another server, an S3 target (which is what I use).
Its available for multiple platforms - so if you have a mix of hardware like I do (intel, arm, mac) - I can use the same tool for each one (and more brain cells to learn something else :)
...ëîåï
You'll get a bunch of backup points called "snapshots", so "restic snapshots" gives you a list.
| Sysop: | CyberNix |
|---|---|
| Location: | London, UK |
| Users: | 22 |
| Nodes: | 10 (0 / 10) |
| Uptime: | 114:54:49 |
| Calls: | 905 |
| Files: | 4,931 |
| Messages: | 741,500 |