One for the *nix bods

Can someone have a butchers at this and tell me if it's feasible? The
reason I ask, is that I'd have thought that I'd have had to go into
single user mode (i.e. init 1) to ensure that any files I copy aren't
open when I do the move of my files.

http://ubuntu.wordpress.com/2006/01/29/move-home-to-its-own-partition/

 

Point of order - you're talking Linux, not Unix.

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Same principles.

 

I'd tend to agree with you. Logon as root and do it in single user mode
or alternatively boot from the maintenance CD and then the disk
filesystem will be fully available for alteration.

 

Not in this case.
--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 (slightly broken, currently missing)
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

Well, I'm using Redhat, but the same principles apply.

What I'll do is:

1. Create the partition
2. Boot into single user mode
3. Copy all stuff to the new partition using the "find . -depth -print0
| cpio --null --sparse -pvd /mnt/newhome/" part from the URL (this
should work as well as tar, no?)
4. umount the old partition
5. Rename the new partition to the name of the old partition
6. Edit fstab to remove references to the old partition
7. Reboot

That should work, shouldn't it?

The reason that I'm doing it this way, is that I keep on having
problems with mdadm in mirroring /home from the existing partition to
the new one. It keeps failing and reconstructing. Strangely enough,
it's only on /home where I'm having the problem. It shouldn't be an
issue with open files too, should it?

I thought it was a bad block problem on both the old and new disks, but
an fsck didn't seem to resolve the problem.

 

Tell me how.

 

The article is talking about partitioning a hard drive, which is
effectively[1] a PC-only concept. Hence linux, not proper unix.


[1] In this context.
--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 (slightly broken, currently missing)
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

<chews imaginary beard>

Probably.

As other have said, boot from a CD first.

For the second time this week this: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ can
be handy.

 

Hmm, I see your point, but I suppose somewhere out there, there are
Unix systems that do use partitioning as opposed to something like LVM.

 

Eh? Are you claiming that Solaris x86 isn't a proper Unix?

 

Doubtless, but the topic being discussed would still, I'm sure, not be
relevant to them.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 (slightly broken, currently missing)
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

Damn. I thought I'd gotten away with it too.
--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 (slightly broken, currently missing)
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

<fx: snort>

 

Wot he said, though personally I'd not faff around with tar


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You should do it in init 1 (or make sure that no-one is logged in
except root) - home doesn't generally have that many files open unless
you are running gnome/kde. For partitions like /var or /usr it's pretty
much mandatory to be in runlevel 1.

A better way to copy the files is to use the tar copy method as shown
here:

http://www.tech-recipes.com/unix_tips115.html

You can play about with the tar parameters to handle sparse files or
symlinks properly if you need to.

This is the method I've always used to move file trees between devices
(like on machines where the person who set it up didn't give sufficient
space for stuff like the /var filesystem!).

Phil

 

And anyway - other unix versions (FreeBSD et. al.) use partitioning -
they don't *call* it partitioning but they use it none the less.

Phil

 

I'm glad I read the comments, because this seems to be the one to use:

tar cf - * .??* .a .z .bc | ( cd /target; tar xfp -)

But could I modify it to

tar cf - * .??* .[a-zA-Z0-9] | ( cd /target; tar xfp -)

to take into account any .? files?

 

Yebbut, the techniques dicussed in the articel posted would not be
relevant thereto, would they?

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 (slightly broken, currently missing)
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

Depends on how you have got the disk laid-out.