Reinstalling Kubuntu

[ernieg92]

A couple of months ago I installed Kubuntu just to "check it out". It has been an experience, to say the least. But, now I can say I've become fairly comfortable with it.

My original installation was on a small partition of my second hard drive (home & swap are on separate partitions from root). In the past, my primary operating system was Linspire because it helped get me away from Microsoft. But now I feel that Linspire is too customized and I'm more comfortable "getting under the hood" using Kubuntu.

I would like to re-install Kubuntu and make it my primary operating system (it is currently my primary operating system, but I'm running out of space on the root partition). Here is my current setup:

hda1 /dos (5GB)
hda2 /WinXP (30 GB)
hda3 /Linspire (30 GB)
hdb1 /Music (15 GB -- need more room)
hdb2 /Files (10 GB)
hdb3 /Kubuntu (5 GB)
hdb5 /home (40 GB)
hdb6 /swap (2 GB)

I would like to make hda3 an extended partition and divide it in half; one half (15 GB) for Kubuntu's root partition and the other as an empty partition for unspecified future use. Once Kubuntu has been successfully installed, I would like to delete hdb2 and hdb3 and expand the size of hdb1.

My questions:
1. Can I just install a fresh copy of Kubuntu, even though an installation of Kubuntu already exists?
2. Is my /home directory retained in the new installation? I vaguely remember Kubuntu formatting the /home partition.
3. If I can just add a fresh install of Kubuntu to my system, is there anything I need to do to get it to use my existing /home directory?
4. Any "words to the wise" or other helpful information.

Thanks!
Ernie

[dibl]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

But, now I can say I've become fairly comfortable with it.

Great!

1. Can I just install a fresh copy of Kubuntu, even though an installation of Kubuntu already exists?

Yep

2. Is my /home directory retained in the new installation? I vaguely remember Kubuntu formatting the /home partition.

You wisely installed your /home directory on a separate partition, so you are all set to simply mount it on the new filesystem and keep on truckin'.

3. If I can just add a fresh install of Kubuntu to my system, is there anything I need to do to get it to use my existing /home directory?

Use the "Alternate Install" Kubuntu CD, and when it comes to the "guided installation" part, you simply "show" it that the existing 40GB partition at hdb5 is to be mounted as /home, and NOT formatted. Very simple.

4. Any "words to the wise" or other helpful information.

You didn't ask how you're going to get more space for your music. You might (after safely backing it up) consider collapsing your current hdb1, hdb2, hdb3, and hdb5 into a single new /home partition, and then you can keep your music there too, along with everything else, in suitably named folders of course. Just a thought.



Edit: In your plan to split your current hda3, you really only need to allow 8GB - 10GB for Kubuntu root.

[Qqmike]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

ernieg92:
“My questions:
1. Can I just install a fresh copy of Kubuntu, even though an installation of Kubuntu already exists?”

Interesting and fair question, starting out. An esoteric answer: As dibl told you, Yes. It’s another neat thing about Kubuntu/Linux. You can install many copies of Kubuntu (same or different versions, on same or different hard drives), and you might want to do so for [extreme] experiments (so you don’t mess up your “main” one).

[txHarleyMan]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

I think I would backup my /home directory to a cd/dvd using tar and start partitioning from scratch. But, thats me.

[ernieg92]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

You didn't ask how you're going to get more space for your music. You might (after safely backing it up) consider collapsing your current hdb1, hdb2, hdb3, and hdb5 into a single new /home partition, and then you can keep your music there too, along with everything else, in suitably named folders of course. Just a thought.

Thanks for all of your advice -- helps a lot. As for combining music with home, I won't do it. My teens have all kinds of music that I don't need; I have Amarok just load what I listen to. Once I have Kubuntu running on the new partition, I can convert hdb2 & hdb3 to freespace and expand hdb1.

Thanks again!

[ernieg92]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

I think I would backup my /home directory to a cd/dvd using tar and start partitioning from scratch. But, thats me.

A thought that crossed my mind. If I were going to use "tar" for my backup, what is the command syntax? I was just going to drag-n-drop -- but I prefer something a little better.

[Detonate]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

You have 30GB on hda2 available for use

[dibl]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

My teens have all kinds of music that I don't need

Uh-boy, I know -- your comment caused a flashback to reinstalling Windows for the 17th time, when my teenagers were using that PC. What was that virus propagator they used? Oh yeah, "Kazaa".

EDIT:

If I were going to use "tar" for my backup, what is the command syntax? I was just going to drag-n-drop -- but I prefer something a little better.

You can enter

man tar

in the konsole for a long read, if that's your goal. I use K3b to do backups to removable media.

[muzicman0]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

3. If I can just add a fresh install of Kubuntu to my system, is there anything I need to do to get it to use my existing /home directory?

Use the "Alternate Install" Kubuntu CD, and when it comes to the "guided installation" part, you simply "show" it that the existing 40GB partition at hdb5 is to be mounted as /home, and NOT formatted. Very simple.

Just a side note, you can use the regular installer...it also has the ability to preserver your /home folder. Just use the manual partition, and edit your existing /home folder to mount as '/home' and do NOT check the format box. I've done this about 2 gazillion times in the last month as I was learning the OS...

[txHarleyMan]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

I go to my /home directory ( cd ) then:

tar cvf /media/disk/mike.tar *

I use my external usb harddrive as my backup drive.

[ernieg92]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

Just a side note, you can use the regular installer...it also has the ability to preserver your /home folder. Just use the manual partition, and edit your existing /home folder to mount as '/home' and do NOT check the format box. I've done this about 2 gazillion times in the last month as I was learning the OS...

Well, that didn't go very well. I tried both the Alternate CD and the regular CD (without formatting /home). With the Alternate CD, my system came to a screeching halt -- took close to five minutes to log in. Had a bunch of errors (something about not being able to write to cache) whenever I'd use APT. It became completely unusable.

So, I tried it again, this time with the regular CD and leaving the "Format" box UNchecked for /home. System seems more stable/usable but I haven't added any users back in again (I previously had added all the users, with same userid as original installation). Here are the main problems:
1. Icons missing. Specifically, when clicking on "Log out...." the icon for "Log Out" is missing. Not too confusing for me but it will be a problem for wife/kids.
2. More icons missing. The thumbnail (or camera icon) is missing when viewing images on a remote system. The filename is there, along with a space for icons, but no icon exists.
3. Samba issues. Apparently this program doesn't like me, because I can't get it to work on my regular installation or this new one. Although I've configured sharing (installed via APT), Windows machines can't see the printer or folders shared.

I'm tempted to do a complete re-install, including /home. But I hate having to re-configure the desktop settings and copying all of the email, documents, etc over. I'm used to doing that with WinXP, but I thought Linux handled these things better.

Any insight before I start again? Thanks.

[muzicman0]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

did you make sure that you switched the mount point to /home? Like I said, I have done this a lot, never any problems...
mm0

[ernieg92]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

did you make sure that you switched the mount point to /home?

Yes, switched the mount point for home; all of my settings and documents were there upon reboot. Like I said, just weird little problems like selected icons missing.

[muzicman0]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

I could be wrong, but I don't think that the Icons folder for most themes are in you /home folder...I'm still figuring out how to make Icons work the way I want them too...

[ernieg92]

Re: Reinstalling Kubuntu

I could be wrong, but I don't think that the Icons folder for most themes are in you /home folder...I'm still figuring out how to make Icons work the way I want them too...

Yeah, it's wierd. Why would all of the icons appear but one (when clicking on "Log Out...")? My MD5 checksum was correct, so I'm assuming the CD is okay (plus, my original installation doesn't have any icon problems). Very strange. I don't want to install again, but I'm afraid I might have to. Or maybe wait for Gutsy.