Fedora Installation :: Installation Migration - Back Up Personalized Files ?
Nov 9, 2009
I've had the same Fedora server (filewise) since it was RedHat, but I'm getting major issues with an open Bugzilla report and I'm considering a brand new install.
The thing is - I've had files on this server since 1999, really, with personalized settings and everything in between.
Is there any easy way to start a fresh install (on a brand new hard drive) and migrate my files over? Otherwise, how does one do a fresh install without losing files and programs they've been painstakingly been trying to maintain for an entire decade?
I don't even know how to install half of this stuff anymore. The computer was on autopilot for the better half of the last 10 years.
Is there an easy way to back up settings and restore them?
I installed Ubuntu 10.04 (32 bit version) a few months ago on a system with two IDE drives (cable select configuration). The primary drive (/dev/sda) is 40GB and the secondary drive (/dev/sdb) is 80GB. I created all of my partitions on the primary drive and left the secondary drive unconfigured. After a month or so I noticed that two of my partitions had quickly reached 50% capacity, as I had just taken a guess at an appropriate partition size when I first installed Ubuntu.
Since I had a larger unused drive already in place, I decided to migrate my installation from the smaller drive to the larger drive, but sizing the partitions in question more appropriately (i.e., much larger). I assumed that I could install Ubuntu on the bigger drive with larger partitions, byte-for-byte copy all my existing partitions from the old disk to the new one, edit /etc/fstab, reboot, and GBTW. Naturally that didn't work as I expected.
Here's what I did: Carefully logged my existing partitions on /dev/sda and their mount points Used a live CD to install the same version of Ubuntu on the larger drive (/dev/sdb), using its partition tool to generously size my partitions. I carefully logged the new partitions and their mount points. For each partition on /dev/sda (except for /boot and swap), I used dd to create a gzip'd image and stored all of those images on a backup drive.
I then used dd to complete the task of migrating all of these partitions (again, all but /boot and swap) to their respective partitions on /dev/sdb.
Ran blkid to see all of my partitions. I noticed that some of the UUIDs existed on both drives. I thought "hmmm...that's weird" and moved on.
Mounted my new root partition (/dev/sdb6) on a contrived mount point.
Edited /etc/fstab (after backing it up) and carefully replaced all the old UUIDs with their respective counterparts on my new drive. Also replaced the device reference for /boot with its respective counterpart. Crossed fingers. Rebooted. Got some warnings about missing UUIDs.
After the system completely booted, I used the graphical disk utility and saw that the system mounted some partitions from /dev/sda and others from /dev/sdb. Not good.
Here are the steps I took since lurking here:
It seems my installation still has an identity crisis. What steps should I take from here to force my Ubuntu installation to only use my partitions on /dev/sdb?
Was there an easier way for me to migrate my installation to a new drive?
I migrated from 9.10 to 10.4 during the package installation I have the error: E: resolvconf: il sottoprocesso vecchio script di post-installation ha restituito lo stato di errore 1 ( In italian because I install the Italian version). The problem is: the file /etc/resol.conf I can't modify or delete from all user, root also.
My problem is that I use a awful lot of characters. I do math which means I want to be able to type Greek letters and mathematical symbols, and I also want to be able to type Polish and Russian characters. I figure for Cyrillic I should just make a separate layout since I wouldn't want to type with one hand on some special key all the time anyway. What I would like to do would be to use the right alt for Polish and math symbols (there are enough keys to go around) and use a different shortcut for Greek letters, preferably not involving switching layouts.
I know only a very small bit about how xkb works (I at least know where the layout files are, what each key is called, and how to do trivial manipulations, but that's it) and none of the tutorials i could find were very informative about what I need to know.
One stupid, hopefully easy problem is that I do not know how to input math characters because I do not know their names (for characters like integral, less than or equal to, direct sum, etc) or if/how I can put in Unicode ids or something of that nature.
The other thing is that I don't know how to set up a separate key combination (say right-alt - backslash) to use Greek letters.
currently I'm running postgresql-8.3 server on lenny 32 bits. There are also installed some standard packages but in the near future I'd like to install mysql server on the same machine. I believe that 64 bit system will be faster so I decided to change from 32 to 64 bit. how to migrate postgresql database from 32 to 64 bits. I have postgresql data dir on separate volume. Will it be possible if I just use it as it is now in new 64 bit system with the same postgresql server config files or do I have to dump data and restore it in new installation ?
I started using ubuntu now again as my second os. when i want to do some gaming i still need windows most of the times and some windows apps i just cant find equal versions in ubuntu at least not as user friendly yet. Now my question is this. I did not migrate my music to ubuntu during the installation due to i simply forgot so is there anyway to simply relaunch just the Migration assistant ? All i want is that my music from windows appears when i go to my music folder this will also make it easier for me when i use amarok.
I have transferred my Ubuntu partition (along with Windows XP and Linux swap partitions) to a new HDD using TrueImage's sector-by-sector method. Ubuntu runs quite well after I've made the suggested updates/upgrades. System version now is 10:04 Lucid Lynx. However, I'm missing the ALT-CTRL-F1 .. F6 terminals. All I see is a pattern of vertical stripes in the colors of my gnome desktop. Each time I switch from graphic mode to textmode the pattern shows a different variation of these colors.
I've been supporting Microsoft OS and Apps since 1992. I hold a BSEET and am one test shy of MCSE. I have my own Computer Support business helping Individuals and Small Business keep their M$ PCs running.
I'm also sick of Microsoft. I'm tired of their manipulations, deceptions, and failure to produce Software that serves the needs me and my customers. I've been watching Open Source for 3 years hoping for an Alternative I could recommend to my customers. I'm very excited about Ubuntu 9.10.
There is just one thing missing. I think it can be done, but I need the help of the experienced Users here. What I'd like to do is copy the existing "C:Documents and Settings" folder to a USB Drive, Install Ubuntu using the entire disk (blow Windows away), and finally point the (excellent) Windows Migration Tool in Ubuntu to those Profiles and have it Import them just like it does in a Parallel Install.
I found this:
Code: 1.) Fire up live CD
2.) Open up a terminal
3.) sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list and remove all comments (#) in front of the repositories, and save the file.
4.) sudo apt-get ntfs-3g
5.) mkdir /mnt/win
6.) ntfsmount /dev/<disk and partition number here> /mnt/win
7.) mkdir /mnt/win/users
8.) mv /mnt/win/Documents and Settings/<userprofile here> /mnt/win/users/
9.) umount /mnt/win
10.) start ubiquity from the commandline wih the new-partitioner switch like this: ubiquity --new-partitioner
11.) after the setup is done do NOT reboot
12.) mount the disk in step 6 again and move the profiles from step 8 back to the Documents and Settings folder. Else Windows might throw a tantrum not finding profiles.
But it fails at the sudo apt-get ntfs-3g command. I guess that's because this was written for a version that's several years old. update the Process for v9.10?
I'm in the Live CD and I've followed the steps to the migration assistant. Where it should say "Windows XP Media Center Edition" it claims that "There were no other users or operating systems suitable for importing from"
Also, on the where to install to step, Where at the top it should say that another operating system is installed, it is blank.
I'm wondering if I continue the installation, on boot-up will it detect windows?
I have searched this, and after 15 pages of results, I have not come to a definite conclusion.
My wubi installation works perfectly but since i cannot restart my netbook i cannot get to use it. however, i am a bioinformatician and for that type of work, i need linux.
migrating my ubuntu wubi install to a different partition on my hdd, from within windows (without restart) in order for me to mount that partition using vmware player and booting up ubuntu from windows. (and to possibly be able to do that from ubuntu as well later.)
so i need to move this wubi install.
I am used to old school move files and edit boot ini and such if there is no automatic way of doing this from within windows.
I have been able to get most of the way through the process of changing from using ext4 back to using ext3, but something is not quite right so my system does not boot properly.
I have a system that was running Karmic Koala 9.10 as a server (no graphical environment). I had two drives using RAID1 with LVM on top, where the logical volumes of oldvg (old volume group) were using mostly ext4. /boot was not part of the RAID: it's on a separate physical drive and uses ext2.
I recently added two more drives and used RAID1 and LVM, and made all lv partitions (/, /usr, /var, /tmp, /opt, /home, /srv) ext3. I used rsync to duplicate the contents onto the logical volumes of newvg (new volume group). I was careful with rsync's option switches, and this part seems to be fine.
I also edited (the new) /etc/fstab and changed the UUIDs of the seven mount points to point to the logical volumes that are part of newvg instead of oldvg, and added new entries to (the new) /boot/grub/menu.lst to refer to newvg in addition to those that I left around to refer to oldvg.
This wasn't sufficient: rebooting here failed, but I went in with a rescue disk, and first updated /boot/grub/device.map to include the new physical drives. I then mounted all the new logical volumes, mounted boot also at its proper place, and entered a chroot of the new system as it should be mounted. Once there, (and after making a backup of /boot) I ran "update-initramfs -k all -c" to rebuild the initrd images that were stored on /boot. Finally, I also edited /etc/mtab so that the two entries that referred to oldvg now refer to newvg instead.
Now, the machine begins to boot from newvg, but the console text includes messages like:
And a bit later,
Now, at this shell if I type mount, I see:
I am actually confused as to why there are only entries for /root and /var in /etc/mtab, actually, instead of entries for all of the main mount points. I am thinking it must be part of the boot staging process, because there are entries for newvg-usr, newvg-tmp, etc. in /etc/fstab.
When I type any of pvdisplay, vgdisplay, or lvdisplay, I get
In fact, even if I run lvm, I get a similar error:
However, if I go back to the rescue cd, pvdisplay, vgdisplay, and lvdisplay do show that all of the partitions from both the old and new volume groups are available.
I am having a prolbem with my ubuntu 9.10 operating system. Is there anyway I can roll back the setting and files that I deleted previously without totaly reinstalling the system.
I'm sure there has to be a way. F15 is a total nightmare on my system. Everything I try to do causes a crash. I HATE the gnome 3 desktop. Can someone kindly show me the door back into the happy land of Fedora version 14?
I have just installed Fedora 14 on a machine which already has Windows XP on one hard drive and Ubuntu 10.10 on another. Fedora was supposed to be installed alongside Ubuntu
The installation appeared to be successful in that the process came to a natural end and I was told to reboot. However on rebooting I found that the boot menu did not contain an option to choose Fedora and was the same as it had been before I installed Fedora.
I opted to boot Ubuntu and then opened a terminal and typed 'sudo update-grub' and got a message to the effect that grub.conf was being created. When I rebooted again, there was still no sign of Fedora.
Is there any way of getting Fedora to boot? I am not sufficiently experienced in Linux to try anything else as the computer that I am using is not mine and I don't want to wreck the data of the owner. I did do 'sudo fdisk -l' whilst booted in Ubuntu and I saw that there are Linux partitions on both hard drives but I don't know how to tell which is Ubuntu and which is Fedora
I install Fed 14 on VMware player. The size was 2.7GB. After three hours the size is 4.3 gb. How do I reduce back to 2.7gb? How do I create USB drive version?Is there a way not to swap to disk on VMWare player.
I'm trying to install on HP ML 350 F13 G6 with standard array controller and 3 drives in raid 5. Well, when the installation process get the screen that shows the files copied (all copied...) , it freezes and does not advance more. Perhaps groped a firmware update? Other distributions are installed correctly.
I ve made a test release install and my grub have been reinstalled thus cleaning previous partition table occurred. What can i do to bring back my fedora and prevent it in future.
I am having to get off UBUNTU cause flash runs HORRIBLY.. I can log on to facebook and open apps and FF 3.0.18 almost comes to a hault same thing for ..... the video lags anyways, someone on another Linux forum im on said try FEDORA. well what if I have windows XP and lets say FEDORA isnt for me.. how do I reset the bootloader back to XP'S will it do like UBUNTU and say ok XP'S bootloader is on SDA2 so this is where I need to go so when I run the XP recovery cd, I can FIXBOOT FIXMBR then its restored back to XP's then just go in and delete the partition
I ask cause, I got really screwed by suse... It put my boot loader on ANOTHER partition instead of finding XP'S and basically was locked out and had to reinstall windows cause I had no clue how to link it back up to the partition that XP was on, because I had no clue it was put somewhere else. I was so mad.
I installed Fedora 13. While booting I press any key to get the os to boot option. It displays fedora and other. I select other (windows). It says BOOTMGR missing. Press ctrl+alt+del.
How to bring Desktop back again on Fedora 15. We have developed an application that places some shortcuts on Desktop. With Desktop disappearing in Fedora 15, those shortcuts will become useless. Can we shorten the learning process in Gnome 3?
Ubuntu 8.10 is showing its routine check up and after it showing a Terminal Interface with [fail]
I'm using Lenovo 300 N100 (laptop)
I'm going to install Slax on a USB Drive to back up the rest of my personal information in my hard drive (where Ubuntu 8.10 is installed), but some of the files (that I've made) cannot be read by other "groups" except the owner
How to hack the permission to access ALL files and to copy them?
i'm just installed VirtualBox following this guide:[URL]...then i created a WinXP VM. installed GuestAdditions and everything seems to be fine, display was fine 32bit 800x600. Anyhow after rebooting, the VM only display 8bit and 640x480 for XP... this is really weird. anyone come across this before? i can't seem to figure out a fix to get my display back to normal
I thought it would be cool and easy to install Windows 7, ended up being a headache and worthless so far. Now I only have the windows bootloader with vista and windows 7 as options. How can I get grub going again? I have all 6 fedore core 10 cds and a live cd in case those will help, I am using the live cd to play in fedora right now, but I am not sure how to get access to grub.conf and what to change in it, because I am pretty sure I have to add Windows 7 to it.
I'm a Linux college course student and can't et help from my "instructor". As part of my class, I've installed Fedora 12 on a secondary hard drive. I don't know the first thing about Linux and am totally lost trying to get back to my other hard drive to access the Windows XP OS. All my stuff for the courses I'm taking this summer are stored THERE. Can anyone help me with very simple, easy to follow instructions for how to get back to Windows AND also have access to Linus on the secondary drive?
My laptop is Toshiba Portege 2000. Every time after I installed new ubuntu release, I have to replace the xorg.conf to fix the resolution problem b/c I got 800 x 600 screen only. However, after the 10.04 installation. I only got 1/2 of the screen of resolution. I cannot even see most of my terminal screen.
I have never had to do this before But I'm giving my laptop to my mother when my new one arrives and I need to remove the ubuntu installation and get the disk space back.
A few months ago the install stopped working. I can't remember what the error said... and tbh I can't be bothered to reboot twice to read it, but it has to be removed now anyways.
Had a look in windows to see if I can do anything in the disk manager, but it appears I can't. Oh wise ones, please, which path should one take?
