Moving my home directory to another partition?

[stukennedyuk]

When I initially did my HD install, I didn't really leave enough space on the partition where I did the install, which in my case was hda2 (with hda1 as as FAT32 and hda3 as swap). I've since stripped hda1 down to the barest minimum as I don't use it anymore (WIN98SE boot partition) and have used that space to make hda4.....

So the question is, can I move, say, my /home/user (me!) directory onto hda4? and retain the working (system) stuff on hda2.....?

I recall this was an option during the HD install and has the advantage of keeping work (user) files separate from system stuff, should a system format/re-install be needed.....

Is this a daft question? - I know I can use the space on hda4 but the system doesn't view that as my user space, e.g. when I login..... Don't have a clue how to change this!

Cheers, Stuart.....

[rickenbacherus]

Yah you sure can move /home and Stephen wrote a howto for it. It's in the Docs section.

[m_yates]

I used this howto when moving my home directory:

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerwork...-partplan.html

[RobertB]

I used this howto when moving my home directory:

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerwork...-partplan.html

That looks interesting, but I like the Knoppix-based way better. Since I'm a Linux newbie, the IBM method's mounting/unmounting and switching to single-user mode would have been a bit more than I'd have been ready for. Besides, using Knoppix to move files & directories around on an already-installed system is just what it's designed for, right? Here's the direct link, by the way: http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.ph...PartitionHowTo

Sure, you could use a hand-cranked auger to drill a hole, if you really want to know how a hole gets drilled... but sometimes it's better to just use an electric drill.

By the way, don't make the mistake I did. I left off the final newline in my /etc/fstab file, and now Linux complains to me about it every time I boot. I just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.

Here's a question of my own on this subject: should I move anything other than /home? I've only got 6 gig between the two partitions (plus swap) -- would it be worth the trouble?

[m_yates]

the Knoppix howto and ibm howto use essentially the same commands. I'm not sure if they are both hand cranked augers or both electric drills, but they are essentially the same. I suggested the ibm howto because it has a little more explanation as to why things are done and what the commands do.

[rickenbacherus]

By the way, don't make the mistake I did. I left off the final newline in my /etc/fstab file, and now Linux complains to me about it every time I boot. I just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.

Simply go to the end of /etc/fstab and hit return. There just needs to be an empty line at the end of fstab.

Here's a question of my own on this subject: should I move anything other than /home? I've only got 6 gig between the two partitions (plus swap) -- would it be worth the trouble?

There's no 'right' or 'wrong' way to partition really but it certainly is possible to have Linux spread across multiple partitions. Here's my layout though on a larger drive:

Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda1 ext3 942M 363M 532M 41% /
/dev/hda3 ext3 2.8G 209M 2.5G 8% /home
/dev/hda6 ext3 942M 19M 876M 3% /tmp
/dev/hda7 ext3 942M 329M 566M 37% /var
/dev/hda2 ext3 2.8G 2.3G 356M 87% /usr

Of course I just did mine when I installed .