k061198
asked on
reinstalling linux RH
Is it possible to reinstall linux without losing all information, like it is possible to reinstall windows, without losing files and programs.
if so how does one go about.
/k
if so how does one go about.
/k
That depends on how you set the system up originally. If you took the default and created just one filesystem ("/"), then no. If you created separate partitions for some of the data like "/home" then the contents of /home can be preserved. The install process is going to completely wipe out any of the partitions it will be installing on, so everything on those filesystems will be lost.
uh? restart the install and chose "upgrade" that preserves the user data.
Well yes, upgrade preserves the data, but to the best of my knowledge it doesn't "re-install" the OS if it's the same version as what's on the CD.
ASKER
jlevie, I have seperated partitions, with /home
and /usr and /.
If I reinstall the RH, when I come to Disk Druid
all partiton names are gone. Will It work if I only rename
the / partition with /, and don't give the other partitions any new name and don't include them in the check. Or what?
/k
and /usr and /.
If I reinstall the RH, when I come to Disk Druid
all partiton names are gone. Will It work if I only rename
the / partition with /, and don't give the other partitions any new name and don't include them in the check. Or what?
/k
ASKER
jlevie, I have seperated partitions, with /home
and /usr and /.
If I reinstall the RH, when I come to Disk Druid
all partiton names are gone. Will It work if I only rename
the / partition with /, and don't give the other partitions any new name and don't include them in the check. Or what?
/k
and /usr and /.
If I reinstall the RH, when I come to Disk Druid
all partiton names are gone. Will It work if I only rename
the / partition with /, and don't give the other partitions any new name and don't include them in the check. Or what?
/k
Just before you got to the disk druid screen there's an option to either "Remove data" or "Manually partiton". I suspect that you chose "Remove data". The other option would have shown the existing partitions. Disk druid won't assume it knows the mount point for each of the existing partitions, so you set those by selecting each partition and "Edit" the entry.
Once all of the partitions have been edited to set the mount point, the next screen shows which partitions to format. You want to be sure that you uncheck the ones that have data you want to preserve, like /home. The system needs to overwrite / and /usr, so you want to be sure that you've saved any data that's there before re-installing.
A good way of managing a system is to have at least two non-system partitions. I like to use /home and /opt. User dirs, etc go in /home and utilities and applications that don't have to be re-installed just because the the OS was re-installed/upgraded go in /opt. For instance, I need the 128bit version of Netscape rather than the 40bit version furnished w/RH. So I install it in /opt and set my path to find it there before it would find the system copy. Likewise Acrobat, StarOffice, etc all get loaded to /opt. I also create /opt/local and link /usr/local to it so that PD tools don't have to be reinstalled all the time.
Once all of the partitions have been edited to set the mount point, the next screen shows which partitions to format. You want to be sure that you uncheck the ones that have data you want to preserve, like /home. The system needs to overwrite / and /usr, so you want to be sure that you've saved any data that's there before re-installing.
A good way of managing a system is to have at least two non-system partitions. I like to use /home and /opt. User dirs, etc go in /home and utilities and applications that don't have to be re-installed just because the the OS was re-installed/upgraded go in /opt. For instance, I need the 128bit version of Netscape rather than the 40bit version furnished w/RH. So I install it in /opt and set my path to find it there before it would find the system copy. Likewise Acrobat, StarOffice, etc all get loaded to /opt. I also create /opt/local and link /usr/local to it so that PD tools don't have to be reinstalled all the time.
Greetings.
Assuming 6.1, there's another snag,
in that if you choose a pre-canned configuration (KDE wks, Gnome wks...),
the installation will insist on wiping the partition table. So you have to choose a 'custom' install. One of the first screens also has a lesser known button that allows fdisk instead of disk druid, which is also a good idea in this predicament.
Cheers,
alf
Assuming 6.1, there's another snag,
in that if you choose a pre-canned configuration (KDE wks, Gnome wks...),
the installation will insist on wiping the partition table. So you have to choose a 'custom' install. One of the first screens also has a lesser known button that allows fdisk instead of disk druid, which is also a good idea in this predicament.
Cheers,
alf
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