Cannot move files from one partition to another under Mint 17.3
I am adding an external memory stick to a Chromebook running Mint 17.3. I have a Mint Live stick that I am booting from successfully. I have some folders under /home that I need to move to the memory stick. When I try to do so either A) nothing happens or B) I get a message that I do not have permission. When booting Mint Live from the memory stick the owner seems to be "mint". I think I need to somehow be perceived as "mint" or perhaps change ownership to some name that I make up. I can see the small original partition (12GB) and the external stick (128GB). My plan is to move the files, then just go back to booting normally (without Mint Live) and should have plenty of storage then.
I am really inexperienced with Linux, so any suggestions need to be step by step what to type, exactly.
I am really inexperienced with Linux, so any suggestions need to be step by step what to type, exactly.
An OS booted from LiveMedia acts just like when you have booted from a CD or DVD, it is read-only.
But you can mount the USB stick from within your OS. With mint you can probably to that directly from the filemanager by selecting the stick. After that you should be able save files to the stick without problems. Maybe you'll just have to open the file manager as root (this shouldn't be necessary if the file-system the stick is formatted to is FAT32).
But you can mount the USB stick from within your OS. With mint you can probably to that directly from the filemanager by selecting the stick. After that you should be able save files to the stick without problems. Maybe you'll just have to open the file manager as root (this shouldn't be necessary if the file-system the stick is formatted to is FAT32).
ASKER
I don't find File Manager. I have an icon labeled "Files", and it shows file icons plus the memory stick under "Devices", but I do not see a selection to mount it. I double clicked the stick, and it is clearly selected, but no "mount" command available.
ASKER
So, I found Accessories > Disks and then the USB stick. It appears to already be mounted, automatically at startup. Here is what I see:
Contents: Ext4 (version 1.0) - Mounted at /media/mint/---- (really long number)
Contents: Ext4 (version 1.0) - Mounted at /media/mint/---- (really long number)
did you try sudo like I said? or was that a silly suggestion...
ASKER
Stolsie: not sure how the whole path should be written. There are multiple "/home"s in the system, so don't know how to specify which one. The target stick is just shown as "128 GB volume"; do I need to name it?
at a guess you would type
sudo cp media/mint <destination>
sudo cp media/mint <destination>
"Files" probably is the file manager in mint (I currently don't use mint), and if you have clicked on the USB stick it is automatically mounted, and that would be under /media/mint/....
The long name you get for it is because it doesn't have a label. If you give the USB stick a label it'll use that label instead.
You might be able to start the file manager as root if you right click it, it may give you an option to run as admin then (don't know mint's desktop enough to know), or with some desktops you can also right click an empty desktop space, and then you get an option "Open Folder as root".
The long name you get for it is because it doesn't have a label. If you give the USB stick a label it'll use that label instead.
You might be able to start the file manager as root if you right click it, it may give you an option to run as admin then (don't know mint's desktop enough to know), or with some desktops you can also right click an empty desktop space, and then you get an option "Open Folder as root".
try running
nautilus
from command line
nautilus
from command line
ASKER
I went to the target file and copied the entire location entry plus /file then copied the entire target location. What I got was
"omitting directory 'media/mint/...../file'
The "....." is the device address.
"omitting directory 'media/mint/...../file'
The "....." is the device address.
Replace the "....." with your number you got there, or better navigate to it, then create a new folder within that, and afterwards open another filemanager, navigate to the data you want to copy, select it, and pull it over to the destination.
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ASKER
Nautilus is not installed. apt-get install fails; I think because I am booting from Mint Live and it is read only, so cannot install other applications.
ASKER
Article looks good. I did open the terminal and do "cd" until I got to the directory with the files. Did {ls} and the folders are shown. So did {cp *.*} and copied the memory stick location as the target, but what I got was
cp: cannot stat '*.*': no such file or directory
But I am logged into the source directory and {ls} shows folders, so don't under stand why it would not find anything to copy.
cp: cannot stat '*.*': no such file or directory
But I am logged into the source directory and {ls} shows folders, so don't under stand why it would not find anything to copy.
You should be able to install software, but that only temporarily until the next reboot.
ASKER
Not sure about everything I did, but the video gave me a start down the right road. I was able to drag and drop from old /home to the new stick. My son is now helping me get the stick into the /home directory minus the files I moved. Thanks for the help.
ASKER
Sorry for the delay; thought I had accepted this already.
ASKER
I have selected the answer with a link to a video as the best solution three times. It does not close out the question, when I log back in it is still an open question. I know the EE GUI has changed; what am I missing?
ASKER
Sorry for the delay; not familiar with the newer E-E GUI. Thanks for the help.
sudo cp source destination
I know its a copy but if it works you can then rm files at the location they are not needed