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Moving Home directory? - Wubi install/Mint4win

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 3:35 pm
by romansparky
First off, I'd like to say hi, this is my first post and it probably won't be my last! XD I'm brand new to dealing with Linux so I've been trying to figure stuff along the way.

Something I haven't been able to solve myself is a certain weird situation:
Under my filesystem, I have a bunch of files. This includes my /home and /root directories, but it also includes a folder called host.
My entire hard drive is the partition, so around 480 GB; Linux Mint OS is installed and seems to act like a separate partition, as it has a cap of 20 GB, but is only filled to ~11GB.
My /home and /root folders seem to be designated under the OS folder and not in the rest of the hard drive, so my space for programs and games is extremely limited.

I'm not so worried about my /root folder, but how would i move /home safely under the /host folder (assuming this is what the rest of my blank hard drive is designated under)? I'd really just like to use up the extra space and not be confined to such a small space. I thought that re-partitioning would have been the solution, but as I said, somehow my entire hard drive is the partition.

*As a note, Linux Mint is the only OS I have on this hard drive, I have windows on my first HD and installed Linux first from mint4win and then did the installation from inside Mint.

I've tried to be as descriptive as possible. As a newb however I don't know how unique of a predicament I have, or If I've described the problem enough. Any help would be appreciated!
.

Re: Moving Home directory?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 3:46 pm
by SiKing
I suspect there is some misunderstanding about the Linux partitioning here.
Post the contents of your /etc/fstab for further help.

Re: Moving Home directory?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 3:51 pm
by romansparky
I have two things, one is fstab.d, which is a folder that has nothing in it (not even hidden) that I can find.

The other is just a text document, which I'm guessing is the correct one. Here's the text I found in that:
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
/host/linuxmint/disks/root.disk / ext4 loop,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/host/linuxmint/disks/swap.disk none swap loop,sw 0 0

Re: Moving Home directory?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 4:20 pm
by SiKing
So, during installation you created only one partition - you might have selected the "do everything for me" option - where your entire system resides: both the (Linux) operating system and your user files (your /home partition). From your previous post, this is probably the 20GB partition. You current Linux system is not able to "see" anything outside of this. This choice is very difficult, if not impossible, to change after installation - meaning that if you want to change this, you will need to re-install. If you do this, consider installing directly from the CD, not from Windows (not from mint4win), as a dual-boot system. It will make this sort of thing easier to deal with in the future.

The Linux system expect that all your user files explicitly live under the /home location. Moving this to another location will (in all likelihood) break your system.
HTH.

Re: Moving Home directory?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 4:25 pm
by altair4
That looks like a Wubi install - in Mint I think it's called Mint4Win ?

It's not a true install it's more of a virtual machine that is installed within the control of the Windows OS you installed it in. "/host" is the partition where you placed the Mint VM. Windows sees it as a file.

I wish I knew more about Wubi but I don't think you can do what you want since /host is an NTFS partition and you can't put /home on an NTFS partition - at least not all of it. If this was a true install you'd be able to place certain folders on it and then symlink or bind it back to your home directory but I just don't know if you can do that with Wubi.

My suggestion: Change the title of your first post to include the word "Mint4Win" so that those who use it can respond.

Re: Moving Home directory? - Wubi install/Mint4win

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 5:53 pm
by romansparky
Well, the only real reason why i didn't create the disk was I didn't have a disk/flash drive to do the install from. I thought that because I installed from within linux it would intall it the "correct" way; however I guess it makes sense it is booting through windows because I can find it when I switch to windows 7. I guess I would be willing to re-install, however I had to write a lot of different fixes for linux to get it to work, like changing the synaptic two finger scroll and a fix for my network card.

If it isn't possible to move home folder after the type of install I did, what would be the steps I should take in order to separate my home folder from the OS partition?

Re: Moving Home directory? - Wubi install/Mint4win

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:23 pm
by SiKing
romansparky wrote:If it isn't possible to move home folder after the type of install I did, what would be the steps I should take in order to separate my home folder from the OS partition?
  1. backup everything
  2. perform a proper reinstall from CD/DVD/USB
  3. restore your backup