Linux Mint Forums

Hello,

My first post here on the forums and I'm a relatively inexperienced linux user as well!

I'm currently got a dual boot system:

1. Mandriva (~300gb partition)
2. Win XP (~90gb partition)

What I'd like to do with my intended install of Linux Mint Felicia XFCE is install that **over** the Mandriva partition, if possible retaining all the files etc in the Mandriva /home directory (I'm doing a backup of all the files onto an external hdd just in case though).

I'd also like to wipe the XP partition, convert that partition to free space so the eventual Linux Mint partition will have pretty much all the hard drive.

I'm sure I'm ok with deleting the XP partition and making that free space through gparted, but would I best do that first before starting the install of Linux Mint?

Although my main concern at the moment is ensuring that the stuff in my current /home directory is still there after I do an install of Linux Mint!

Any help appreciated!

Thanks!

MintyFreshGnome

If your data files are on a separate partition you should have no trouble installing Mint over Mandriva and retaining your files. Run the Mint live CD and select install. When the partitioner comes up, select "Manual" and click Forward. From the partition table, select the Mandriva root partition and click "Edit Partition". Choose "Format as ext3" from the first drop down menu and Mount as / from the second menu. click Format partition and then click Okay (or Next -It has been a while since I did this). This will return you to the partition table. Click forward to continue with the installation.

You can also get rid of Windows at this stage. Just select the Windows partition and click "Delete Partition". You can leave the space as unallocated for now, you can always ad it to your Mint or data partition if/when needed.

If your data is not on a separate partition I'm afraid there is not much you can do beyond saving it to a separate storage device. In this case, when you get to the partitioning stage of the install check "Manual". On the next page select "create a new partition table". This will erase all existing partitions. Set your Mint partitions however you think you need them.( see this post for some very good partitioning advice. http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=11872 )

Good luck and welcome to Linux Mint.

PS You may want to wait a week or two to install Mint. I just read in the Mint blog that the Mint 7 RC will be out within a week.

Thanks for that response Aging Technogeek!

Although just to clarify something, when you mean are my files on a separate partition do you separate from the partition I installed Mandriva linux on?

As currently the ~350gb partition where I've Mandriva installed, the /home directory there has all the files etc I would like to keep, which is around 300gb+ of files!

In other words, I've keep all the data in the Mandriva partition's /home directory, not another "data" partition...

Thanks,

MintyFreshGnome

EDIT: just noticed your re-post. Yes, that was the query. To install mint, you'll need to take a complete copy of all your files first.

Hi, in terms of the partitioning, if you want to give Mint XFCE the whole drive, just select the "Guided, use entire drive" option at the partitioning stage, this way you also don't have to explicitly get rid of XP, it'll happen automatically (though it will also overwrite anything else on the hard drive at the same time). Once you've installed, you can start copying the data back to your /home (I wouldn't recommend restoring any files beginning with a dot (like .bashrc etc.) unless you know what you're doing). If you want something slightly more difficult, but smarter, I'd recommend a separate /data partition which means you don't have to manually backup and restore your main data files (Documents, Pictures, etc.): http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 80#p140646

Also, yes I'd recommend waiting for the next release too, but be aware that although the main (gnome) version is to be released as an RC soon, the XFCE edition will likely be later (it is a community edition afterall) I think the XFCE edition was maybe a month and a half behind for the last release.

as it is not a 'huge' job to install LM, I'd actually shrink the 300 gb patition, & create two more .
& install LM to them as /root & /home. --> copy anything needed into /home & play around with the install.
then after a while or maybe when LM7 comes out, then change the hdd to something more suitable.
whilst preserving /home.

OK, brainwave. You could just declare your mandriva partition to become a data partition, install mint over the XP partition, and just tell it where to find the data files. This way you do not need a complete copy of your files at all, and you can still boot into mandriva if you want too. If this is what you want to do, then follow these steps:

Install Mint. When you get to the partitioning stage, select manual. Select your XP partition (probably the first one in the list), click "Edit Partition"
Choose use-as "Ext3 journalling filesystem", tick the format checkbox, and choose "/" as the mount point.
While you're there, select /media/mandriva as the mount point for your mandriva partition in a similar way *make sure the format box on this partition is NOT checked*
Continue with the installation.

When you boot into your new Mint install, run the following command to give you access to all the data files at /media/data: Now you can follow my last post in that topic to make the normal folders in /home access the data files: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 80#p146352

OK, brainwave. You could just declare your mandriva partition to become a data partition

good point . if mandriva is still not required, it can still be deleted, at a later date.

I'm in full agreement with emorrp1. If your data files are in the Mandriva partition, just install Mint over Windows.