How to Run Linux CLI native w/o LMDE holding /home

[kurtking]

Can't use the CLI in a terminal window. Why not? The root problem is: My home drive is full & in use by Cinnamon – can’t rename the /home as a backup, so it appears that I need to shut down Cinnamon – or not start it up – so that I can do this key step from a native command line. Is that true? If so, how do I get there? (And return?)

The framework for my root problem solution is https://www.howtogeek.com/442101/how-to ... rd-drive/ but, written for small drives, BIOS, and MBR I had to make appropriate changes for my new(er) UEFI m/b and 3T drive w/ a 3T partition copy of the old 1T /home (77% full). Now, where the framework doc. says (halfway through)

Code: Select all

sudo mv /home /home.orig 

that command is blocked by /home being in use. Since I’m doing the commands in a terminal window I suspect it’s because of Cinnamon that is providing the window is holding /home.

The problem machine description:

Code: Select all

kurt@vel-lmde3:~$ inxi -Fxxxrz
System:
  Host: vel-lmde3 Kernel: 4.9.0-16-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc 
  v: 6.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.2.4 wm: muffin 4.2.2 dm: LightDM 1.18.3 
  Distro: LMDE 3 Cindy base: Debian 9.3 stretch 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: N/A v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 3 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Gigabyte model: 970A-DS3P v: x.x serial: <filter> 
  BIOS: American Megatrends v: F2j date: 12/29/2014 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: AMD Athlon II X4 635 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: K10 rev: 3 L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm bogomips: 23305 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/2900 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 
  3: 800 4: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Caicos [Radeon HD 6450/7450/8450 / R5 230 OEM] 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 
  chip ID: 1002:6779 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.2 driver: ati,radeon 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1280x1024~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD CAICOS (DRM 2.49.0 / 4.9.0-16-amd64 
  LLVM 3.9.1) 
  v: 3.3 Mesa 13.0.6 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD SBx00 Azalia vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:14.2 chip ID: 1002:4383 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.9.0-16-amd64 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Edimax EW-7811Un 802.11n Wireless Adapter [Realtek RTL8188CUS] 
  type: USB driver: rtl8192cu bus ID: 1-2:2 chip ID: 7392:7811 
  serial: <filter> 
  IF: wlx74da385c73ca state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 5.00 TiB used: 714.76 GiB (14.0%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST3250318AS size: 232.89 GiB 
  speed: 3.0 Gb/s rotation: 7200 rpm serial: <filter> rev: CC6B scheme: MBR 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Hitachi model: HUA722010CLA330 size: 931.51 GiB 
  speed: 3.0 Gb/s rotation: 7200 rpm serial: <filter> rev: A3PA scheme: MBR 
  ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Toshiba model: DT01ACA050 size: 465.76 GiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 7200 rpm serial: <filter> rev: A750 scheme: MBR 
  ID-4: /dev/sdd vendor: Hitachi model: HUA721075KLA330 43W9720 42C0416IBMV 
  size: 698.64 GiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: AB4A scheme: MBR 
  ID-5: /dev/sde vendor: Hitachi model: HUA723030ALA640 size: 2.73 TiB 
  speed: 3.0 Gb/s rotation: 7200 rpm serial: <filter> rev: AA10 scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 23.71 GiB used: 7.00 GiB (29.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdc1 
  ID-2: /home size: 916.77 GiB used: 707.75 GiB (77.2%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/sdb1 
  ID-3: swap-1 size: 9.77 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdc2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 17.2 C mobo: N/A gpu: radeon temp: 41 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com cindy main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
  2: deb https://deb.debian.org/debian stretch main contrib non-free
  3: deb https://deb.debian.org/debian stretch-updates main contrib non-free
  4: deb http://security.debian.org stretch/updates main contrib non-free
  5: deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org stretch main non-free
Info:
  Processes: 213 Uptime: 1m Memory: 9.81 GiB used: 620.1 MiB (6.2%) 
  Init: systemd v: 232 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 6.3.0 alt: 6 Shell: bash 
  v: 4.4.12 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.32 
kurt@vel-lmde3:~$ 

Since my /home is 77% full and I've already deleted some old large files to make it run (it still pauses occasionally), I really need to get through this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Kurt

[Aztaroth]

Partition:
ID-1: / size: 23.71 GiB used: 7.00 GiB (29.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdc1
ID-2: /home size: 916.77 GiB used: 707.75 GiB (77.2%) fs: ext4
dev: /dev/sdb1
ID-3: swap-1 size: 9.77 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdc2
Since my /home is 77% full and I've already deleted some old large files to make it run (it still pauses occasionally), I really need to get through this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Kurt

Are you absolutely sure this will solve your issue ?
Percentage is a relative notion : you've still more than 200 Gb left on your /home partition and I wouldn't bet your pauses come from lack of space.

And wouldn't it be safer just to move your Document folder files or part of it on another disk without touching the /home partition and consequently /etc/fstab ? And eventually loose or complicate Timeshift restoring because the UUID to restore in is part of the snapshot ?

However, if you absolutely want it done this way, use any bootable ISO Key (LMDE3 or 4). But as security tells to backup personal files first, you'd already have done what I suggest just above (migrate Documents files on another disk).

[axisofevil]

Have to ask - why are you still running LMDE3!

So your / is on sdc whilst your /home is on sdb.

So a failure of either disk will prevent a successful boot (at least without some repair work).
I would suggest a moderate sized /home be created on the same disk as / (sdc)

Create a partition (or two etc) on sdb to hold videos, documents or whatever.
These can be mounted via fstab as normal.

If you have a lot of references to these files/directories as being in /home, you can create appropriate symbolic links in the new /home.

Otherwise, you might as well look at LVM if you want to make a couple of medium sized disks act as a single large disk.
Although, loss of one disk = loss of all data.