[SOLVED] How partition Mint 17.1 KDE for NAS data transfer?

MagnifiKat · Post by **MagnifiKat** » Sun May 03, 2015 4:49 pm

Greetings from Ireland! What, please, is the best and safest procedure for transferring all files, configurations, preferences, downloads, etc, from our existing openSUSE 11.4 KDE to a brand new installation of Mint 17.1 KDE, using a Netgear 4-bay NAS as the intermediate back-up and cloning medium?

In particular, I shall appreciate very much receiving kind recommendations on the partitioning aspect of this task. Should the hard disc of our Mint installation PC be set up with THREE (3) partitions: namely /, /home and /boot? Or are extra partitions required? Also, whatever be the optimum partitioning, would Mint then partition and transfer data safely from openSUSE 11.4 KDE via an NAS full clone in X-RAID2 mode? Please advise!

Many thanks, fellow penguins!

MagnifiKat

-----------------

Siemens “Esprimo” P5616 desktop | Fujitsu D2461-A12 micro-BTX mobo |
KDE 4.6.00 (4.6.0) "release 6" | Linux 2.6.37.6-24-desktop x86_64 |
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2·4GHz dual-core CPU | DVD SuperMulti |
1TB HDDs | 8GB DDR2-800MHz dual-channel RAM | nVidia MCP51 Ethernet |
nVidia GeForce 7300LE 256MB TrueMemory | openSUSE 11.4 (X86-64) |
Netgear ReadyNAS RN104 | 1·2GHz CPU | 512MB | OS 6.2.2 | X-RAID2 |

MagnifiKat · Post by **MagnifiKat** » Mon Jun 08, 2015 6:46 am

Over a month now having passed, I am disappointed that no-one is able to answer my query. Re optimum partitioning of Mint 17.1 KDE and subsequent importation of all files, configurations, preferences, downloads, etc, from our existing openSUSE 11.4 KDE, I am somewhat confused by the oftentimes contradictory advice out there on the Internet; so I was hoping that some kind, knowledgeable folks at Linux Mint Forums just might possibly have the partitioning know-how and experience to be able be of help to me. But maybe not?

MagnifiKat

Habitual · Post by **Habitual** » Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:49 pm

MagnifiKat wrote:Should the hard disc of our Mint installation PC be set up with THREE (3) partitions: namely /, /home and /boot? Or are extra partitions required? ...would Mint then partition and transfer data safely from openSUSE 11.4 KDE via an NAS full clone in X-RAID2 mode? Please advise!

The data transfer is up to you, not the installer.
I always only use /, /swap, and /home

Why you think you need a /boot partition?

Buzzsaw · Post by **Buzzsaw** » Mon Jun 08, 2015 2:47 pm

I didn't see your post a month ago, otherwise I'd have replied then.

What, please, is the best and safest procedure for transferring all files, configurations, preferences, downloads, etc, from our existing openSUSE 11.4 KDE to a brand new installation of Mint 17.1 KDE, using a Netgear 4-bay NAS as the intermediate back-up and cloning medium?

I would simply manually copy all my files to an external hard drive. Since you're changing from openSUSE to Linux Mint, it's probably not a good idea to migrate settings files. Different distributions have different settings files, though some files, such as .bash_history are universal.

Should the hard disc of our Mint installation PC be set up with THREE (3) partitions

Not necessarily. I use only '/' and 'swap'. If you don't allocate a partition for '/boot' and '/home' etc., they'll automatically get put in the root ('/') partition.

are extra partitions required?

If your computer is a recent one that has an UEFI, you'll need a small partition for that. But you'll know about that, since the installer won't work unless you let it create it.

MagnifiKat · Post by **MagnifiKat** » Tue Jun 09, 2015 12:45 pm

Habitual wrote:The data transfer is up to you, not the installer.
I always only use /, /swap, and /home

Why you think you need a /boot partition?

Thank you for your kind reply, Habitual. I have noted in my research that some people like to have an additional (primary) /boot partition in order to hold the Boot GRUB. But perhaps such partition would be superfluous with Mint 17.1?

MagnifiKat

MagnifiKat · Post by **MagnifiKat** » Tue Jun 09, 2015 1:40 pm

Buzzsaw wrote:
Should the hard disc of our Mint installation PC be set up with THREE (3) partitions:
Not necessarily. I use only '/' and 'swap'. If you don't allocate a partition for '/boot' and '/home' etc., they'll automatically get put in the root ('/') partition.

Thank you for your most helpful response, Buzzsaw. I understand also from my research that having a separate partition for /home would permit me (if need be) more easily reinstall the current version of Mint KDE and indeed, furthermore, enable me upgrade later to a newer version of same via the / (root) partition ── and, apparently, with far less risk of losing my data. Correct?

I have read also that a separate /home partition would enable all my settings to carry over from one Linux distro to the next. If this be the case, this presently is what I would have in mind to do.

MagnifiKat

Buzzsaw · Post by **Buzzsaw** » Tue Jun 09, 2015 5:47 pm

MagnifiKat wrote:
Buzzsaw wrote:
Should the hard disc of our Mint installation PC be set up with THREE (3) partitions:
Not necessarily. I use only '/' and 'swap'. If you don't allocate a partition for '/boot' and '/home' etc., they'll automatically get put in the root ('/') partition.
Thank you for your most helpful response, Buzzsaw. I understand also from my research that having a separate partition for /home would permit me (if need be) more easily reinstall the current version of Mint KDE and indeed, furthermore, enable me upgrade later to a newer version of same via the / (root) partition ── and, apparently, with far less risk of losing my data. Correct?

I have read also that a separate /home partition would enable all my settings to carry over from one Linux distro to the next. If this be the case, this presently is what I would have in mind to do.

MagnifiKat

I think the main benefit is that the home directory is isolated, and so is meant to be safer than if it's in the root partition. I don't think it really is safer though. If a hard drive fails, all of the partitions are destroyed.

I personally wouldn't want to install a new version of a distribution and keep the old home directory, because distributions and their programs constantly change. So for example, a program might have been changed between one version of Linux Mint and the next, and it might therefore not work properly if it uses an old configuration file.

MagnifiKat · Post by **MagnifiKat** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 2:42 pm

Thank you for your further kind response, Buzzsaw, and my apologies for the unavoidable delay in reverting. I have a few related follow-up questions which I intend posting on Sunday evening (June 14). Cheers!

MagnifiKat

MagnifiKat · Post by **MagnifiKat** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 3:30 pm

Buzzsaw wrote: I think the main benefit is that the home directory is isolated, and so is meant to be safer than if it's in the root partition. I don't think it really is safer though. If a hard drive fails, all of the partitions are destroyed.

I personally wouldn't want to install a new version of a distribution and keep the old home directory, because distributions and their programs constantly change. So for example, a program might have been changed between one version of Linux Mint and the next, and it might therefore not work properly if it uses an old configuration file.

Hi, folks, I am back at my PC again!

Please note our present openSUSE 11.4 KDE hard disc has two partitions: / (root) and /home, each with ext3 filesystem. So, buzzsaw, since your recommendation would be that I use only / (root) and swap for our new Mint installation, which of our two existing openSUSE HDD partitions (root or /home) should I select to copy across to a new installation of Mint 17.1? I presume root (/) only?

I shall need, in particular, to transfer from openSUSE to Mint the following:─

KMail and Thunderbird: all emails, extensions, configurations, folder properties, account settings, preferences, etc.

Firefox browser: all bookmarks, extensions, downloads, history, search engine list management, etc.

LibreOffice Writer: sundry customisations and options.

NetworkManager: KDE Control Module Ethernet configurations.

Dolphin file manager: sundry configurations.

Plus ... of course, all Documents (= 10 master folders subdivided, and yet further subdivided, into many hundreds of individual files), along with Downloads, Audios and Videos.

So, according to whether I am to copy across from openSUSE’s root or /home partition, is it my understanding that the Mint installer would reassemble, correctly-placed and automatically, all the above-listed files, configurations, etc? And what would be the subsequent procedure were I to have missed some important openSUSE files?

Lastly, when selecting Something else to create new partitions for Mint 17.1, should I check, also, Use LVM with the new Linux Mint installation; or should I just leave that unchecked?

MagnifiKat

mbohets · Post by **mbohets** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 4:11 pm

When I install a new distro, I first copy the entire content of my home directory to my nas,
Then install the new distro.
After that, I run a little postinstall script that installs all software I like and that is not installed by default
( for example brother printer driver, wireshark, frostwire, .....)
Then I copy back my data to the new home folder, and some application settings like browser favorites and mails, ...

In the past I always used 3 partitions, / /home and swap.
Lately I don't make a separate partition for /home anymore, on my laptop I just use / and swap.
The reason for this is that I started using virtual machines and the VM images are not stored in /home,
so one day my / partition was full because of the VM images, since then I no longer use separate partitions,
as it is more flexible for disk use.

On servers I would use separate partitions though, to protect the OS from growing logfiles and users taking up too much
diskspace and so have an impact on the correct working of the OS.
So there I use /, /boot, /home, /var and swap

Buzzsaw · Post by **Buzzsaw** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 8:30 pm

All settings, documents, emails, history, and everything else like that are in your home directory.

I don't think it would work out very well if you copied everything in your current openSUSE home directory to your new Linux Mint one, for the reason I said in my post on Tuesday Jun 09 at 10:47 pm. It would be ok to copy documents, emails, bookmarks and other personal files, but copying settings files would not be a good idea in my opinion.

is it my understanding that the Mint installer would reassemble, correctly-placed and automatically, all the above-listed files, configurations, etc?

That wouldn't happen. The installer doesn't deal with those things.

Lastly, when selecting Something else to create new partitions for Mint 17.1, should I check, also, Use LVM with the new Linux Mint installation; or should I just leave that unchecked?

If you don't know what LVM is, then you don't need it.

MagnifiKat · Post by **MagnifiKat** » Mon Jun 15, 2015 1:31 pm

mbohets wrote:When I install a new distro, I first copy the entire content of my home directory to my nas,
Then install the new distro.

Thank you for your kind response. Yes, this is just what I plan to do: ie. COPY everything on our openSUSE /home directory to our NAS device, prior to installing Linux Mint.

After that, I run a little postinstall script that installs all software I like and that is not installed by default
( for example brother printer driver, wireshark, frostwire, .....)

Hmmm! ... er ... well ... quite! Yes, mbohets, I can see where you are coming from; but I have yet to attain your higher level of expertise to enable me write such a post-installation script! Surely there must be a much simpler way of copying to Mint all (or, at least, most of) that which I listed in my Sun-14-Jun-2015 posting?

Then I copy back my data to the new home folder, and some application settings like browser favorites and mails, ...

In the past I always used 3 partitions, / /home and swap.
Lately I don't make a separate partition for /home anymore, on my laptop I just use / and swap.

Yes, I plan now to copy openSUSE data selectively from our NAS to Mint's root (/) partition only. So your good self and buzzsaw clearly are singing from the same hymn sheet with regard to dispensing with a Mint /home partition and, instead, using root (/) and swap only.

MagnifiKat

MagnifiKat · Post by **MagnifiKat** » Mon Jun 15, 2015 2:25 pm

Buzzsaw wrote:I don't think it would work out very well if you copied everything in your current openSUSE home directory to your new Linux Mint one, for the reason I said in my post on Tuesday Jun 09 at 10:47 pm. It would be ok to copy documents, emails, bookmarks and other personal files, but copying settings files would not be a good idea in my opinion.

Buzzsaw wrote:I personally wouldn't want to install a new version of a distribution and keep the old home directory, because distributions and their programs constantly change. So for example, a program might have been changed between one version of Linux Mint and the next, and it might therefore not work properly if it uses an old configuration file.

Yes, buzzsaw, thank you! I agree with your reasonings. Which is why, as stated in my reply to mbohets, I plan now to copy openSUSE data SELECTIVELY from our NAS onto Mint's root (/) partition only.

MagnifiKat wrote:Lastly, when selecting Something else to create new partitions for Mint 17.1, should I check, also, Use LVM with the new Linux Mint installation; or should I just leave that unchecked?
If you don't know what LVM is, then you don't need it. :wink:

The reason I asked was because our Netgear ReadyNAS uses Logical Volume Management (LVM). So I was concerned there might be an issue of system incompatibility were I to check Use LVM with the new Linux Mint installation.

MagnifiKat

Buzzsaw · Post by **Buzzsaw** » Tue Jun 16, 2015 12:56 pm

The reason I asked was because our Netgear ReadyNAS uses Logical Volume Management (LVM). So I was concerned there might be an issue of system incompatibility were I to check Use LVM with the new Linux Mint installation.

I don't know about this. I've never wanted to use LVM. Perhaps these pages will help.

MagnifiKat · Post by **MagnifiKat** » Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:24 am

Buzzsaw wrote: I don't know about this. I've never wanted to use LVM. Perhaps these pages will help.

Thanks for the interesting link, Buzzsaw! Accordingly, I propose leave unchecked Use LVM with the new Linux Mint installation.

I am most confident now that I shall be able undertake a brand new installation of Mint 17.1 KDE, and import data from our Netgear ReadyNAS, as per your most kind recommendations.

So thanks a million to your good self, Buzzsaw, along with your fellow Linux Mint aficionados, Habitual and mbohets, for your time and most helpful collective inputs to guide me in this my upcoming task. Thus, I have marked now this thread as Solved; but, if yet there be any subsequent installation problem, thereupon I would be opening a separate thread. Thanks again! And cheers!

MagnifiKat

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