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Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without affecting /home?

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  Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without affecting /home? Kynn Jones <kynnjo@gmail.com> - 2016-02-22 05:40 +0100
    Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without  affecting /home? Dalios <dalios@eumx.net> - 2016-02-22 10:50 +0100
      Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without  affecting /home? Keith Bainbridge <keithrbaugroups@gmail.com> - 2016-02-22 11:40 +0100
    Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without  affecting /home? arian <debian@semioptimal.net> - 2016-02-22 11:30 +0100
      Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without  affecting /home? <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2016-02-22 12:10 +0100
    Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without  affecting /home? Jochen Spieker <ml@well-adjusted.de> - 2016-02-22 17:40 +0100
    Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without  affecting /home? "John L. Ries" <jries@salford-systems.com> - 2016-02-22 18:00 +0100

#164471 — Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without affecting /home?

My system is badly damaged, and it looks like the only way to fix it
is to do a full re-install.

I figure I will have to back everything up to an external drive,
reformat the hard drive, and install everything from scratch.

But I thought I'd ask if there's anything close to this that would not
require backing up everything and reformatting the hard disk.
Wouldn't it be possible, for example, to boot the system up from a
live CD, and reinstall the base system, leaving /home untouched?  (I
should mention that the hard disk in question is just one big
partition, including /home and everything else.)

Thanks in advance!

kj

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#164478 — Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without affecting /home?

On 02/22/2016 06:36 AM, Kynn Jones wrote:
> My system is badly damaged, and it looks like the only way to fix it
> is to do a full re-install.
> 
> I figure I will have to back everything up to an external drive,
> reformat the hard drive, and install everything from scratch.
> 
> But I thought I'd ask if there's anything close to this that would not
> require backing up everything and reformatting the hard disk.
> Wouldn't it be possible, for example, to boot the system up from a
> live CD, and reinstall the base system, leaving /home untouched?  (I
> should mention that the hard disk in question is just one big
> partition, including /home and everything else.)
> 
> Thanks in advance!
> 
> kj
> 
> 

You can certainly do it but I am not sure you want!

First of all you would have to move your /home to a new partition (to
the same disk or another) and you would need to start from a Live CD/USB
in order to do this step. Of course if you don't have another HD
available then you would have to partition the disk which is risky for
your data which you would have to backup elsewhere etc

Next is the new installation procedure where you will eventually connect
the new system with the old /home.

However let me note that some of the problems of your current
installation may live inside /home which means that you will still have
to deal with them. The /home folder contains not only your data but also
various settings files for your applications.

So, as I said, you can certainly do it but I am not sure you want!

Another approach would be to start a new thread (or more!) on this
helpful list in order to try to solve your system's problems. Of course
you can always re-install and start from scratch but how can you be sure
you will not end on the same position after a while.


Dalios

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#164482 — Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without affecting /home?

On 22/02/16 20:10, Dalios wrote:
> First of all you would have to move your /home to a new partition (to
> the same disk or another) and you would need to start from a Live CD/USB
> in order to do this step.


Or move /home from a terminal as root.  But if you have to create a new 
partition you might as well move /home while you are using the live CD.

-- 
Keith Bainbridge

keithrbaugroups@gmail.com

+61 (0)447 667 468

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#164481 — Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without affecting /home?

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Just to make sure, your filesystem is OK, right?

> But I thought I'd ask if there's anything close to this that would not
> require backing up everything and reformatting the hard disk.
> Wouldn't it be possible, for example, to boot the system up from a
> live CD, and reinstall the base system, leaving /home untouched?  (I
> should mention that the hard disk in question is just one big
> partition, including /home and everything else.)

Just do a normal install with manual filesystem configuration, choose the existing partition with the prior filesystem format and make sure to _not_ choose format partition. The installer will warn you, something along the lines that it will overwrite the old /usr, /etc/, /var, etc - which is what you want.

optionally you can remove all directories but /home (and may be /root prior to installation from a live system (the installer will do).

I strongly advise to make the backup before nonetheless - breaking things is easy, especially in the installer. This procedure will however spare you restoring thing from the backup, if it works.

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#164483 — Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without affecting /home?

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Hash: SHA1

On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 11:20:24AM +0100, arian wrote:
> 
> Just to make sure, your filesystem is OK, right?
> 
> > But I thought I'd ask if there's anything close to this that would not
> > require backing up everything and reformatting the hard disk.
> > Wouldn't it be possible, for example, to boot the system up from a
> > live CD, and reinstall the base system, leaving /home untouched?  (I
> > should mention that the hard disk in question is just one big
> > partition, including /home and everything else.)
> 
> Just do a normal install with manual filesystem configuration, choose
> the existing partition with the prior filesystem format and make sure
> to _not_ choose format partition.

This was my impression too: installation should not wipe home (actually
it should'nt wipe anything, e.g. /usr/local and friends, just overwrite
existing packages with their newer versions.

That said, and as arian states, it's easy to fat-finger something and
format your disks, so a backup is in order; and you might meet some
niggles, like new packages stumbling upon older configurations and
data in your home (think ~/.config, but also ~/.openffice.org, ~/.gimp
and whatever nice things apps put into your home). Some may cope
and some not.

regards
- -- t
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#164493 — Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without affecting /home?

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

Kynn Jones:
> 
> But I thought I'd ask if there's anything close to this that would not
> require backing up everything and reformatting the hard disk.

If there is anything on your hard disk worth keeping that you haven't
backed up at least weekly then you should start worrying about that now.

Hard disks (and SSDs) die and take your data with them. Worry about that
daily until you have a solution.

J.
-- 
I see weapons of mass destruction as shameful but necessary.
[Agree]   [Disagree]
                 <http://archive.slowlydownward.com/NODATA/data_enter2.html>

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#164496 — Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without affecting /home?

While it probably doesn't help you now, it is good practice to store 
user data on their own file system (/home), separate from applications 
and system files.  That way, if you hose the system, the user data are 
undisturbed and you only need to worry about backing up system settings.

Something to consider when you're doing your reinstall.

--------------------------|
John L. Ries              |
Salford Systems           |
Phone: (619)543-8880 x107 |
or     (435)867-8885      |
--------------------------|


On Sunday 2016-02-21 21:36, Kynn Jones wrote:

>Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 21:36:45
>From: Kynn Jones <kynnjo@gmail.com>
>To: Debian User <debian-user@lists.debian.org>
>Subject: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without affecting
>    /home?
>
> My system is badly damaged, and it looks like the only way to fix it
> is to do a full re-install.
>
> I figure I will have to back everything up to an external drive,
> reformat the hard drive, and install everything from scratch.
>
> But I thought I'd ask if there's anything close to this that would not
> require backing up everything and reformatting the hard disk.
> Wouldn't it be possible, for example, to boot the system up from a
> live CD, and reinstall the base system, leaving /home untouched?  (I
> should mention that the hard disk in question is just one big
> partition, including /home and everything else.)
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> kj
>
>

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