Ken Januski wrote:
Hi,
I'm about to upgrade my Debian install to Sarge. I've always done this
online before but it's been slow since I use dialup. This time I
bought a set of CDs for a work pc so I'd like to do the upgrade from
them.
BUT, many months ago my Windows 2000 partition self-destructed during
a service-pack upgrade. Since I rarely used it I just left it for
dead. But now I'd like to reclaim it for Debian. My question is can
anyone give me any advice on how to go about this? I'd like to reclaim
that extra space for Debian and then upgrade to Sarge.
Is there a non-destructive way to add a partition? My current /
partition of 4G is running out of room though my /usr partition is
only 30% full and is 1 G. The recovered space is 5G. I'd like to be
able to non-destructively expand the /partition into it. I assume it
makes most sense to repartition then upgrade but I'm not sure. The
other possibility I wonder about is just installing Sarge into the old
Windows partition and then finding some way for it to also access the
old Debian partition. But I'm not sure how to go about that.
Backup first. Most importantly, burn copies of your personal files -
perhaps the whole /home directory - onto CDs. Optionally, also backup
the whole original Debian partition using partimage.
Partimage allows you to save a compressed image of a partition in
CD-sized chunks which you can then burn onto CDs. You need space to
create the chunks in the first place. You also need to run it from
another installation of Linux so that you are backing up an unmounted
filesytem. You could boot from a Knoppix disc to do this. Alternatively,
install a Debian base system on another partition.
Format your redundant Windoze partition using mke2fs with the -j switch
to create a new ext3 filesystem. Install a second installation of Debian
here, if that is what you have decided to do. Run partimage to create
the image of your Debian partition, saving the image files on your new
partition. Burn the image files onto CDs.
If you have installed Sarge on your new partition, you could now use the
original Debian partition for /home, freeing up more space on the new
partition.
Alternatively, as you now have backups, you could completely reformat
the whole hard disc. If you do this, you might consider two
installations of Sarge - a main one and a smaller one that you can boot
into if you have a disaster with your main one, and for creating backups
of your main one.
Hth
Chris.
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- Re: Upgrade and repartition advice Chris Lale
-