At 04:26 PM 1/30/00 -0700, John Starkey wrote:
>ok.... now I'm really in trouble.
Believe it. See below ....
>
>I wanted to install Gnome so I can use StarOffice. So I did a custom
>install (RH6.1) and now I've lost the backup I did of her info when I
>switched her HP from Windows 98 to Linux. I saved her backup to a
>separate folder in /home (on my box) just before I reformatted her
>drive.
Do I follow all of this right? (I think I recall your earlier postings, but
I wouldn't bet money on the accoracy of my recollections.) You have two
computers. Yours is Linux. Hers was WinXX, and you converted it to Linux.
The lost files are content files (documents and such; not programs) of hers
that you backed up from her Windows host but didn't return to her system
after you turned in into a Linux host. Am I with you so far?
>I guess this also is a good place to ask what mounting points are when
>partitioning a drive. I had hdb0 set up to mount at /usr. hda mounts at
>/.
This is a bit muddled. There is no such thing as hdb0 --
uncharacteristically for things created by conputer geeks, drive partition
numbers start at 1. So you might have an hdb1, hdb2, hdb3, etc., but not an
hdb0. Similarly, drive designations without a number identify a drive, not a
prttition, so hda can't mount anywhere, since it isn't a prtition.
Unlike DOS and Windows, drive partitions don't have distinct designators in
Unix/Linux. Instead, they (or their /dev entries) get mounted on vacant
directories. You can pick any mount point you want (as long as it is an
existing directory - it is convenient if it is also empty). Often, one puts
/usr on a separate partition (Red Hat defaults that way, I think), and it
can be convenient to put other directories on separate filesystems as well.
>Is there any hope for recovering her stuff??? My future lies in your
>hands.
With that said ... whether there is any hope for you probably depends on
your drive partitioning. IF /user was a separate partition, AND you didn't
reformat it in the custom install, then it is on your system somewhere. If
it was part of the main partition and RH installed a new filesystem where it
used to be, the material is gone, barring the level of recovery
sophistication we can imagine is available to the NSA.
My best guess is that you're out of luck.
>I am too used to Windows and Mac, I could have made a backup to
>another machine but I was thinking that the only things that would be
>changed are the kernel an it's associated files.
This would be true (at least if you define "associated files" loosely
enough) if you had done an **upgrade**, but not an **install**. Most Linux
distributions make a distinction. (In fact, I think the distinction holds on
Windows and Macs too.)
>I've lost all my stuff
>(in /user/home/mine) but somehow I don't think that will matter when I
>tell her what happened to hers.
No comment.
------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
Ray Olszewski -- Han Solo
Palo Alto, CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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