[Fwd: Re: [opensuse] Questions for Partitioning guru's]
(Sorry Bob, first version did only go to you and bounced) On Sat, 2007-09-08 at 00:49 -0400, Bob S wrote:
Hello SuSE people,
This is especially for you guys/gals that run 3or 4 os's on a big hard drive. How do you handle the primary and extended partitions? Other people already answered so I skip some redundant answers.
Is the /home as safe residing in the extended partition? you can have it wherever you like but you need to be careful with what you do in regards to usage of it. For example, say that you boot 10.2, mount /home, login as user bob and start up misc programs like kde/gnome/mailer etc. That creates lots of new files in /home/bob Well, 10.3 is out so lets try it, you install it, use same /home and login as bob. Your old desktop is now migrated to latest version. You reboot back to 10.2 and suddenly your email/IM/xchat/whatever doesn't work because it's config files where changed for the newer version and the old version gets confused/bails out. My way of handling that is that I have different users and copy around data so I only migrate to newer versions and never back.
How do you manage to run 3 or 4 os variants on just 4 primary partitions? Remember that it's only M$ win that requires primary partition and everything will be much easier
Love to hear your individual strategies.
Besides what the other posts said I didn't see anyone with a setup similar to mine. I'm using 3 disk (was using 5 for a while, 3 ide & 2 sata) and at my peak I had MS Win, opensuse 10.0, 10.1, suse desktop beta and 2 versions Mandrake installed. You could do something like: disk1p1 M$ Win disk1p2 /boot # 200Mb common boot for everyone disk1p3 swap # swap common to everyone disk1p5 / # everyday Linux 1 (one you can fall back to) disk1p6 / # everyday Linux 2 (one you plan to move to) disk1p8 LVM disk2p1 LVM disk3p1 LVM LVM: collection of all partitions marked LVM (=all disks become one huge virtual disk) homelv # common home dir for all installs (see note above) datalv # common data like install packages, mp3, movies etc NLDlv # root partition for NLD testing SLESlv # root partition for SLES testing fclv # root partition for fedora testing I normally don't put the root partition on LVM because it makes it harder to recover (hard to get to single user mode when the lvm needs fixing) but with multiple OS installed you can always boot some other os to fix it. I love lvm since it's so flexible, if you for example run low in space in datalv you can just expand it without playing around with disk partitions (=much safer) and you can even add a new disk and expand it without problem. If I need to replace a disk with a bigger one/remove one I can use a single "pvmove /dev/hdb" to move data around and get it done without tons of repartition and fs moves. One thing is that since /boot and /boot/grub/menu.lst is common for all installs you need to manually manage that area. I found that each os version have there own version numbering like vmlinuz-2.6.18.8-0.5-default/initrd-2.6.18.8-0.5-default so there is no conflict but they normally replace /boot/grub/menu.lst so I make sure I have a copy of menu.lst somewhere and then I manually merge the old and new menu.lst after each install.
Anxiously awaiting the final 10.3 so I can try Compiz-Fusion, Beryl whatever and be able to fall back to 10.2 when I screw it up. I'm also waiting for 10.3 final but you can do as me and start playing with Beta 3 to get a feel for it and report problems (or you may have to report same problem on the final because everyone assumed someone else already tested and reported it)
Bob S.
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Peter Sjoberg wrote:
Is the /home as safe residing in the extended partition? you can have it wherever you like but you need to be careful with what you do in regards to usage of it.
the best way is to * have a different partition for _your data_ (not your home) * make you home in / (root partition) as you don't store there anything than config files * create a link in your new home to the data partition like this you can share data from different os (linux or not) and use ext3 and the native XP driver for windows jdd -- http://www.dodin.net -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Sunday 09 September 2007 17:40, jdd wrote:
Peter Sjoberg wrote:
Is the /home as safe residing in the extended partition?
you can have it wherever you like but you need to be careful with what you do in regards to usage of it.
the best way is to
* have a different partition for _your data_ (not your home) * make you home in / (root partition) as you don't store there anything than config files * create a link in your new home to the data partition
like this you can share data from different os (linux or not)
and use ext3 and the native XP driver for windows jdd
Thanks jdd, For your input. Your suggestion is noted and considered. Just have to decide how I will proceed once I solve my wasted space problem. Bob S. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Sunday 09 September 2007 14:30, Peter Sjoberg wrote:
On Sat, 2007-09-08 at 00:49 -0400, Bob S wrote:
Hello SuSE people,
.<snip a bunch>................
I love lvm since it's so flexible, if you for example run low in space in datalv you can just expand it without playing around with disk partitions (=much safer) and you can even add a new disk and expand it without problem. If I need to replace a disk with a bigger one/remove one I can use a single "pvmove /dev/hdb" to move data around and get it done without tons of repartition and fs moves.
OK, but I have a question; When I installed 10.0 I used LVM for everything except /swap and /. When I went to install 10.2 I was going to use LVM again, but when I looked at the partitioner it seemed to want put my 10.2 partitions with the old 10.0 stuff under /system2, That worried me. How could I have a homelv for 10.0 and a homelv for 10.2? (relying on memory here which isn't as good as it used to be) How would the 10.0 os and the 10.2 os sort it out. Soooo, I just resorted to a regular partitioning scheme for 10.2
One thing is that since /boot and /boot/grub/menu.lst is common for all installs you need to manually manage that area. I found that each os version have there own version numbering like vmlinuz-2.6.18.8-0.5-default/initrd-2.6.18.8-0.5-default so there is no conflict
Ummm,,, that would be the kernel version, so it wouldn't be right if the kernel were upgraded, right? When I upgraded the kernel in 10.2 I lost the ability to boot 10.0. I attributed it to that but I didn't look into it because 10.2 was working well. Guess I would have to reinstall 10.0 or find the proper kernel and install it.
but they normally replace /boot/grub/menu.lst so I make sure I have a copy of menu.lst somewhere and then I manually merge the old and new menu.lst after each install.
So you must have both kernel versions on your system. I don't like the automated update of the kernel because it replaces it rather than adding the new kernel and you end up with only the one kernel. Way back when.... I would download a kernel and manually install it. That way I would have more than one kernel to fall back on. I guess I will start keeping a copy of Menu.1st also.
Anxiously awaiting the final 10.3 so I can try Compiz-Fusion, Beryl whatever and be able to fall back to 10.2 when I screw it up.
I'm also waiting for 10.3 final but you can do as me and start playing with Beta 3 to get a feel for it and report problems (or you may have to report same problem on the final because everyone assumed someone else already tested and reported it)
Welllll.....I will, as soon as I free up the space on my drive which I screwed up by improperly partitioning it. Thanks for your input. Bob S. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Mon, 2007-09-10 at 02:23 -0400, Bob S wrote:
On Sunday 09 September 2007 14:30, Peter Sjoberg wrote:
On Sat, 2007-09-08 at 00:49 -0400, Bob S wrote:
Hello SuSE people,
.<snip a bunch>................
I love lvm since it's so flexible, if you for example run low in space in datalv you can just expand it without playing around with disk partitions (=much safer) and you can even add a new disk and expand it without problem. If I need to replace a disk with a bigger one/remove one I can use a single "pvmove /dev/hdb" to move data around and get it done without tons of repartition and fs moves.
OK, but I have a question;
When I installed 10.0 I used LVM for everything except /swap and /. When I went to install 10.2 I was going to use LVM again, but when I looked at the partitioner it seemed to want put my 10.2 partitions with the old 10.0 stuff under /system2, That worried me. How could I have a homelv for 10.0 and a homelv for 10.2? Well, that's one thing you need to keep track of since you can't have two lvms with the same name. If you want homelv for 10.0 and 10.2 you can but you need to name them something like home0lv and home2lv. Same goes for anything else that has naming conflict. The system2 vg can be common between all of them.
(relying on memory here which isn't as good as it used to be) How would the 10.0 os and the 10.2 os sort it out. Soooo, I just resorted to a regular partitioning scheme for 10.2 It's a bit like having a disk called system2 and partitions called homelv/homel2lv/fc5varlv/fc5usrlv... If it makes you feel more comfy, name them sdb1,sdb2,sdb3 :)
One thing is that since /boot and /boot/grub/menu.lst is common for all installs you need to manually manage that area. I found that each os version have there own version numbering like vmlinuz-2.6.18.8-0.5-default/initrd-2.6.18.8-0.5-default so there is no conflict
Ummm,,, that would be the kernel version, so it wouldn't be right if the kernel were upgraded, right? When I upgraded the kernel in 10.2 I lost the ability to boot 10.0. I attributed it to that but I didn't look into it because 10.2 was working well. Guess I would have to reinstall 10.0 or find the proper kernel and install it. I don't like the way suse updater just replaces the kernel without leaving the previous as a fallback (caused huge issue when I upgraded a system that needed customized network drivers and I couldn't download them for the new version since I didn't had a working network). On the good news side, at most it may remove the old version from menu.lst but it will add the new version somewhere so when you boot you can go up/down in the menu to entry that works.
but they normally replace /boot/grub/menu.lst so I make sure I have a copy of menu.lst somewhere and then I manually merge the old and new menu.lst after each install.
So you must have both kernel versions on your system.
I don't like the automated update of the kernel because it replaces it rather than adding the new kernel and you end up with only the one kernel. Agree Way back when.... I would download a kernel and manually install it. That way I would have more than one kernel to fall back on. When you have several different os versions around you have a complete different os to fall back on, better then a rescue cd in many cases. I guess I will start keeping a copy of Menu.1st also.
Anxiously awaiting the final 10.3 so I can try Compiz-Fusion, Beryl whatever and be able to fall back to 10.2 when I screw it up.
I'm also waiting for 10.3 final but you can do as me and start playing with Beta 3 to get a feel for it and report problems (or you may have to report same problem on the final because everyone assumed someone else already tested and reported it)
Welllll.....I will, as soon as I free up the space on my drive which I screwed up by improperly partitioning it. Thanks for your input. I did see your "corrupt" config with the extended partition not covering
/boot contains each os versions (all) kernel/initrd version. the rest of the disk. I don't know if it's any safe way to change end cylinder of sda4 to 30401 to make the disk usable again (Hmm, maybe "sfdisk -d", need to test that in my lab in case I hit it). If all else fails, one option would be to drop sda3 (swap) and create sda3 as all the free space (and make it lvm). You still "loose" 2G but right now you lost a lot more.
Bob S.
/ps -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
participants (3)
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Bob S
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jdd
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Peter Sjoberg