The 03.06.08 at 01:41, Bob S. wrote:
OK, understood. Thank you for that. Please explain to me though, when Yast says it will not format the original hdb1 which was / and suggests a new / partition at hdb9. That is the big thing that confuses me. What happens to the original hdb1 =/ ?
Nothing :-)
Do I end up with an old and a new / partition??
Yes. Yast is assuming you want to keep both. That's the method I used to have on this machine a small SuSE 7.3 install I use for emergencies or tests, and the big 8.1 system. But of course, both have only one "/" and the other is accessed as "/data" or "/theother" (for example), or not at all.
OK, that is also understood,except that Yast said it was not going to format hdb3 =/usr. What you have stated is logical and is what should happen. I guess there is a difference between overwrite and format? which is not clear to me?
Yes. Format is a format, everything is erased, nothing remains. Overwritten, things of the same name are overwritten, old things with names not matching anything of the new install remains intact. Not recommended unless you have some reason for it and you know what you are doing.
But, going back to the old hdb1 =/. Yast states it will not be formatted. Why is it not overwritten like /usr? and used for / instead of creating a new hdb9 for / ????
You will have to ask the developers of Yast why the make the automatic choices they make :-) If it has a new "/", the old one is not touched. If the old "/usr" has the mount point filled as "/usr" it has to either format or overwrite it, no other option is possible. -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson