I wanted to know if I am supposed to re-identify it somehow when I re-install ubuntu on /dev/sda2. Follow our guide to resizing Ubuntu partitions to complete this step. You can also use another text editor, if you prefer. I have a /home partition at /dev/sda3 and I am currently in Gparted. (The folder that contains program settings, Internet bookmarks, emails and all your documents, music, videos, and other user files.) The above article may contain affiliate links, which help support How-To Geek. Why does fdisk insist on starting the first partition at sector 65535 (MiB 31.9995…), How to extend logical & extended partition with fdisk. (The folder that contains program settings, Internet bookmarks, emails and all your documents, music, videos, and other user files.) That depends on what you need. How to use DD to clone a partition off a disk image? You should check the new home directory to verify it contains your files. Edit each Ubuntu partition the same way, choosing the correct Mount Point for each. How-To Geek is where you turn when you want experts to explain technology. I had thought of erasing the partition that contains MATE, and resizing the one that has Ubuntu. Debian BeagleBoneBlack partition with usage of 99%, how can I free the space safely? IBM will soon be sponsoring Unix & Linux! Check all visually and Click Install Now. Have a look at my example. Can a caster cast a sleep spell on themselves? I want Ubuntu's partition to take up the entire SSD (or as close to that as possible). Ubuntu doesn’t use a separate /home partition by default, although many Linux users prefer one. If you don’t create a separate home partition while installing Ubuntu, you don’t have to reinstall Ubuntu from scratch. This procedure should work to install any distro using Ubiquity over any other distro. Ubuntu will see /home as just another folder living underneath /, but the home folder will really be its own disk partition that lives apart from the rest of the folders. Unix & Linux Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us. how to match string input for valid digits 1 to 6 in various notation? Keeping Home on a separate partition is helpful in situations when you want to replace your existing Linux install with another without losing your files. Benchmark test that was used to characterize an 8-bit CPU? To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. The long, random-looking string above is actually the partition’s UUID, and we’ll need it to add the partition to our fstab file, which tells Linux where to mount partitions when it boots. If you want to move your Home folder to another partition, here is how you can do so. If you don’t, you’ll have to resize your system partition and create a new partition in the free space. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. Reboot your computer after running this command. You can also locate the partition’s UUID by running the following command in a terminal: Before modifying our fstab file, we should create a backup copy that we can restore, just in case: Next, run the following command to open the fstab file in gedit. Even though you can later change one unified partition to separate /home and root partitions, it's considerably more complicated a process . Ubuntu :: Reinstalling But Keeping /home Partition? Reinstall the personal data you backed up earlier. Head over to our detailed guide and return back with an Ubuntu Live DVD/USB drive. Reinstall Ubuntu, but keep personal data. If you don’t create a separate home partition while installing Ubuntu, you don’t have to reinstall Ubuntu from scratch. In this post we will demonstrate the Installation steps of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for Laptop or Desktop. When all partitions have been edited, Click forward to continue the installation. Just in case if your Ubuntu system is crashed due to power failure or network connectivity issue in the middle of the Upgrade process, you might end up with broken Ubuntu. Unix & Linux Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for users of Linux, FreeBSD and other Un*x-like operating systems. Step 1) First step is to create an Ubuntu Live DVD or USB drive, which will be used to reinstall Ubuntu. Add the following text to the fstab file on a new line, replacing the _____ portion with the full UUID of your new home partition from the sudo blkid command above: UUID=_____     /home     ext4     nodev,nosuid     0     2. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. Entries in boot menu (if you have multiple OS installed) How To Reinstall Ubuntu. thx I even deleted my system partition. Ubuntu is now using the separate home partition. I had Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS with Windows 8.1 dual boot. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Step 2) Boot your computer into the Ubuntu Live disk. Chris has written for The New York Times, been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations like Miami's NBC 6, and had his work covered by news outlets like the BBC. The /home folder refers to the plain Ubuntu filesystem. Setting up /home on a separate partition is beneficial because your settings, files, and desktop will be maintained if you upgrade, (re)install Ubuntu or another distro. What are the recent quantitative finance papers we should all read? Using a separate home partition allows you to reinstall Ubuntu without losing your personal files and settings. Launch a terminal and run the following command to create a copy of your current /home directory on the new partition, where /mount/location is the location of your mounted partition: You’ll see an error about a .gvfs directory – this is normal; you can ignore it. It’s not much, but the laptop has an SD card slot. Please leave a comment to start the discussion. This can be done even if /home is not on a separate partition. Since Version 8.04 you can reinstall the Ubuntu operating system without losing the content of the /home folder. Is it possible to reinstall or upgrade linux without losing data?? Set the mount point for one of your partitions as / – which will contain the root file system – and the mount point of another partition as /home. I have decided to create a dual boot PC with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. From a terminal, run the following command to leave your home directory, move your current home directory to a placeholder location, and create a new, empty home directory which your new partition will be mounted at: cd / && sudo mv /home /home_old && sudo mkdir /home. After you do, click the Go menu and select Location to view its mount point. Ubuntu makes it easy to mount the new partition – just click it under Devices in the file manager. How to Create a Separate Home Partition After Installing Ubuntu, How to Delete Google Assistant Recordings, How to Use Pivot Tables to Analyze Excel Data, How to Hide Your “Last Seen Online” Time in Telegram, How to Stop Windows 10 From Lowering Audio Volume on a Call, How to Hear a Commute Time Estimate in One Tap on iPhone, © 2021 LifeSavvy Media. I have been forced to copy installs from earlier Ubuntu versions back to 8.10 because after committing to the single partition install, I have had to rescue my fiiles from corrupted upgrades, It would be better to just newfs the root and reinstall being sure that /home was mounted elsewhere. By submitting your email, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. How to mount sdb directly or using LVM partitions on sda? Home Partition Size: 30~50 Gb Partition Type: Primary Use as: ext4 journaling file system Mount Point: /home 3. Creating a separate home partition while installing Ubuntu is easy. Opt-in alpha test for a new Stacks editor, Visual design changes to the review queues. Where the inscription of Linux mint Petra is a root partition.. Now we need to specify where to install the new system, Swap, we don’t touch.We need to specify Where to put the /root and /home partition. It is LUKS-encrypted. One HDD with my /home folder. Note: You must remember the exact username and password of your existing Linux install in order to use the same home directory as it is in the new distribution. It also includes improvements for boot speed, power-saving, and USB-C, plus several security features. All Rights Reserved. Is "spilled milk" a 1600's era euphemism regarding rejected intercourse? Stack Exchange network consists of 176 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Please add the output of, Keeping my /home partition when reinstalling Linux. How long can a floppy disk spin for before wearing out? Then next time you install a newer OS version, choose not to overwrite your /home … The /home folder refers to the plain Ubuntu filesystem. I assume that only partitions that are empty and formatted will be used by Ubuntu when I reinstall, is this correct? Manually cloning a Live USB Arch distro to a VMware virtual disk, mdadm - RAID5 array size vs. actual disk size mismatch. You can restart with the following command: After restarting your computer, you should be able to log in normally. Linux Kernel 5.4 – This version of the Linux kernel adds support for a wider range of processors. Swap Partition Size: 1-2 times of your RAM. Usually when you have Ubuntu installed, it is likely that the system folders and the home folder all belong to the same partition.In order to keep your custom settings, your files and folders, it is recommended that you put your home folder in a specific partition so that future alterations on the system files and folders will not have any effect on the home folder so that you would be able to upgrade or even reinstall your Ubuntu … Root Partition Size: 30~50 Gb (min 30GB recommended) Partition Type: Primary Use as: ext4 journaling file system Mount Point: / 2. Choose the “Something Else” installation option to use a custom partition layout and create multiple partitions. If you have free space or don’t need to resize a system partition, you can just install GParted and create the partition without restarting from a live CD – you’ll want to create an ext4 partition. When installing Ubuntu, select something else and create a separate /home partition for all your data. Why is the Constitutionality of an Impeachment and Trial when out of office not settled? UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. However, we won’t be deleting the old home directory just yet. Why did Saruman lose everything but Sauron kept doing what he wanted? rev 2021.2.16.38582, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. If I want to remove/reinstall Ubuntu 8.04 and still keep a home folder in a dedicated partition in tact what would be the simplest method? Maybe you have a cheap laptop that didn’t cost much, and Linux was installed on it. Would a contract to pay a trillion dollars in damages be valid? Since we launched in 2006, our articles have been read more than 1 billion times. Hi, i installed ubunto 10.10 on w7 using wubi, i now want to uninstall but there is no uninstall icon on the ubuntu folder in c: and also ubuntu does not appear on the remove sftwr list, anybody know how i can uninstall with out running recovery manager on win and loosing all my files. Hi all, this guide can be used on any Ubuntu based system and is intended for people who have a basic working knowledge of an Ubuntu installation and wish to keep the contents of their home folder after doing a re-install. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. How does the Democratic Party have a majority in the US Senate? The partition settings should look like this: Size = All remaining free space Type for the new partition = Primary Location for the new partition = Beginning Use as = EXT4 journaling file system Mount point = /home After making sure that everything went okay and you still have all your files in your /home directory – just in case – you can you can remove your /home_old directory to free up space: Join 350,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, comics, trivia, reviews, and more. Thanks for contributing an answer to Unix & Linux Stack Exchange! Why do air entrainment admixtures improve the freeze-thaw resistance of concrete? To migrate to a separate home partition after installation, you’ll have to create a new partition (which may require resizing your existing partitions), copy the files from your existing home directory to that partition, and tell Ubuntu to mount the new partition at /home. This guide is also intended for those that already have an existing swap, root and home partition … Use all the available free space left for the home partition size. Why does my PC crash only when my cat is nearby? An extreme fix would be to reinstall your Ubuntu OS right away, ... do a search on “Separate home partition” and “Separate data partition”. Here we see our partitions on the hard disk, on which I have spoken above. One SSD with two Linux installs: one plain Ubuntu and one Ubuntu MATE. By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. Rigged Hilbert spaces and the spectral theory in quantum mechanics. Mar 15, 2010. Partition Screen (very important) On this screen, select your SSD and make the following partitions: 1. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated and your email address will NOT be published. Can I just reformat the root and swap partitions then reinstall? Another option would be to reinstall Ubuntu, but then I don't know how to do that without erasing my HDD with my /home folder. Create the home partition using the same steps as above. Minimize the longest King chain on a 5x5 binary board. If you have some free space, this step is easy. One of the good practice is to give the Home folder its own partition, so whatever changes you made to the System folder won’t affect your Home directory, and you can easily upgrade or reinstall Ubuntu with ease. In such cases, you can easily fix broken Ubuntu OS without reinstalling it from scratch, and without losing data as described below. He's written about technology for over a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Gnome 3.36 – Gnome has been updated and improved.System animations should be smoother and have a lower impact on CPU usage. Step 3) Select “Install Ubuntu”. With that, you can keep your data in home partition safe even if you reinstall Linux. If you are updating lets say Ubuntu 12.10 to 13.04, you can keep your "/home" as is without the need to format the home partition, do not however keep your home folder if you are changing from say Ubuntu 12.10 to PeppermintOS because the system configuration files may well cause a system crash or at least make the system unstable or even unuseable!.