It is my understanding that an mv across partitions is in reality a cp followed by an rm.

So I can't see how using mv will make things better. If something goes wrong it will not be easy to fix.

I'm still thinking in terms of the initrd file. The problem seems to be that, early in the boot process, fsck cannot find /usr. When the boot is complete /usr is there, but unchecked.

So: If I copy the initrd file somewhere else, reboot with the new /usr directory selected in fstab and then run update-initramfs is it likely that the new initrd file will have the info necessary for fsck to find /usr?

If this fails I can copy the original initrd file back and reselect the old /usr.

Or am I missing something out and risking trashing my system?

Since you did the cp to /usr1 did you rename /usr to /usr.bac, then rename /usr1 to /usr?

@EDDY1

Almost!. I renamed usr1 to usr and vice versa and then reflected the change in fstab.

I could do this because the two directories are on different discs.

I think I'll rephrase the question and toss it into the Linux General forum although i suspect that most of the people here will be there too.

After that I have 2 options.

1. Cross my fingers and run update-inotramfs.
2. Move the /var directory instead of the /usr one and then grow /usr into the space vacated by /var. They are on different but adjacent partitions.

As far as your problems:
systemd doesn't like /usr on seperate partitions unless you build it into initramfs.

Is it as simple as booting with the new usr and then running update-initramfs or do I need to do more?

At the present time I'm not sure how you would deal with it, when I got the warning I chose to move /usr to /. This was my original post, which I forgot to post solution & mark solved.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...en-4175517426/
When I had that problem I lost /usr by entering a wrong command while using live-cd. I believe I found it in tmp. Then moved it back.
Actually the command was the right command but since I was in live-cd I should've used

OK, so this is yet another problem created by systemd.

Has it SOLVED any problems?

With SysV I at least felt in control. With Systemd the way it is I may as well go back to Windows! At least there I could hack the registry.

As far as I can tell there is no way of controlling Systemd and no easy way to abandon it. NOTE: I would love it if somebody proved me wrong.

Thanks to all for the help. I'm not marking this as solved since the solution is not to do what I want/need to.

What have you done so far?
What problem are you experiencing?

I have tried to move /usr from /dev/sda6 to a new disc, on /dev/sdb8.

During bootup fdisk complains that it cannot find /usr.

Computer will not enter maintenance mode as it cannot find the passwords database (probably 'cos it's in /usr.)

The boot continues and the PC seems to work normally. However I cannot accept a situation where /usr cannot be checked during boot.

Apparently there may be other problems because systemd does not support this configuration.

http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software...-usr-is-broken

Systemd supports it by rebuilding initramfs. I believe the patch makes it do fsck before actually mounting.
You will probably find more documentation in fedora since it's been running systemd the lo.vest & without problems. I believe that I had problems getting info becaus I didn't have an account with redhat or fedora.

Just FYI, while doing my regular upgrade on Sid today, I was prompted with the changelog of the new version of initramfs-tool:

So, might be worth to give it a try. By the way, this is version 0.119 of initramfs-tools.

That's good then that means they added automatic support for it, so you don't have to do it manually. I really liked having separate /usr because my / wasn't always getting full.

Yes, hopefully the problem is fixed on this version of initramfs-tools.

Thanks for the info. I ran the upgrades yesterday, with /usr still in hte original position. Been run off my feet and so was, and still am, unable to play at length at the moment.

Can anybody answer this please:

Will initramfs find /usr if I move it or do I need to move it, get past the error messages and then generate a new initramfs?

Thanks for the help.

Only if it's in fstab.