What should I save? Hard drive rebuild. FC2 Dual Boot...

Slyder42 · 09-02-2004, 10:48 PM

I am wanting to rebuild my hard drive. Due to several problems in the past few weeks... screensavers not working, FC2 not recognizing ANY drives but my hard drive, and feeling cluttered, I am going to clean house and start fresh.

I do have the ability to go online... hence me typing this now. I have a good list of what I need to save....

please browse the "code". It is a brainstorm of what I liked and what worked and different lines of code.

Code:

/etc/fstab:

LABEL=/	/		ext3		defaults		1 1
LABEL=/boot	/boot		ext3		defaults		1 2
none		/dev/pts		devpts		gid=5,mode=620	0 0
none		/dev/shm	tmpfs		defaults		0 0
none		/proc		proc		defaults		0 0
none		/sys		sysfs		defaults		0 0
/dev/hda3	swap		swap		defaults		0 0
/dev/cdrom	/mnt/cdrom	udf,iso9660	noauto,owner,kudzu,ro	0 0
/dev/fd0		/mnt/floppy	auto		noauto,owner,kudzu 	0 0
/dev/sda1	/mnt/usbhd	vfat		auto,user,umask=000	0 0
/dev/sdb1	/mnt/usbpen	vfat		noauto,user,umask=000	0 0

/etc/yum.conf

[main]
cachedir=/var/cache/yum
debuglevel=2
logfile=/var/log/yum.log
pkgpolicy=newest
distroverpkg=redhat-release
gpgcheck=1
tolerant=1
exactarch=1
retries=20

[Base]
name=Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch - Base
baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/$releasever/$basearch/os/
baseurl=http://ayo.freshrpms.net/fedora/linux/$releasever/$basearch/core

[Updates-Released]
name=Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch - Released Updates
baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/updates/$releasever/$basearch/
baseurl=http://ayo.freshrpms.net/fedora/linux/$releasever/$basearch/updates

#[updates-testing]
#name=Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch - Unreleased Updates
#baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/updates/testing/$releasever/$basearch/

#[development]
#name=Fedora Core $releasever - Development Tree
#baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/development/$basearch/

#[extras]
#name=Fedora Linux $releasever - $basearch - extras
#baseurl=http://ayo.freshrpms.net/fedora/linux/$releasever/$basearch/extras

#[alternatives]
#name=Fedora Linux $releasever - $basearch - alternatives
#baseurl=http://ayo.freshrpms.net/fedora/linux/$releasever/$basearch/alternatives

[FreshRPMs]
name=Fedora Linux $releasever - $basearch - FreshRPMs
baseurl=http://ayo.freshrpms.net/fedora/linux/$releasever/$basearch/freshrpms 

[Fedora-US-2]
name=Fedora Core 2 -- Fedora US mirror
baseurl=http://download.fedora.us/fedora/fedora/2/i386/RPMS.os

[Fedora-US-2-Updates]
name=Fedora Core 2 updates -- Fedora US mirror
baseurl=http://download.fedora.us/fedora/fedora/2/i386/RPMS.updates

[Fedora-US-2-Stable]
name=Fedora Linux (stable) for Fedora Core 2 -- Fedora US mirror
baseurl=http://download.fedora.us/fedora/fedora/2/i386/RPMS.stable

Palm OS Device:
/dev/ttyUSB0 in Kpilot or whatever...

[rageagainstcomputer@localhost rageagainstcomputer]$ chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB0

Hard drive... modify accordingly....
create directories...
/mnt/USBhd
/mnt/SD
/mnt/CF ... etc...

mount -t /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbhd ? or just mount -t /dev/sda1 ???

dmesg | grep usb

Programs needed / required.
after connection of WIFI, copy over /etc/fstab and /etc/yum.conf

up2date
get updates for everything
yum install synaptic...

Install other programs...
Gkrellm
Xine
mplayer – save Win XP version of Mplayer  for g/f
Keep OpenOffice.org.
no koffice
install KPIM stuff if gnome-pilot / Evolution is unable to work.
stick with Gnome unless situation is otherwise.
RealPlayer 10 Gold.bin

FIREFOX
Thunderbird...set up organization email address...
Flash Player
Sound-Juicer
GAIM and all buddy lists and stuff.... UGG!!!
get functional file search program.

looking up at my /etc/fstab file... is that correct to have so that ANYBODY can use the drives? I need to solve this so everything goes much smoother when i get around to reformatting and rebuilding.

Anybody know what / where the config file / buddy list file is for GAIM so that I don't have to create all 150 ailases and combine all 600-700 screen names? I want to save as much time with this as I can.

zedmelon · 09-03-2004, 12:51 AM

Crontabs.

When rebuilding a Windows machine, I'd save letters to Grandma, mp3 files, and tax returns, but I always used to forget to save the bookmarks. With *nix, it's crontabs. I always rememeber .forwards, .bashrcs and .profiles, but I consistently forgot the dang crontabs.

Wish I could help you with the Gaim, but I haven't used it. And I don't see anything wrong in your fstab. If it works fine now, probably keep it as is.

-------------------
edit - as for Gaim, if you only use it as an AOL IM client, all that's saved on the server IIRC, IANAL, YMMV. I don't know about preferences, but as scissors said, it's likely to be in your home dir.

Scissors makes a good point below. from /etc (assuming you use them)...
sudoers
fstab
resolv.conf
mail/
dhcpc/
dhcp.conf
anything custom in rc.d/
samba/
ftpusers
apache/
syslog.conf
shadow
skel/

heck, use

Code:

du -sh /etc

and /etc/ is likely small enough to save the entire thing in case you later realize you forgot a highly-customized config file. Mine's only 11 MB.

scissors · 09-03-2004, 04:14 PM

When I built my home box, and desktop box at work, I made /home a separate partition such that when I rebuild I can do a clean install on the other partitions. This also saves all the user specific conf files that are written as .dot files in your home directory. I would imagine gaim saves your files in your home directory, I don't use it either.

I too always forget my crontab. Make a list of software that you installed after your OS installation, that way you remember what you need to install after you rebuild this time. You may want to backup some /etc/ files too.

Good luck.

Slyder42 · 09-05-2004, 06:39 PM

Quote:

heck, use

Code:

du -sh /etc

and /etc/ is likely small enough to save the entire thing in case you later realize you forgot a highly-customized config file. Mine's only 11 MB. [/B]

Minor problem.... I can't mount a single volume to my stupid machine. I don't know what happened, but nothing will mount. everything works... they just won't mount.
SO.... I am totally screwed on saving any type of file, unless i find a place to upload my crap. I only get internet, and that's it.

What is your thought on installing OVER what I already have and THEN updating afterwards...?

zedmelon · 09-05-2004, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Slyder42
Minor problem.... I can't mount a single volume to my stupid machine. I don't know what happened, but nothing will mount. everything works... they just won't mount.

What is your thought on installing OVER what I already have and THEN updating afterwards...?

I've never been a good enough nuts & bolts person to trust that. I prefer clean installs, because I know there's nothing residual from the old, broken OS when I format the drive.

I boot a Linux install CD that allows me to go to command line. The Slackware install CD easily gives you that option, and I think Fedora would too. From there, you should be able to mount anything you want, and copy everything you're keeping to one place, or--if you only have the one partition--maybe even burn it to CD or put it somewhere else on your network.

This is also how you can reset a root password if you've lost it (or access anything else you're not supposed to see). Mount the partition with /etc/passwd on it and remove the (encrypted) password from root's line. It's fifteen seconds plus boot time, and root has no password until you change it again.

Mention that the next time someone tells you physical security isn't important. ;)

gd2shoe · 09-09-2004, 11:44 PM

Use knoppix. It's a full debian installation on a bootable CD. This should give you the ability to mount all your drives and back data up. (I think all linux users should have one as an emergency disk ) Good luck.