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AGazzaz 05-15-2006 02:39 PM

Can I install a new distro. without formatting...?
 
My previous experiences from changeing from mandrake 10 to fedora back to mandriva 2006 taught me that i can not install a new distro without formating the drive that contains linux

I am asking is there is a way to avoid formatting...?

Thanks.

acid_kewpie 05-15-2006 02:45 PM

you can install over the top if you wish, but i don't think you want to even do that... can i be psychic and guess that you don't want to lose your /home contents? to preserve the contents across installations you should create a seperate /home partition and install over, formatting all partitions instead of that one. then mount it once you boot to the new distro and your old data will still be there. if that's not what you're asking, i'd suggest asking more detailed questions.

pixellany 05-15-2006 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AGazzaz
My previous experiences from changeing from mandrake 10 to fedora back to mandriva 2006 taught me that i can not install a new distro without formating the drive that contains linux

I am asking is there is a way to avoid formatting...?

Thanks.

Maybe, but why?? I think it is far safer to simply make new partitions and do new formatting when doing a new install. If nothing else it eliminates variables if you run into any glitches.

AGazzaz 05-15-2006 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixellany
Maybe, but why??

I think that too much formatting destroyed a HDD of mine last year
i don't really know if it was formatting or another problem but losing that HDD with a bad sector with an increasing size with every reboot (ie. can not be contained) was painful so i do not want to fall in the same mistake again as i don't want to buy a new HDD every year
Quote:

Originally Posted by acid_kewpie
can i be psychic and guess that you don't want to lose your /home contents?

about the home folder actually i do not care about it i always like to start a clean new OS with nothing old because
sorry i guess you will have to work a little bit more on your psychic skills :D
but that partition idea it deserves a stop and i think i should think about it
will it save my installed programs from being lost or just the data and programs that i save or download...?
will it keep the programs working even after i switch to another distro...?

and thank you very much for your speedy replies:) :)

acid_kewpie 05-15-2006 04:15 PM

formatting a disk is just the same as writing files to it in terms of sectors and the likes... just bit flipping at the end of the day.

as for installed programs... well no they will be lost, they will not be "installed" under the new distro... *IF* for some bizarre reason yousimply leave all file systems intact and install over, then you have two distro with to file system layouts, meaning some old obselete files will be left knocking around, which may or may not be used by the new system depending on all manor of thigns. there is no way ever there is a logic in doing this.

AGazzaz 05-15-2006 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acid_kewpie
formatting a disk is just the same as writing files to it in terms of sectors and the likes... just bit flipping at the end of the day.

i am sorry i do not quite understand the underlined sentence

did you mean that formatting had nothing to do with my old HDD?
and by that you mean that there is no harm to be done to my current one so i can format whatever i like with no fear (i am entering a phase of trying several distros (slackware,suse,mepis, and i do not know what else) :) just making sure that there is nothing to lose.

or you mean a completely different thing that i didn't get

it's 12:25 am here and i usually get up at 6:30 please pardon be if I am silly my eyes are begging for sleep:D

Thanks,Good-Night and i will see you tomorrow.(I mean today after a few hours... it's morning already)

acid_kewpie 05-16-2006 01:27 AM

the sectors on a disk do not know if they are being changed due to a format or changed doue to a text file being saved on them. you can format until your hearts content. formatting under linux normally doesn't do a full bit by bit format anyway, just sets up the journals and inodes and such. it doesn't carefully write to every single block on the partition.

wraithe 05-16-2006 01:51 AM

by any chance it wasnt a 20 gb drive or less that you had the problems with last year...
if it was then it sounds like you used ext3 on it...that can kill the older drives...like early 20 gb and smaller...ext3 on later drives is no problem and linux is not as aggressive when formatting as what windows can be...so dont dispare...but then the more work a drive does the more it ages, so find the distro you wish to get right and work on it till its what you want...they can be altered to some fantastic extremes...

AGazzaz 05-16-2006 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acid_kewpie
the sectors on a disk do not know if they are being changed due to a format or changed doue to a text file being saved on them. you can format until your hearts content. formatting under linux normally doesn't do a full bit by bit format anyway, just sets up the journals and inodes and such. it doesn't carefully write to every single block on the partition.

Thank you very much, now i may format in peace :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by wraithe
by any chance it wasnt a 20 gb drive or less that you had the problems with last year...
if it was then it sounds like you used ext3 on it...that can kill the older drives...like early 20 gb and smaller...ext3 on later drives is no problem and linux is not as aggressive when formatting as what windows can be...so dont dispare...but then the more work a drive does the more it ages, so find the distro you wish to get right and work on it till its what you want...they can be altered to some fantastic extremes...

It was a Western Digital 80GB Dynamic hard drive using NTFS and FAT32, I was not using linux yet.

Thank you very much for your replies.


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