Not formatting a partition while installing Ubuntu but still data getting lost from that partition!

ravisingh1 · 07-28-2014, 08:22 AM

I'd Ubuntu 13.10 on my system with separate /home partition for my data. Now I reinstalled the same O.S. In the option while installing, I selected "something else" & there specified to format all partitions (/, /var, /tmp, /boot) except /home. Now when my system was installed, I found the data was lost on the home partition. I wondered as I had unchecked for formatting that partition while installation.

To test it again, I created a file in "/home". Then using my bootable usb flash drive, I reinstalled the O.S. This time also I unchecked "/home" for formatting. But still afterwards I found the file I created on the home partition was lost.

Where am I thinking wrong? I thought it was a good method of installation to preserve home data but it's not working!!

syg00 · 07-28-2014, 08:39 AM

That should work as you expected. I did likewise when I had Ubuntu systems - I recently did same for Mint, and it worked fine.
But when messing with your data, you must have backups - especially with installers, which always seem to have problems.

rknichols · 07-28-2014, 09:19 AM

Did you verify that your separate partition was actually getting mounted on /home?

ravisingh1 · 07-28-2014, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rknichols

Did you verify that your separate partition was actually getting mounted on /home?

Yes I got clue from your reply. The problem is something else. Yes it's mounting on /home, that's no problem.

See what has happened! In the 1st system (Ubuntu 13.10) I'd logged in with the name of "ravi". I'd much data in the subdirectories of /home/ravi.
Then I upgraded the system to 14.04 which didn't work, so I installed back the earlier O.S. (i.e. 13.10.) by keeping the same /home partition. This time while installing I changed the login name as "bholu". Now after getting installed & logging in as "bholu", I checked my home directory & subdirectories but didn't find any data.
Then to further test, I created a file in home directory & reinstalled the O.S. with the same /home. Now this time I changed the login name to "bholua". Again now I didn't find the file I created earlier. So, I'd that doubt that the data are getting lost.

Now after reading your reply, it striked my mind & I checked my /home folder. There all the 3 names were present.

Code:

bholua@bholua-Aspire-5315:/home$ ls
bholu  bholua  lost+found  ravi
bholua@bholua-Aspire-5315:/home$

Now when I move to one username "ravi" , I see the below contents there.

Code:

bholua@bholua-Aspire-5315:/home/ravi$ ll
total 12
dr-x------ 3 bholua bholua 4096 Jun 25 02:25 ./
drwxr-xr-x 7 root   root   4096 Jul 27 23:39 ../
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bholua bholua   56 Jun 25 02:04 Access-Your-Private-Data.desktop -> /usr/share/ecryptfs-utils/ecryptfs-mount-private.desktop*
drwx------ 3 bholua bholua 4096 Jun 25 02:25 .cache/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bholua bholua   30 Jun 25 02:04 .ecryptfs -> /home/.ecryptfs/ravi/.ecryptfs/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bholua bholua   29 Jun 25 02:04 .Private -> /home/.ecryptfs/ravi/.Private/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bholua bholua   52 Jun 25 02:04 README.txt -> /usr/share/ecryptfs-utils/ecryptfs-mount-private.txt

Now see the content of the other username "bholu". It's the same here.

Code:

bholua@bholua-Aspire-5315:/home/ravi$ ll /home/bholu
total 12
dr-x------ 3 bholua bholua 4096 Jul 28 03:16 ./
drwxr-xr-x 7 root   root   4096 Jul 27 23:39 ../
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bholua bholua   56 Jul 28 03:13 Access-Your-Private-Data.desktop -> /usr/share/ecryptfs-utils/ecryptfs-mount-private.desktop*
drwx------ 3 bholua bholua 4096 Jul 28 03:16 .cache/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bholua bholua   31 Jul 28 03:13 .ecryptfs -> /home/.ecryptfs/bholu/.ecryptfs/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bholua bholua   30 Jul 28 03:13 .Private -> /home/.ecryptfs/bholu/.Private/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bholua bholua   52 Jul 28 03:13 README.txt -> /usr/share/ecryptfs-utils/ecryptfs-mount-private.txt

Now the point is how to access those data created under username of "ravi" & "bholu"! It seems I'd earlier enabled encryption of my home directory.

rknichols · 07-28-2014, 09:19 PM

Did you set it up so that the home directory is unlocked automatically when you log in? If so, then the key is derived from your password. I don't know whether you could use that same password to directly unlock the directories with ecryptfs. Probably not -- the password may just unlock a key ring somewhere, but that's the easiest thing to try.

The problem with trying to put things back the way they were is that you now have 3 different home directories all with the same numeric UID (probably 1000). What you would need to do is add those user old names to the system, but manually specifying the numeric UID and without creating a home directory. Use the same password that those users had before. Then you might be able to log in with those user names and access the home directories.

I'm not familiar enough with the Ubuntu tools to give exact instructions on how to do all that.

ravisingh1 · 07-29-2014, 01:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rknichols

I'm not familiar enough with the Ubuntu tools to give exact instructions on how to do all that.

That's no prob. I know how to do that. I will check & update. Thanks!