how hard would it be to move the home directory? I think I would just create the new partition, then move the files over in run level 1, then reboot. will this work?

I have home on the root / partition right now, but I have extra disk space and would like to move it to its own partition without reinstalling the os. I'm using fedora 14, ext4.

Dont forget a symlink!

But really,.. instead of using a drive as a seperate entity at all -- why not just add the new drive to your volume group and extend it onto the new drive? That way you are adding space that is transparent to programs.

It is not hard. It is quite fun
Yes, and maybe no, until you do a few other steps:

• Create the partition.
• Format the partition.
• Mount the new partition somewhere.
• Copy your /home/* files to the new partition whilst you are not logged in as yourself, but as the root user. Use cp -a source dest so all file attributes are copied. Copying files whilst you are logged in is not a good idea, as they keep changing. This is best done by logging out of the GUI, and in again at a CRTL-ALT-F2 terminal. Login as root there. I know you are using fedora, but if you are using ubuntu (or derivatives, like Mint) you will have to enable the root login before you can do this.
• Do not delete any files in the old /home/ just yet.
• touch /new/home/mountpoint/NEWHOME so it is easy to see if it has been mounted correctly.
• ls /new/home/mountpoint to make sure your users are listed properly: user1 user2 NEWHOME etc. Otherwise you did the cp wrong. Try again.
• Adjust fstab so it will mount the new home partition at /home/

If this works after a reboot, and you can see the file NEWHOME, all is good.

If not, you still have your old /home/* "hidden" underneath the mountpoint of the new home partition. So boot from a live CD, restore fstab as it was, and try again.

If it did work you can safely (as root) unmount the new home partition (so the old files become visible again - Check: NEWHOME should not be visible) and delete all those files, so there is more space on your / partition.

Best to make a backup before you start if you want to feel safe.

Have fun & let us know how you get on.

LVM is an alternative, but when it goes wrong, it seems to be very difficult to recover. I'd rather not go there.

Best wishes.

2 members found this post helpful.

thanks for the help. great instructions. you covered things I didn't even think of.