Permission Denied when trying to delete /var
 

Hi

I've recently put a hard drive from an old linux system into my new one. There is some important data on the drive which I need to keep - but I need to delete the bin, usr, var etc etc directories. Some of those delete ok - but when I try to delete some of them (with rm -rf) I get a permission denied error. I've tried doing chmod -R 777 on the directory - but still get the error. Is there any way to 'force delete regardless of anything' these directories?

Thanks,

Robin

1. Where have you mounted the old filesystem from the old disk onto your new filesystem. For example, have you tried something like:

mkdir /old_root
mount /dev/hd<NNN> /old_root
rm -rf /okld_root/var

2. Have you tried doing this in single-user mode?
In "boot from CD" mode?

Hi

I've mounted it in a directory inside /mnt. So it is /mnt/120gb/var that I am trying to delete.

I'll try it in Single User mode (running init 3) and see what happens.

Thanks,

Robin

Hi

I've tried running it in single user mode - it still gives the Permission Denied errors. Now it also gives a Sementation Fault - it gives all sorts of details about this but I'm not sure which details I should give in this post - any ideas of what to post would be useful!

Thanks,

Robin

In single user mode, try:

1. run "fsck" on the drive (something corrupt)?

2. try "rm -rf" a directory at a time (who's the
culprit? All of "//mnt/120gb/var", or something in particular?)