How to re-install Redhat 9 without losing data?
 

Hello !

I had a pc that I used as server, it ran Redhat 9.
Yesterday, the cpu crashed and I couldn't turn it on.
It seems the mainboard is damage but the hard disk is fine, so I must change it.
I want to install the new pc (with different mainboard) with Redhat 9 and same hard disk.
My partition is only "/swap" and "/" and all mysql database is on the "/" partition.

Is it possible if I want to fresh install Redhat 9 without losing mysql database at "/" partition?

Thanks before.

Sounds dangerous, even if you know how to do a reinstall without formatting I would advise if you got another linux/unix machine to put the hard drive in that and mount the / from the hard drive so that you back anything of importance up. it's too easy to mess up the installation and accidently format the hard drive instead of just placing the new installation on it... also Red Hat 9 is relatively speaking quite old now I would advise you might consider something newer, Fedora or CentOS for example.

Since RH9 is so old (2003?) you are likely to run into issues if you try and install it on any hardware that is any newer than 2003. RH9 simply will not know how to deal with it. Since you do not appear to like to upgrade very often, I would advise against Fedora. Fedora only supports any one version for 13 months. Centos is RHEL(Red Hat Enterprise Linux) with the logos removed. It is free to download/update(unlike RHEL) and is binary compatible with RHEL. RHEL/Centos5.X will have support until at least 2014.

Thank you, I have a replacement server
 

Thanks for all, yesterday I got a new cpu and I tried to put the old hard disk on it, and it works !!! Kudzu directly install the new hardware that detected. Now its work properly, thanks.

agongpor you do know that rh 9 has NOT HAD A SECURITY update in 6 years

and is wide open to attack . I take it YOU DO want the server to become a zombie !!! and owned by a "cracker"!!

PLEASE use and install a SUPPORTED operating system !!!

Thank you
 

Thank you for the reminding.

Could you suggest me what operating system that suitable for my need?
I only need a web server and mysql server.
FYI, this server run in a closed LAN.

Thanks before.

Do you know the exact circumstances in which the system is used? If not, please keep your advise friendly.

And FYI, we're still running RH6.2 server systems that have never been patched. What you don't know is that they work in a very controlled environment with only two other systems being able to connect to them.

@OP: I'd recommend Centos; the free version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (aka RHEL). Current version is 5.4.