Moving /root directory to another drive

dalvikvm · 10-06-2017, 02:00 AM

I installed Linux on SSD and mounted /home to another drive. How can I swap /home to /root?

business_kid · 10-06-2017, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dalvikvm

I installed Linux on SSD and mounted /home to another drive. How can I swap /home to /root?

Some clarification on terminology:
/home = home partition housing user directories
/root = /root's personal user directory
/ = the root partition.

I would not move /home to /root - it would be a permissions nightmare.
If you want to move the contents of your home partition to /, log out all users except root, [if there's no root login, use 'su -' as some user] choose some empty directory in /mnt or /media (I will use /mnt/tmp in the example) then do something like

Code:

# mount -o remount </home device, e.g, /dev/sdb1> /mnt/tmp
# cp -a /mnt/tmp/* /home && sync

Rickkkk · 10-06-2017, 10:18 AM

... ABSOLUTELY in agreement with business_kid's comments ... Unless I'm misunderstanding your question, what you are suggesting is at best very unusual and potentially destabilizing.

If you could explain what you are attempting to accomplish, it may make it easier for members to provide helpful answers and advice.

Cheers.

dalvikvm · 10-06-2017, 12:20 PM

I'm just swapping /home and /root. I want to move /root not / (I know). I didn't see mount point /root on installation so I use /home instead now I want to swap it with /root.

RockDoctor · 10-06-2017, 12:48 PM

Maybe I'm missing something here, but it seems like a rather simple task that could be done by booting off a live medium, then, as root mounting the drives containing /home and /root, making any moves, and, finally, adjusting ownerships and permissions.

On second thought, back up /home and /root before trying to pull off the switch.

IsaacKuo · 10-06-2017, 03:03 PM

You really really really do not want to move /home to /root. I'm not even going to begin to say how to do that, because it's crazy how much of a bad idea it is and what weird stuff would be necessary to actually do it.

Instead, I'll tell you what you really want to do:

1) Log out with all regular users (if any are logged in).

2) Log in as root on a console (ctrl-alt-f1 to get to the text console login; ctrl-alt-f7 to get back to the GUI login)

I'm assuming you're not running Ubuntu or any Ubuntu derivative. If so, then yippee! You've just discovered one of the reasons doing things the Ubuntu way is dumb. (I think that if you are running an Ubuntu derivative, making it so you can log in as root is "sudo passwd"...prepare for confusion about the passwords it's asking you though...)

3) While logged in as root, do the following commands:

Code:

mkdir /home2
cp -vax /home/* /home2/
umount /home
mv -vi /home2/* /home/

4) edit /etc/fstab and comment out the entry for /home

Pretty easy, really.

Rickkkk · 10-06-2017, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dalvikvm

I'm just swapping /home and /root. I want to move /root not / (I know). I didn't see mount point /root on installation so I use /home instead now I want to swap it with /root.

IsaacKuo has detailed instructions in an above post as to how to go about doing something different than what you are asking. With respect, I would recommend you consider his alternative and definitely rethink your plan.

As mentioned earlier, the /root directory is the "root" user's home directory ... Moving or copying anything into this is an unusual thing to want to do and I am not convinced you are aware of the potential impacts and permissions issues involved.

I do apologize for insisting, but a bit more detail might help members here understand your motivation for suggesting this.

Cheers.