fedora core 8
 

To whom it may concern,

I have fedora core 4 on my desktop computer and would like to re-install fedora core 8, the only problem is I do not want to lose any of my settings and files on the desktop computer. If this can be done can you explain it to me step by step on how to install it. I will give you guys all the specs you need I would just like to update my fedora core program without losing any of my settings and files on my desktop computer.

Upgrading
 

Aloha,
First things first. The /home/[username] directory will contain most of your files and settings. So, to upgrade without losing your /home/[username] directory we need to do a few things first. I am gonna make up a hard disk for example here. Lets says it is a 60 gig hd. If you are using only 20 gig of this drive it can be resized. I would recommend a good backup prior to doing this. Lost data is no fun. Here is a link on how to resize ext3 partitions...
http://www.howtoforge.com/linux_resi...xt3_partitions
So lets say that you followed this How To and resized your hd. One 20 gig partition with all your current stuff on it and 40 gig of free space. After that, create a new 40 gig partition and format it ext3. Now you have two partitions, one 20G and one 40G. Now, mount the 40G drive under something like /mnt/temp_drive and copy everything from /home to /mnt/temp_drive. Unmount the temp_drive. Go into /etc/fstab and setup this new 40G partition to mount every time as /home. Save that and reboot.
If you did it all ok, it should look no different. You just have 2 partitions now. One for / and one for /home. Now you are ready to update to Fedora 8.
Format and load Fedora 8 on the 20G partition. Once you boot into Fedora 8, edit the /etc/fstab to again point at your /home partition and reboot. Everything should be as it was. Be warned that things like wine, which are packages you install on your own will not be there and you will need to reinstall them. This also assumes that you are going to use the same password and userid. Another possible solution is to add a second hard drive, format it ext3 and copy you /home to it and have it mounted in fstab on boot. The advantages of having home on its own partition are that it does make upgrading a little easier. I hope this helped. If you need any further help, let us know.
Mahalo,
Edward