Change from Ubuntu + Slack to just Slack

pwc101 · 03-06-2007, 06:28 AM

When I got my new laptop, I decided to try out a couple of different distros. So, I partitioned my hard drive accordingly, and installed Ubuntu on the first partition. I then installed Slack on my second root partition (I had separate /home partitions for each distro). Ubuntu was lovely and easy to use, but it wasn't the same as Slackware, and I've since been using Slack as my primary OS again. I'd rather not have to format my entire disk and start again as it's getting to the stage where my Slack install is getting very highly configured.

The problem I have is that Ubuntu is managing the booting of the computer with Grub. I want to move Slack back to the first partition of the disk, and remove Ubuntu altogether. This will presumably mean I lose Grub. Is my plan of action correct:

Boot to a LiveCD.
Make an image of my Slack installation.
Remove the partitions on my disk.
Make the parition layout for one distro only (plus Windows XP).
Restore the Slackware image.
Boot to the Slackware installation CD and install lilo.
Keep my fingers crossed!

Any thoughts are welcome.

titopoquito · 03-06-2007, 07:08 AM

Your steps look right to me.

You might consider cloning your Slackware installation (for example using rsync) to the first partition, so you would not need the image. Depending on your exact partition layout and how/if you want to change your partition layout this could be difficult or impossible with your home partition though.

If you want to keep grub you can do that. There is a grub package in /extra.

pwc101 · 03-06-2007, 07:20 AM

I'm not really too bothered which boot loader I have, so long as it works!

At the moment I have a setup like this: (hope this works!)

Code:

  Primary                               Extended 
|---------||--------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------||----|------------|---------------|--------------|-------------|
  Windows   Swap  Ubuntu root   Ubuntu home     Slack root     Slack home
  (hda1)   (hda5)   (hda6)         (hda7)         (hda8)         (hda9)

What I'd like it to just have three partitions for Linux: hda5, hda6 and hda7, with 6 and 7 being root and home respectively.

As it stands, I can just move everything in my /home partition onto my external USB disk as either an image or a tarball or something (how would I preserve the permissions?) and then restore it when I've finished moving the root partition.

titopoquito · 03-06-2007, 07:31 AM

I used rsync to make a copy of my slackware installation before.

I mounted the partition where the copy should be created as /mnt/slack-A-root and /mnt/slack-A-home, then executed (no guarantee, please take a look at other rsync examples or the man page before doing it):

Code:

rsync -axH --delete-after --progress / /mnt/slack-A-root
rsync -axH --delete-after --progress /home/ /mnt/slack-A-root

The trailing slash at the source's path is important!

If I were in your situation I would first copy Ubuntu's /boot folder (at least the grub folder), and modify the menu.lst and copy it back after rsync. Then I would change the rsync-copy's fstab file (if you have absolute /dev-points there and do not mount by label or uuid).

pwc101 · 03-06-2007, 07:43 AM

Ah, I see. The problem I have with using rsync to backup to my external disk (which is what I would do) is that it's formatted using fat32, and therefore doesn't keep the original permissions. I suppose I could make an image of /home, and then mount that to some temporary mount point using -o loop after I've sorted out the parition scheme, and simply copy the contents of that image back into my new /home.

I could also just install the grub package now, and then copy the contents from the ubuntu /boot into the slack /boot.

Argh! All these things are making my head ache!

titopoquito · 03-06-2007, 07:50 AM

What would we wrong about just using the existing hda6 and hda7? Or do you want to make these partitions just greater than they are now?

dunric · 03-06-2007, 08:11 AM

You may also just copy whole installation to required partition and then resize.

boot from Live/Rescue CD
by fdisk create partition 6 in place of 6 and 7
create new filesystem on part. 6 (ext3)
mount partitions 8,9 and new 6
copy contents of 8 and 9 to 6 (by cp -a f.E.)
update lilo or grub with new partition 6
u(n)mount part. 6, erase part. 8 and 9
resize part. 6 and then create part. 7 of the remaining space and move /home to it

Take it as an excersize how to do it without backups, but forget it when there are some important data for you. In addition it's usefull for filesystems with unchallanged resizing capability.

titopoquito · 03-06-2007, 08:14 AM

Anyways it would be a good idea to make the backup (with tar or whatever) to your external hard disk, no matter how you will solve your problem. This should make your head ache a little less

pwc101 · 03-06-2007, 08:36 AM

Well, I want to resize my root partition, and leave all the rest of the drive as /home (it's a 40GB hard drive, and currently I only have a 5GB root partition and a 10GB /home partition for slack (the rest is ubuntu and windows).

This is what I think I'll do:

Make an image of slack root and slack home.
Wipe the drive of all the linux paritions.
Restore the image of my slack installation.
Resize the root partition using a liveCD.
Boot into the installation CD and install lilo.
Finally make a new home and restore that from an image too.
Fingers crossed again!