[mdlug] Completely replacing Windows XP Pro with Linux!

[Aaron Kulkis]

rstaff wrote:
> I am quite familiar with installing Linux for dual boot on two separate hard drives using Linux Mint and Ubuntu.
> Windows OS on drive number one and Linux OS on drive number two.  So I thought installing Linux across 2 hard drives
> would be similarly straight forward.  Ouch!  Not so.

I've never had a problem installing across multiple hard drives.

Until the appearance of SATA, I desktop machine typically had 3-5 SCSI hard drives in it, and
I would install across all of the drives for the specific purpose of trying to keep the SCSI
bandwidth divided up among as many read/write heads as possible (without resorting to striping).

I've never experienced any difficulty in this.  Just partition the disks, indicate the
partitions and mount-points to the installer, and go.  I don't know why a 2nd disk would
make this any more difficult.

> Clue --- Hint --- I am using Linux Mint and Ubuntu.

Ubuntu seems to be newbie-friendly to the point of experienced-admin hostile...

> The Dell GX260 (target PC) was originally setup for Windows XP Pro on disk #1 and Linux Mint 12 on disk #2.  Disk #2 had
> a "/" partition (ext3), a "/home" partition (ext3), and a swap partition.
> Apparently the Linux Mint 17 installer had some kind of problem with the preexisting Linux formatting on drive number
> two.  It would only allow me to format for Linux on drive number one.  I went ahead and did that.
> Using an Lubuntu Live DVD as a rescue disk, I used GParted to format disk #2 for Linux ext4.
> I tried the "/home" partition move/copy process as Googled.
> With repeated editing of the "/etc/fstab", and "/home" directory not found messages, I finally tried the chown command
> (with sudo) to match what it had been on disk #1.  Got a "Not authorized" message.  24 hours without sleep, brain all
> fuzzy, so I tried a fresh (re)install of Linux Mint 17.  The Linux Mint installer saw the second drive (finally) as sdb1
> and allowed a "/home" mount point to be applied to sdb1 (finally).
> One Googled article that talked about installing Linux Mint, had as a first step was using GParted to format the
> drive(s) and then using the Linux Mint installer (a clue my messed up thinking ignored).
> Anyways, all is well and my Dell GX260 is a brand new (all shiny clean) Linux Mint 17 PC.
> Thanks all,
> Rick Staff
> P.S. Did I mention that I like the user friendly Linux Mint.  Just another pig headed Linux user.  ;-)
>
> On 07/21/2014 11:09 PM, Aaron Kulkis wrote:
>> rstaff wrote:
>>> Moving or copying the /home directory is way too technical and way too much work for me.
>>> It did not work for me!  And I was following Googled instructions!
>>> See << comments >> below for solution that did work for me.
>>>
>>
>> Ok.  Since you are obviously unfamiliar with the process, why did you choose to
>> do this at home, alone, rather than bringing in the machine and doing your install
>> during an MDLUG meeting when we could help you get this done right.
>>
>>
>>
>>> On 07/19/2014 01:32 AM, Aaron Kulkis wrote:
>>>> rstaff wrote:
>>>>> I went ahead, used GParted to format the whole 2nd drive for Linux as an ext4 partition.
>>>>> I then copied the /home directory and its contents (i.e., "/ricky") to disk #2.
>>>>> I went through several editing sessions with the /etc/fstab file.
>>>>> With every reboot, Linux Mint failed to find "/home/ricky
>>>>
>>>> everytihng that was in your home directory is now in /home
>>>>
>>>> you should make a home directory, /home/ricky
>>>> and then move all of the contents of /home (except for ricky) into ricky
>>>
>>>> << Huh? WTF! >>
>>>
>>>> << Read Below!  Apparently the second drive has to be formatted outside of the installer. >>
>>>
>>>>> I gave up.
>>>>> Now going through a reinstall of Linux Mint 17.
>>>>> This time, the Linux Mint installer recognized the second drive as sdb1 and appears to have allowed
>>>>> /home to be applied as a mount point.
>>>>> Installation still running, will provide update when done.
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Rick Staff
>>>>>
>>>>> On 07/17/2014 11:23 PM, Harry Burleson wrote:
>>>>>>> During a Linux Mint 17 install, I keep getting an error that says
>>>>>>> "/home" is outside the allowed space.
>>>>>>> Huh???
>>>>>> I have not encountered this error but I suspect the installer is complaining
>>>>>> because you are trying to install your Linux system across two disk drives.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If you want to use two drives try installing root and home partitions on disk
>>>>>> #1 . Then after you have a working Linux system create only a file system (use
>>>>>> GParted) on disk #2. Create a mount directory and mount the file system on disk
>>>>>> #2 to the mount directory. You will need to edit /etc/fstab . If you want to
>>>>>> expand the size of /home you can get creative with symbolic links.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As an alternative, after a successful installation on disk #1, you can use a
>>>>>> live distro: Pmagic, Ubuntu, Knoppix, etc. Then with Gparted move the /home
>>>>>> partition to disk #2 and edit /etc/fstab .
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Harry
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