Hi,
BTRFS is not working out for me.
What will be the easiest way to move to EXT4 ?
I am on Fedora 33.
Please note I also want to backup my root filesystem and not just my home.
On Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 10:38 AM Sreyan Chakravarty sreyan32@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
BTRFS is not working out for me.
What will be the easiest way to move to EXT4 ?
I am on Fedora 33.
Please note I also want to backup my root filesystem and not just my home.
I think if you ask 10 people you'll get 10 different answers.
The easiest to *explain* is: * backup /home * clean install the OS using Custom partitioning's "LVM" preset partitioning scheme * restore /home from backup
And that's because the installer does a lot of work you otherwise have to do manually: creates and assembles the new setup, writes out the correct bootloader and fstab information, etc.
If you know how to do these things manually already, then that path is probably easier than a clean install, and having to reinstall some things and adjust settings. Explaining all that in detail is tedious, but maybe someone knows of a guide how to do all that.
But this process is the same whether the source is btrfs, xfs or already ext4 and you need to migrate it to new file systems/layout.
On Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 11:35 PM Chris Murphy lists@colorremedies.com wrote:
On Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 10:38 AM Sreyan Chakravarty sreyan32@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
BTRFS is not working out for me.
What will be the easiest way to move to EXT4 ?
I am on Fedora 33.
Please note I also want to backup my root filesystem and not just my
home.
I think if you ask 10 people you'll get 10 different answers.
The easiest to *explain* is:
- backup /home
- clean install the OS using Custom partitioning's "LVM" preset
partitioning scheme
- restore /home from backup
And that's because the installer does a lot of work you otherwise have to do manually: creates and assembles the new setup, writes out the correct bootloader and fstab information, etc.
If you know how to do these things manually already, then that path is probably easier than a clean install, and having to reinstall some things and adjust settings. Explaining all that in detail is tedious, but maybe someone knows of a guide how to do all that.
But this process is the same whether the source is btrfs, xfs or already ext4 and you need to migrate it to new file systems/layout.
A reinstall is not exactly what I am looking for.
A reinstall will mean that I have reinstall all my applications like Zoom, Vim, etc.
Is there any way I can restore my root partition also ?
On Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 12:31 AM Sreyan Chakravarty sreyan32@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 11:35 PM Chris Murphy lists@colorremedies.com wrote:
On Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 10:38 AM Sreyan Chakravarty sreyan32@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
BTRFS is not working out for me.
What will be the easiest way to move to EXT4 ?
I am on Fedora 33.
Please note I also want to backup my root filesystem and not just my
home.
I think if you ask 10 people you'll get 10 different answers.
The easiest to *explain* is:
- backup /home
- clean install the OS using Custom partitioning's "LVM" preset
partitioning scheme
- restore /home from backup
And that's because the installer does a lot of work you otherwise have to do manually: creates and assembles the new setup, writes out the correct bootloader and fstab information, etc.
If you know how to do these things manually already, then that path is probably easier than a clean install, and having to reinstall some things and adjust settings. Explaining all that in detail is tedious, but maybe someone knows of a guide how to do all that.
But this process is the same whether the source is btrfs, xfs or already ext4 and you need to migrate it to new file systems/layout.
A reinstall is not exactly what I am looking for.
A reinstall will mean that I have reinstall all my applications like Zoom, Vim, etc.
Is there any way I can restore my root partition also ?
What about partclone and TimeShift ?
Does it copy filesystem information also ?
I mean if I backup from BTRFS can I restore it into ext4 ?
On 6/14/21 1:12 PM, Sreyan Chakravarty wrote:
I mean if I backup from BTRFS can I restore it into ext4 ?
Your backup software neither knows nor cares how your filesystem is formatted, so of course you can. Unless, of course, you're cloning the partition, in which case a restore will overwrite the partition with the original formatting.
On Monday, June 14, 2021 3:50:57 PM EDT Joe Zeff wrote:
On 6/14/21 1:12 PM, Sreyan Chakravarty wrote:
I mean if I backup from BTRFS can I restore it into ext4 ?
Your backup software neither knows nor cares how your filesystem is formatted, so of course you can. Unless, of course, you're cloning the partition, in which case a restore will overwrite the partition with the original formatting.
I'm pretty sure Chris was correct. You system is set up to boot from the btrfs file system -- not ext4. Changing the file system will result in needed changes in boot loader, fstab, etc.
Restoring to an ext4 file system will not result in a bootable system.
On Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 1:57 PM Garry T. Williams gtwilliams@gmail.com wrote:
On Monday, June 14, 2021 3:50:57 PM EDT Joe Zeff wrote:
On 6/14/21 1:12 PM, Sreyan Chakravarty wrote:
I mean if I backup from BTRFS can I restore it into ext4 ?
Your backup software neither knows nor cares how your filesystem is formatted, so of course you can. Unless, of course, you're cloning the partition, in which case a restore will overwrite the partition with the original formatting.
I'm pretty sure Chris was correct. You system is set up to boot from the btrfs file system -- not ext4. Changing the file system will result in needed changes in boot loader, fstab, etc.
Restoring to an ext4 file system will not result in a bootable system.
Strictly speaking, restoring to a *new* file system will result in an unbootable system. The FS UUID has changed, all the changes for assembly need to be reflected in /etc/fstab, and the bootloader configuration files (a minimum of four). Even if this were LVM/ext4 being backedup and restored to LVM/ext4 it's the same problem and same number of steps to fix all of it after the restore.
And to my knowledge no tool knows how to do that except the installer. And the installer only knows how to do it in the context of a clean install. Not a repair.
On Tue, 15 Jun 2021, 1:27 am Garry T. Williams, gtwilliams@gmail.com wrote:
On Monday, June 14, 2021 3:50:57 PM EDT Joe Zeff wrote:
On 6/14/21 1:12 PM, Sreyan Chakravarty wrote:
I mean if I backup from BTRFS can I restore it into ext4 ?
Your backup software neither knows nor cares how your filesystem is formatted, so of course you can. Unless, of course, you're cloning the partition, in which case a restore will overwrite the partition with the original formatting.
I'm pretty sure Chris was correct. You system is set up to boot from the btrfs file system -- not ext4. Changing the file system will result in needed changes in boot loader, fstab, etc.
Restoring to an ext4 file system will not result in a bootable system.
How does this sound?
I make a complete tar backup of my system.
Reinstall F33 to ext4.
Restore that tar, of course fstab and crypttab needs to be corrected.
Will this work? Does it make any sense?
Regards Sreyan Chakravarty
On Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 2:42 AM Sreyan Chakravarty sreyan32@gmail.com wrote:
On Tue, 15 Jun 2021, 1:27 am Garry T. Williams, gtwilliams@gmail.com wrote:
On Monday, June 14, 2021 3:50:57 PM EDT Joe Zeff wrote:
On 6/14/21 1:12 PM, Sreyan Chakravarty wrote:
I mean if I backup from BTRFS can I restore it into ext4 ?
Your backup software neither knows nor cares how your filesystem is formatted, so of course you can. Unless, of course, you're cloning the partition, in which case a restore will overwrite the partition with
the
original formatting.
I'm pretty sure Chris was correct. You system is set up to boot from the btrfs file system -- not ext4. Changing the file system will result in needed changes in boot loader, fstab, etc.
Restoring to an ext4 file system will not result in a bootable system.
How does this sound?
I make a complete tar backup of my system.
Reinstall F33 to ext4.
Restore that tar, of course fstab and crypttab needs to be corrected.
Will this work? Does it make any sense?
So will this work ? Any feedback ?
On Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 8:54 AM Sreyan Chakravarty sreyan32@gmail.com wrote:
On Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 2:42 AM Sreyan Chakravarty sreyan32@gmail.com wrote:
On Tue, 15 Jun 2021, 1:27 am Garry T. Williams, gtwilliams@gmail.com wrote:
On Monday, June 14, 2021 3:50:57 PM EDT Joe Zeff wrote:
On 6/14/21 1:12 PM, Sreyan Chakravarty wrote:
I mean if I backup from BTRFS can I restore it into ext4 ?
Your backup software neither knows nor cares how your filesystem is formatted, so of course you can. Unless, of course, you're cloning the partition, in which case a restore will overwrite the partition with the original formatting.
I'm pretty sure Chris was correct. You system is set up to boot from the btrfs file system -- not ext4. Changing the file system will result in needed changes in boot loader, fstab, etc.
Restoring to an ext4 file system will not result in a bootable system.
How does this sound?
I make a complete tar backup of my system.
Reinstall F33 to ext4.
Restore that tar, of course fstab and crypttab needs to be corrected.
Will this work? Does it make any sense?
So will this work ? Any feedback ?
Probably not because it'll step on valid bootloader things with stale copies. If you avoid stepping on anything in:
/boot /etc/grub*
It might work... but you'll still have kernels that rpm database says are installed that aren't installed; you'll have stale boot entries for kernels that aren't installed and thus won't work. None of it will get cleaned up on its own.
On Wed, Jun 16, 2021 at 12:22 AM Chris Murphy lists@colorremedies.com wrote:
On Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 8:54 AM Sreyan Chakravarty sreyan32@gmail.com wrote:
On Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 2:42 AM Sreyan Chakravarty sreyan32@gmail.com
wrote:
On Tue, 15 Jun 2021, 1:27 am Garry T. Williams, gtwilliams@gmail.com
wrote:
On Monday, June 14, 2021 3:50:57 PM EDT Joe Zeff wrote:
On 6/14/21 1:12 PM, Sreyan Chakravarty wrote:
I mean if I backup from BTRFS can I restore it into ext4 ?
Your backup software neither knows nor cares how your filesystem is formatted, so of course you can. Unless, of course, you're cloning
the
partition, in which case a restore will overwrite the partition with
the
original formatting.
I'm pretty sure Chris was correct. You system is set up to boot from the btrfs file system -- not ext4. Changing the file system will result in needed changes in boot loader, fstab, etc.
Restoring to an ext4 file system will not result in a bootable system.
How does this sound?
I make a complete tar backup of my system.
Reinstall F33 to ext4.
Restore that tar, of course fstab and crypttab needs to be corrected.
Will this work? Does it make any sense?
So will this work ? Any feedback ?
Probably not because it'll step on valid bootloader things with stale copies. If you avoid stepping on anything in:
/boot /etc/grub*
It might work... but you'll still have kernels that rpm database says
are installed that aren't installed; you'll have stale boot entries for kernels that aren't installed and thus won't work. None of it will get cleaned up on its own.
I will be reinstalling the bootloader also. Even then is it doubtful ?
On 6/14/21 12:05 PM, Chris Murphy wrote:
The easiest to*explain* is:
- backup /home
- clean install the OS using Custom partitioning's "LVM" preset
partitioning scheme
- restore /home from backup
Or, as I do, because I don't use LVM, do a clean install, using the current partitioning scheme and leaving /home as is, and having the backup of /home for emergencies. So far, I've never needed it, but it's always good to know it's there, Just In Case.
-
Chris Murphy -
Garry T. Williams -
Joe Zeff -
Sreyan Chakravarty