Reinstall over LVM

[Roger]

On 27/08/13 18:36, Rejy M Cyriac wrote:
> On 08/27/2013 12:02 PM, Roger wrote:
>> On 27/08/13 15:21, Rejy M Cyriac wrote:
>>> On 08/27/2013 10:17 AM, Roger wrote:
>>>> On 27/08/13 14:04, Rejy M Cyriac wrote:
>>>>> On 08/27/2013 08:04 AM, Roger wrote:
>>>>>> Is it possible to do a re installation of Fedora 19 where the file
>>>>>> system is LVM on a 2nd partition on my hard drive without losing files
>>>>>> in the /home directory structure?
>>>>>> There was a discussion about this some time ago but I didn't take much
>>>>>> notice then.
>>>>>> TIA
>>>>>> Roger
>>>>> You can re-install, as long as you maintain the same LVM structure in
>>>>> partitioning, and you can retain files if do not choose to reformat the
>>>>> logical volume for '/home'
>>>>>
>>>> Thank you rmc.
>>>> No reason to change the LVM.
>>>> This however begs another question.
>>>> The installation was originally Fedora 18 which I upgraded to Fed19. I'm
>>>> guessing all the apps and installed files, like inkscape, scribus, etc
>>>> are in the /root part of the LVM aka /sbin /bin /usr /etc and so on --
>>>> is this correct?
>>>> Can I format only the /boot and /swap, will all those installed apps
>>>> remain intact, and be accessible as before?
>>>> TIA
>>>> Roger
>>>>
>>> You had said that you need to re-install F19. That usually means you
>>> want to re-install all the packages that come with the Operating System,
>>> and the best accompaniment to that is re-formatting the root filesystem.
>>> Just re-formatting the '/boot'/ and 'swap' partitions during re-install
>>> of the Operating System may have different end results depending on what
>>> packages you choose during the re-install.
>>>
>>> So the question now arises on why you need to re-install Fedora. Would
>>> your objective be attained with just re-installing packages that you
>>> have some issues with ? Also, the user specific customisations of most
>>> of the applications reside as dot files in the user's home directory, so
>>> re-formatting the root filesystem, and re-installing all the
>>> applications will not impact those customisations, as long as you do not
>>> reformat the home partition. On the other hand, if you are running any
>>> servers, you may need to backup their configuration files before the
>>> re-install, and put them back in after.
>>>
>> My problem is the /boot partition. it is empty.
>> I was installing the nvidia driver following some instructions and right
>> at the last instant made an error so while everything is really in it's
>> place, the system is useless.
>> No servers, it's a home desktop development system.
>> Roger
>>
> If it is just the '/boot' partition, you could probably copy over the
> contents from a similar system, regenerate grub config file, and
> re-install grub stage 1 if required.
>
> Or you could boot into rescue mode from ISO, have partitions mounted,
> chroot to installed system filesystems, and reinstall associated
> packages - like kernel, grub2, grub2-tools ...pretty hard way...
>
> I have not tried out either methods, so cannot guarantee they will work. ;-)
>
> What I know will work is - take back-up of '/home' and wherever you have
> data, reinstall entire OS without re-formatting '/home'. Put back any
> data missing :-)
>
> Best way would have been to take back-ups before tinkering with the
> '/boot' filesystem. But it is easier to see that in hind-sight....
>
Thanks Rejy I have just done complete backups of everything using 
Ubuntu, Its been a lifesaver running 2 or more operating systems.
Tomorrow I'll get into the installation.
Puzzling thing I just noticed. I did a fresh install on that Fed18 
partition months ago and it has used all available space, 53 gig for 
root and 43 gig for /home.
Might delete the lot and start over.
Cheers
Roger
Thanks
Roger