[ale] how do I properly move my home folder from ubuntu to mint

[Doug Hall]

I need to update you on what my problem was with BackInTime. It turns out
that I just needed to change the user of the external backup drive to that
of the new user, with chown. The user names were the same, but apparently,
the user id was different than from the old system. I think I also needed
to ensure that I was not overwriting my BackinTime preference file with the
one from the old machine during the restore. Not positive on the last
issue, but it might have thrown things off. So, it seems to have been a
permission thing after all. I had to change the name of the external
computer in BackInTime's preferences, so that it would pick up the backups
on the former machine. Other than that, it was a fairly easy restore. One
thing that I did not figure out, was how to select multiple files/folders
at a time, when selecting what to restore. I didn't want to restore the
entire home folder, just the contents and *some* of the hidden files. I'm
not sure if that was user error or if the program interface itself was
lacking. BackInTime is pretty much just a graphical user interface to
rsync. It hard-links to files that have not changed since the last backup.
It also has the ability to clean out older backups at a predetermined
rate/time. You'd have to manually do this, if you used rsync.


On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 10:23 AM, Ted Wood <wood at gatech.edu> wrote:

> I keep a spare ext4 formatted USB hard drive around just for this
> purpose. Before re-imaging a machine I use "rsync -a" to make sure I
> grab everything, including dot files. If you're migrating to a newer
> version of the OS or a different flavor, you may also consider including
> "--exclude .gvfs .ICEauthority .thumbnails .config" (to name a few).
> This makes the restoration a little more efficient since excluding
> certain dot directories /should/ allow you to just "rsync -a -u"
> everything back into the new system's home directory.
>
> On 05/28/2013 09:02 AM, Bugs wrote:
> > Ron,
> >
> > Read up on rsync and don't use NTFS.
> > If you have no other place to put it, use tar to make a single file that
> > preserves UNIX modes and owner info.
> >
> > Examples:
> > rsync -x -H -a -v --stats -P /home/myuser/
> > /path/to/my/Linux/formatted/drive/homedir/
> > #reinstall your dist
> > rsync -x -H -a -v --stats -P /path/to/my/Linux/formatted/drive/homedir/
> > /home/myuser/
> >
> > tar -c -v -j -f /path/to/my/windows/drive/home.tar /home/myuser/
> > #reinstall your dist
> > cd / ; tar -jxvf /path/to/my/windows/drive/home.tar
> >
> > On 05/26/2013 10:19 AM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
> >> Hi all,
> >>
> >> I just had a frustrating experience and want to learn how to avoid it
> >> next time.
> >>
> >> Previously, I had set up all my machines to dual boot with ubuntu and
> >> windows.  I've now decided to move to Mint since I'm disenchanted with
> >> ubuntu.  Yes, I know they share the same core.
> >>
> >> The hdd in question had an ext4 partition which was ubuntu and an ntfs
> >> partition which I use for data.  I booted a mint live cd, mounted the
> >> ubuntu file system by clicking it within the file browser, and copied
> >> my ron folder to the ntfs partition.  It complained about some files
> >> being inaccessible, but still copied about 43 MB of data, which looked
> >> like the right number.
> >>
> >> I then proceeded to install mint in the ext4 partition.  When I
> >> started the installer, I selected the option to erase ubuntu and
> >> install mint.  I eventually got mint booting and working the way I
> >> wanted.  Then, I went back into the file browser and told it to copy
> >> the files back from the ntfs partition to the new mint home directory
> >> and merge any duplicate folders.  I made the mistake of using a move
> >> command rather than a copy command.  At some point, it generated
> >> another error saying it couldn't copy some files.  I cannot remember
> >> the exact message.  I clicked skip all.  The net result is that about
> >> 43 MB of data was copied to my new home folder and about 387 MB of
> >> data wasn't copied.  Unfortunately, the files were removed from the
> >> ntfs folder even though they were skipped, which I think is a design
> >> flaw.
> >>
> >> The net result is that I lost about 9/10 of what was in my original
> >> ubuntu home folder unless I can find a backup somewhere.  I don't
> >> think there was anything too critical, but who knows.
> >>
> >> So, can anyone please tell me the proper procedure to move the
> >> contents of my home folder from a ubuntu install to a mint install so
> >> this doesn't happen next time I install mint on another computer?
> >>
> >> Any help is appreciated and thanks in advance.
> >>
> >> Sincerely,
> >>
> >> Ron
> >>
> >
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>
> --
> Ted Wood <wood at gatech.edu>
>
> --
> Ted Wood <wood at gatech.edu>
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