Fresh install Kubuntu 13.10: how best to partition the HD for optimal, smooth Kontakt & Akonadi

[Basil Chupin]

On 26/10/13 21:12, Bruce Marshall wrote:

[pruned]

> With all due respect to Basil, I've been running linux for 20 years

Well then I beat you by 3 years so I am more senior...... :-) .

>   and I
> don't think I would try to make all those symlinks into a data partition...
> Besides being pretty complex,

Not complex at all - but it does require "a few keystrokes" to create 
the symlinks. Takes a lot less time to do than copying files from backup 
medium to the new system.


>   I don't think it really solves any of the
> problems.  When I rebuilt my system, I found that the storage of email files,
> which has changed several times over the years, had changed yet again in a
> major way that symlinks wouldn't really solve unless you went in a did a lot
> of research and changed everything else around yourself.   I'd rather start
> fresh and make darn sure that the system was rebuilding itself.

I am not sure if there is a mixture of two separate issues here: (1) to 
do with system (config) files and (2) to do with files like e-mail, 
Documents, Downloads, whatever.

Re (1), system config files, I agree that you don't carry over any 
unwanted baggage from one version of the system to the other. My policy 
is to always install fresh, clean, and let the newly installed system 
create its new config files.

Re (2) - and here I have to state that while I have Ubuntu 13.04 
installed I do not have Kubuntu installed so I will install it just to 
make sure that I don't provide the wrong advice. However, perhaps the 
problem you mention with e-mail storage altering several times over the 
years is due to you using Kmail - which I have never used (and never 
will). As I already mentioned, my e-mail started off in Windows and I 
transferred this (together with Firefox settings) seamlessly to Linux. 
Considering all the complaints about Kmail I am surprised that you are 
still using it.

(Just on this theme: I have Ubuntu installed and I have both Firefox and 
Thunderbird symlinked there to the partition on the second HDD - no 
hassles. But I will now download Kubuntu (?)13.10 and install this and 
see if things work :-) .)

> Just too much hassle in my view to make the symlinks.  I'd rather make copious
> back-ups and then sort out any problems.  Been doing that for 20 years without
> major problems and by rebuilding /home every few installs, it should go even
> smoother.

Yes, this is one way of doing it of course. In my case the only regular 
backups I do are the /.mozilla and /.thunderbird directories onto an USB 
stick and do a backup of the complete /home directory onto an external 
HDD when the mood strikes me. The most important data - FF and TB - are 
safely stored away and the rest is replaceable should the HDD(s) crash.

I guess the most important point here is to have a routine of what to do 
re, and with, your system and keep to this routine; after a while it 
becomes second nature and you can do it "with your eyes closed".

BC

-- 
Using openSUSE 13.1, KDE 4.11.2 & kernel 3.11.6-3 on a system with-
AMD FX 8-core 3.6/4.2GHz processor
16GB PC14900/1866MHz Quad Channel Corsair "Vengeance" RAM
Gigabyte AMD3+ m/board; Gigabyte nVidia GTX660 OC 2GB DDR5 GPU