[ubuntu-uk] backup home folder

[Alan Pope]

On 16 September 2010 09:05, ian pettitt <ian.pettitt at bbsrc.ac.uk> wrote:
> I think that is correct. I have my /home on a separate partition to the
> system (/), so when I have reinstalled my data, settings, email etc. are
> retained
>

I've lost count of how many times I've said this but it seems many
people don't know.

You do not need a separate /home partition to achieve that. The
installer has for some time now supported reinstalling 'over the top'
of an existing install _without_ deleting /home, whether it's a
separate partition or just a subdirectory on your root (/) partition.

To achieve a reinstall/upgrade of this nature simply boot from a
recent CD and when you get to the partitioning step, choose to
'manually' partition the disk. Choose where you want to install and
make sure 'Format' is _not_ ticked. The installer will go through
/bin, /usr, /var, /etc, /lib and so on deleting all files before the
installation starts. It will _not_ delete /home.

Of course this only preserves /home, not your settings in /etc nor
mysql databases in /var or anything else outside of /home, but it's a
very useful feature.

Cheers,
Al.