I thought that I did right, but no, that wasn't the case! Chan

[onederer]

That built-in partition application is a real bear to handle! PCLinuxos-64-kde-Fullmonty is nice to use, but some kinks can make the installation of the OS very frustrating!

 

I worked real hard just to extablish 3 (now 2) parttitions in my hard-drive. When I thought that I had things right, and after i had commited to format the disk, I noticed that my most precious partition, was only going to be formatted in an ext2 version, instead of the desired ext4 format. And no, no swap file. There are only two patitions. Everytime I looked into a swap file, it was never used. I only have "/" and /home.

 

Yep, I pushed that button allright, because at where I was, there was no "back" button to allow me to correct the problem. So here i am again! I only had hope that this could be fixed at a later time.

 

And the time is now. And here is the question: is it possible to take an ext2 and upgrade it up to an ext4 format? That is, with all the data in there, and no damage coming to the OS. I wouid prefer to have journalling in that partition. There are too many places in the partitioner where a badly needed "back" button is missing, and no way out except for scrapping the operation.

 

Who's been there and done that? Is it possible? I remember when Reiser FS first came out, there was an application to convert different file formats to the reiser system. Does any software still exist to do that with the ext* file system?

 

Anxiously waiting to set things straight!

 

Cheers!

[securitybreach]

Possibly: http://www.ghacks.net/2010/08/11/convert-ext23-to-ext4/

[onederer]

Thanks!

 

Read a few articles on this, and each one is different, in some manner. There's a quirk added here and there. Oh how to pick the right one! I'm nervous about doing this. Never been the luckiest guy in the world! Have you done that before?

 

I found out that I actually have 3 partitions. ext4=/dev/sdb1=/boot. ext4=/dev/sdb5="/", ext2=/dev/sdb6, and no swapfile.

 

My best guess right now is to use a "Live" DVD, to get to the current problem. And then issue the commands to make the change. Do you have any additional input into this, before I go through with this?

 

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

 

Cheers!

[securitybreach]

I have never done this but it does look pretty straightforward. Backup all your (user)data if possible

[amenditman]

I have not done this in many years, but here goes.

 

One thing to note, I know that it is theoretically possible to go from ext2 to ext4 directly, but it has never succeeded completely for my use. The two step process has never failed me. The failures I had always were ext2 to ext3. From 3 to 4 is very reliable.

 

As always, make sure you have good backups prior to beginning. That way when it breaks, you can revert.

 

Converting from Ext2 to Ext3

 

The conversion procedure is simple enough. Imagine /dev/hda10 mounted as /test – the procedure would be as follows:

• Log in as root
  
• Make sure /etc/fstab has /dev/hda10 mounted to /test as ext2, read write
  
• umount /dev/hda10
  
  • If you can't unmount it, then remount it read only (mount -o remount,ro /dev/hda10)
    

  [*]tune2fs -j /dev/hda10

  [*]Edit /etc/fstab, and for /dev/hda10, change ext2 to ext3

  [*]mount /dev/hda10

  [*]/sbin/shutdown -h now

  [*]mount | grep /dev/hda10

  • If it's not shown as ext3, reboot, if still not, troubleshoot
    
  • Otherwise, you're done.
    

A few explanations are in order. The tunefs command creates the journal file, which is kept in a special inode on the device (by default). You then must change the /etc/fstab entry to reflect it's a journalling filesystem, and then mount it.

 

Converting the / directory

 

First, think long and hard before deciding to convert the root directory. Ext3's primary purpose is shorter recovery from disaster rather than data loss prevention. Converting the root directory from Ext2 to Ext3 isn't difficult, but converting it back from Ext3 to Ext2 is a treacherous process fraught with problems. But, if you really must perform the Ext2 to Ext3 conversion on the root directory, here's how, assuming /dev/hda2 is mounted as the root directory and /dev/hda1 is mounted as /boot:

• Log in as root
  
• Edit /etc/fstab and change ext2 to ext3 on the line referencing the root directory.
  
• tune2fs -j /dev/hda2
  
• cd /boot
  
• mv initrd-2.4.18-26.8.0.img initrd-2.4.18-26.8.0.img.ext2
  
• mkinitrd initrd-2.4.18-26.8.0.img 2.4.18-26.8.0
  
• reboot
  

In the preceding, you MUST perform all the steps, including the mkinitrd, before rebooting. Failing to perform all the steps before rebooting produces a "buried shovel" where if only you could boot the machine, you could run the mkinitrd command, and if only you could run the mkinitrd command, you could boot the machine.

Convert ext3 to ext4.

 

Here's one from The Geek Stuff that walks all the way through ext2 > ext3 > ext4.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

What a pain in the ascii! I've made this boo-boo myself before. I just wipe/re-partition/re-install. Much easier. Remember, BIG HAMMER saves time and aggravation.

 

 

[BarryB]

Yeah..I've done it too.... :'( I'd re-install too...

[onederer]

The source of the problem in this case, is the way that the partition program operates. I saw the problem but was unable to backtrack to fix it. Not enough "back" buttons in that program. So, to use that partitioner again, will defintely add more grey hairs to my collection. The hammer is easy, the recovery is not. I spent a good part of the day wrestling with that program, go get things right. It's too extensive to go into details, but I believe that you get the idea. The last time with the 32bit version, I had to carefully watch the tab for Windows HD. The partition program was pushing me back to the Windows drive. One time I wasn't watching it, and found myself with something that was added to the Windows drive. I think that it botched it. I haven't yet gotten the nerve to activate Windows to see if it is still intact. I do know that the partition program created a couple of partitions in free space on that drive. Oh, I dread to have to tackle that next!

 

As soon as the partition program is activated, it's ready to shred the Windows drive. It seems to be it's focal point. And I don't do dual booting within a Windows hard drive. I keep em separate.

 

Cheers!

[saturnian]

I'm another that would reinstall in this situation.

 

And perhaps I'm misunderstanding things, but I like to use GParted, or even the KDE Partition Manager, to set up my partitions before I even begin running a distro's installer. Maybe it shouldn't matter, but if the PCLOS partition program is "the source of the problem" as you say, maybe it would be better to get the partitions set up beforehand. Still have to set the mount points for / and /home, though.

 

It's been awhile since I've installed PCLOS, though. Does the PCLOS installer still look like it does at this page?

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I do the same, Saturnian. I always partition first using gparted from within Porteus (on USB thumb drive). After that's all done, I install the OS onto the new partitions.

 

To each their own, though. Everyone has their fav way of doing things.

[amenditman]

I do the same, Saturnian. I always partition first using gparted from within Porteus (on USB thumb drive). After that's all done, I install the OS onto the new partitions.

 

To each their own, though. Everyone has their fav way of doing things.

I use GParted from PartedMagic always, just as you say.

However, there are some user-friendly, nearly automatic installers that don't give many partitioning options. I had a few of those in my distro hopping days.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

My best advice...

 

When installing an unfamiliar Linux, PAY ATTENTION!

[onederer]

I'm another that would reinstall in this situation.

 

And perhaps I'm misunderstanding things, but I like to use GParted, or even the KDE Partition Manager, to set up my partitions before I even begin running a distro's installer. Maybe it shouldn't matter, but if the PCLOS partition program is "the source of the problem" as you say, maybe it would be better to get the partitions set up beforehand. Still have to set the mount points for / and /home, though.

 

It's been awhile since I've installed PCLOS, though. Does the PCLOS installer still look like it does at this page?

 

Oh ya! It looks like that! For the 32bit installation, it kept on trying to make me go the Windows partition, and dual boot there. Once, when I was not really looking at the tab at the top It installed two directories in the free area of the Windows HD. I was getting frustrated that I would not allow me to stay in my Linux section.

 

The reason that it tooke me a long time, is the way that it handles parttions. If I changed my mind, and click "delete", it would create all kinds of little partitions (trash!), which were very hard to get rid of. Instead of giving to me the quantity of the partition in MB, it was doing it usimg cylinders?? (one of those, anyway!). Now I supposed to mentally constantly make mental computations in my mind to find out if I was right. I only fould out when I made a commitment, and went back to see what it was in MB. This is what caused those junk unwanted partitions. Instead of deleting what I didn't want, or if I did delete, I had to manupulate the adjacent partition to get what I needed, and cover the spot that I had deleted. It was not straightforward.

 

Then the problem of lack of adequate "back" buttons. At the crucial point before making the final commitment, and finding the the formatting will be ext2, instead of ext4 for one of my patitions, there was no way of backing out, except for trashing what had been done, and having to start all over again.

 

I did consider using a separate format program, but in a way it made on sense at the moment, since ther was already that program here. I don't remember for sure, but I believe that there was no option to by-pass the formatting program.

 

The HD was already formatted, all I needed to do was to enter the type. What I remember, that didn't work. I told it to use the entire disk, it went back to the Windows section. The last option a=had to be used, and that was to delete the entire contents of the Linux HD, and start from scratch.

 

I've had easier times doing it from a console, before. This is the worst encounter that I've had in a very long time.

Not only that, triple checking had to be done to make sure that I was on the right HD. Instead of using the /dev/sd** designation, it was using the HD's serial number?? That's good for the machine, but not for a human.

I was always afraid of landing on the Windows HD. Also in the /media section, there is the long numbers for the HD's, instead of their current /dev/sd** designation. It made it hard to match it with the HD's in Dolphin.

 

Sorry for the rant! But I wasn't a happy camper. It would be nice if I could see a partitioner that I could say: "I want three partitions, first one, 100 MB, "/boot", second one 150MB, "/", and third one, all the rest of drive, "/home". The actual partitons' sizes were not exactly what you see here. This is just for a demo. Anyway, then it would be easy for starting the installation. Never mind juggling three patitions to make the whole thing fit.

 

Cheers!

[onederer]

Hey guys, thanks for sharing your input! I appreciate it.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Well, I'll tell you one thing for sure... if PCLOS was such a pain in the posterior for me to install, it wouldn't be my distro of choice for much longer. I sure don't remember PCLOS being any trouble at all to install, but I haven't installed it in a few years.

[saturnian]

It's been a few years for me, too, but I thought installing PCLOS was a piece of cake. I've had a few good runs with the distro, going back to the 0.92 release, I think it was, from back in '06. I never did try the Full Monty version, though. And while each of my PCLOS installations were done in multi-boot set-ups, Windows was never involved. Still, I thought it ranked right up there with Linux Mint as far as being easy to get installed and up and running.

 

However, as I recall, I ran into problems during my first installation attempt. This was back when I was still using dial-up; not the distro you want to be using if you're on dial-up, in my opinion. Anyway, I did give up on PCLOS, at the time. (That was my very first attempt with an .rpm distro.) So I guess it wasn't always such a piece of cake for me after all!

 

My most recent run with PCLOS, it must have been around 2010 or 2011, something like that, when I did an installation. I think I kept it going for at least a year. I hadn't seen KDE4 in action yet, and PCLOS had it, so I wanted to take a look. Perhaps my biggest beef with PCLOS was that I kept getting into trouble for mentioning other distros at their forums...

[burninbush]

Sorry for the rant! But I wasn't a happy camper. It would be nice if I could see a partitioner that I could say: "I want three partitions, first one, 100 MB, "/boot", second one 150MB, "/", and third one, all the rest of drive, "/home". The actual partitons' sizes were not exactly what you see here. This is just for a demo. Anyway, then it would be easy for starting the installation. Never mind juggling three patitions to make the whole thing fit. >onederer

 

 

++++++++++++++++++

 

OK, what you want is cfdisk -- included on every linux distro I've ever seen. It's trivially easy to use if you are starting with a drive on which you want to start over. Does not do resizing (with a couple obvious exceptions; you can delete partitions at the end of the list and recreate them in different sizes).

 

I agree, it's folly to ask an install script to do that task for you.

 

PCLos will still allow you to "install to existing partition" and so far will still let me use reiserfs, I think of it as a very fine distro.

[réjean]

It's been awhile since I've installed PCLOS, though. Does the PCLOS installer still look like it does at this page?

 

It does! or did last time I reinstalled it a few weeks ago, or couple of months. I too prefer to set my partitions first and then tell the installer where I want my / and my /home.