I'm trying to dual boot with XP

[Owyn]

Yep. Agree to the attempted repair. After that suggest we 1)copy the contents of /music to /backup/music2)reformat the music partition to type 0B (Fat32)3)decide what to do re. /home when we see the results of repair.If the repair fails, then two options are available.1)Re-install Mdk92 (simplest fix)2)Rebuild home by hand (delete users except root, reformat home partition, mount reformatted partion as home, recreate users).In either case we will have lost any data on home, unless, we can use some other repair tool. Bruno???

[teacher]

Crossing my fingers that all goes well for you. Confident it will.

[Bruno]

Crossing my fingers ! :( Bruno

[Bruno]

Yep. Agree to the attempted repair. After that suggest we 1)copy the contents of /music to /backup/music2)reformat the music partition to type 0B (Fat32)3)decide what to do re. /home when we see the results of repair.If the repair fails, then two options are available.1)Re-install Mdk92 (simplest fix)2)Rebuild home by hand (delete users except root, reformat home partition, mount reformatted partion as home, recreate users).In either case we will have lost any data on home, unless, we can use some other repair tool. Bruno???

100% correct . . . . but I fear reformatting /home and creating new user won´t work if the /home is corrupted . . ( it does not want to mount ) . . so a clean install is the only option after the repair fails . . . Then make the /backup and /music to FAT so both XP and Mandrake can access them . . userdel gregand useradd gregare the commands and will set up a new /home/greg . . . . but the /home has to be mounted. Bruno

[teacher]

Usually when /home is corrupted, it is easiest just to reformat home in the repair and that takes care of root and all the users.

[Owyn]

Then make the /backup and /music to FAT so both XP and Mandrake can access them . .

I don't like using FAT for a Linux backup partition. Extended attributes can not be copied. My preference is ReiserFS, especially with limited hard drive space.

[Bruno]

Then make the /backup and /music to FAT so both XP and Mandrake can access them . .

I don't like using FAT for a Linux backup partition. Extended attributes can not be copied. My preference is ReiserFS, especially with limited hard drive space.

You´re right there as far as /backup in FAT is concerned, was typing/thinking too fast . . . I have mine in ext3 though . . . but Reiser is better for limited space . . Bruno

[Owyn]

I use ReiserFS because:1)You lose 5% to root reservation with ext3.2)Seems to be more space efficient in general. I keep all of my library/archive space in ReiserFS now.

[Bruno]

Yep, you´re right ! Bruno

[Bruno]

Greg . . how is the repair ? . . Thought you were doing it already . . ? Bruno

[Owyn]

Usually when /home is corrupted, it is easiest just to reformat home in the repair and that takes care of root and all the users.

I did not know that. Tx Julia.

[trigggl]

The closest thing I could find on the CD is Rescue which doesn't really do anything but get you booting properly. I could not find any options to repair /home.The error I get starting X is the following:

No write access to $HOME directory (/).

I had to write it down since there is no way to copy/paste.I'm trying to avoid re-install at all cost. I would rather format/redo /home. I do not want to go throught the headache of the nVidia driver and getting my printer working again.root is good, I just need to redo home somehow.PS. I'm still looking to edit my fstab to recognize my hda1 properly. What type should it be called, ntfs?

[Bruno]

Okay . . . First "userdel greg" then go to the MCC and reformat hda8 ( maybe you first have to delete it and then format ext3 then mount it on /home . . . then "useradd greg" . . . Bruno

[Owyn]

userdel gregand useradd gregare the commands and will set up a new /home/greg . . . . but the /home has to be mounted.

Use MCC diskdrake to reformat and mount home, then use the userdel command to remove greg, and MCC add user to recreate greg.

[Owyn]

LOL. Cross posting again.

[Bruno]

Owyn . . I only hope that reformatting hda8 leaves the link to /home from / . . . Bruno

[Owyn]

Owyn . . I only hope that reformatting hda8 leaves the link to /home from / . . . Bruno

Should not be a problem. As I read it the /home mount point directory on / is not impacted by reformatting the home partition and there are no symlinks to home.

[teacher]

I think you are going about it the hard way. If I remember repair pops up once you hit the install button as an option. The way you are going about it would he not just go to the Mount Points in the MCC and set up his home there and then to the System tab and add user and add greg?

[Bruno]

If I remember repair pops up once you hit the install button as an option

Teach is right there !! . . I never did use the repair , but she has lots of times ! ( rescue is different from repair . . ) Bruno

[Owyn]

Good luck Greg. I have to leave for a while, but you are in good hands.

[trigggl]

Well, I'm now posting from KDE as user greg from a blue desktop instead of a red one.That was painless enough that I wish I'd done it sooner.I reformatted the /home partition, and it mounted easily.Then I created all the accounts I had before except for the "user" account. Apparently, that was a bad name for an account, but that was the default one I set up to auto boot to. I don't want an autoboot to my account. I'll create a new auto boot under a different name, like family.I did a search for editing fstab for ntfs partitions and apparently, I just needed to call it "ntfs". So, I edited my fstab accordingly. I had to do it at command line because I did not see the option in MCC.Should I now modify my mtab?

[teacher]

What would you need to do to your mtab? It should be okay without any editing.

[Bruno]

Should I now modify my mtab?

NO !!!! Not editing your mtab . . NEVER !!! ( mtab is autogenerated )Good Greg so the problems are solved ?? . . . . ( Users is the group all the "users" belong to you can not have a user called user . . ) Bruno

[trigggl]

Good Greg so the problems are solved ?? . . . .

Well, all of my Linux problems are solved. Thanks everyone for the time and effort to fix this thing. From now on I have hdb for backup of /home before I go messing with anything.Now to go see if XP still works, and get it back to where my wife can check her bank account and buy her music.I may come back for a visit in XP.

[Bruno]

GregThe next projects are:1) Will XP boot . . . I´m sure it will2) Can you see XP from Mandrake3) The /backup partition -> formatting to ReiserFS4) The /music partition . . does it mount and can you access it ? ( mount either in the MCC or manually . . don´t add to fstab )5) Hdb . . Keep us postedB) Bruno

[teacher]

I may come back for a visit in XP.

Just as long as you remember where home is!

[Owyn]

Good news Greg. Give a yell if you have any other questions.PS: Make sure your ntfs partition is mounted read only. It is not safe to write to ntfs from Linux.

[havnblast]

I am so thankful for partition magic 8 - set it up in PM8 - and just point all installs to the correct partitions that are usually auto-detected. Makes the installs for everything easy and if you have to modify later - it saves your neck again.

[teacher]

I still can't figure out why you would need to buy a program to partition. Mandrake does such a good job that I don't need anything else. Oh, I just looked at it. That's if you are in Windows and don't have a Linux distro. I noticed it said nothing about Linux partitions in the summary on its webpage.

[Owyn]

Yep. Mandrake 9.2 integrates both ntfsresize and the backported 2.5 kernel ntfs drivers. Both have been safely tested with all versions of NTFS up to Windows Server 2003. The backported drivers are also supposed to be safe for write to ntfs, but, I have not tested that function.