Re: Repartitioning questions
Tom wrote:
Hey ho,
Due to some bad initial partitioning scheme, I'm now stuck with WinXP on
C: (/dev/hda1) and a FAT32-partition on /dev/hda2. Then comes Debian,
installed on some logical partitions.
I would like to shrink the FAT-partition (which is way too big), and -
of course - regain the freed space for Debian. For some reason or
another, I think it's not quite possible to do just that.
If the FAT partition is defragged so there's not any files on the back
end, you can use a tool like fips to non-destructively shrink the
partition, thereby creating a new partition between it and your logical
Debian partitions.
Or you could copy the files off the FAT partition onto your WinXP
partition, and then fdisk the second partition only however you'd like.
Which is why I figured it might be easier to just back up as much as
possible, repartition, and then copy the backups to where they came
from.
My question being: is it possible to just copy whole directory trees and
put them back afterwards? I know that's not a problem at all with /home
or /etc, but can I do the same with /var or /usr? Will everything still
properly function afterwards (like, for example, dpkg & apt)? Or is it
just a master plan to reach chaos, panic and disorder?
Yes, it is possible, as long as you do it carefully and preserve the
permissions, etc. You could just tar up the directories, move the tar
files, repartition, then untar the tar files to their new locations.
Thanks in advance for any encouraging words. Or warnings, for that
matter.
Backup backup backup if your data is important to you.
Greets,
Tom
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