Re: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without affecting /home?

["John L. Ries" <jries@salford-systems.com>]

While it probably doesn't help you now, it is good practice to store 
user data on their own file system (/home), separate from applications 
and system files.  That way, if you hose the system, the user data are 
undisturbed and you only need to worry about backing up system settings.

Something to consider when you're doing your reinstall.

--------------------------|
John L. Ries              |
Salford Systems           |
Phone: (619)543-8880 x107 |
or     (435)867-8885      |
--------------------------|


On Sunday 2016-02-21 21:36, Kynn Jones wrote:

> Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 21:36:45
> From: Kynn Jones <kynnjo@gmail.com>
> To: Debian User <debian-user@lists.debian.org>
> Subject: Is it possible to fully reinstall the base system without affecting
>    /home?
>
> My system is badly damaged, and it looks like the only way to fix it
> is to do a full re-install.
>
> I figure I will have to back everything up to an external drive,
> reformat the hard drive, and install everything from scratch.
>
> But I thought I'd ask if there's anything close to this that would not
> require backing up everything and reformatting the hard disk.
> Wouldn't it be possible, for example, to boot the system up from a
> live CD, and reinstall the base system, leaving /home untouched?  (I
> should mention that the hard disk in question is just one big
> partition, including /home and everything else.)
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> kj