I have an existing Windows/Fedora 11 dual boot system with Windows on /dev/sda and Linus of /dev/sdb.
I want to install Fedora 12, keeping my old /home (on /dev/sdb6) and /usr/local (on /dev/sdb5). I also want to enlarge /boot (on /dev/sdb1) by taking space from / (on /dev/sdb2). All these are currently ex3 file systems.
Apparently, to do what I want, I need to choose a custom layout during installation of Fedora12. But I would also like to update the file system structure as much as is feasible.
Google provided me witha web page giving me information about ext3 and ext4. I presume during custom installation of Fedora 12, I can specify that / be ext4. But the web page suggests leaving /boot as ext3.
Is that still necessary for Fedora 12? Or, should I also specify ext4 for /boot?
The web page gives me a method for upgrading /home (/dev/sdb6) and /usr/local (/dev/sdb5) to ext4 which seems fairly straightforward. But it says I first must be sure I've applied the ext4 patch to my kernel. My Fedora 11 kernel is listed in grub.conf as 2.6.30.10-105.2.33.fc11,i686.PAE. Can I assume this already contains what would be in such a patch? Is there some way to check the compatibility of my kernel with ext4? Of course, if the installation proceeds without hitch, I will be using the Fedora 12 kernel, which is ext4 compatible, but I would like to be able to reboot my Fedora 11 system with the above mentioned upgraded file systems in the interim.
Another issue about installing Fedora 12. Rather than using custom layout, I can choose to modify the default layout. But that creates LVMs, which I don't understand. Is there any real advantage to LVMs for a sytem like mine.
Is there anything else I should be worried about?
Of course, I am completely backed up, so in case of disaster, I can recreate my system. But I would rather avoid that and continue to use my existing /home and /usr/local partitions.
Below is all the relevant information about my existing system;
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fdisk:
Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x41ab2316
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 6 48163+ 6 FAT16
/dev/sda2 * 7 5105 40957717+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda3 5106 9726 37118182+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 5106 9726 37118151 b W95 FAT32
Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000081
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 14 3200 25599577+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 3201 3965 6144862+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb4 3966 9726 46275232+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sdb5 3966 4602 5116671 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 4603 9726 41158498+ 83 Linux
df:
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb2 25197252 6915108 17002168 29% /
/dev/sdb6 40509576 18747744 19703908 49% /home
/dev/sdb1 101086 29660 66207 31% /boot
/dev/sdb5 4956284 987900 3712552 22% /usr/local
/dev/sda2 40947680 34722784 6224896 85% /mnt/c
/dev/sda1 48052 7430 40622 16% /mnt/dell
/dev/sda5 37109056 28096544 9012512 76% /mnt/d
tmpfs 1548104 272 1547832 1% /dev/shm
/dev/sdc1 244136352 31489472 212646880 13% /media/My Book
/dev/sr0 3129324 3129324 0 100% /media/Fedora i386 DVD
/dev/sdd1 976760000 156545784 820214216 17% /media/FreeAgent Drive
blkid:
/dev/sda5: UUID="421F-A48F" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/sda1: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL="DellUtility" UUID="07D5-0217" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="/c" UUID="07D5-0217" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="7cf3ca01-b0a1-4cfd-9eb3-722efc2aca56" TYPE="ext3" SEC_TYPE="ext2"
/dev/sdb2: UUID="6d4730b1-2943-47f0-a8b5-71f5316075ed" TYPE="ext3" SEC_TYPE="ext2"
/dev/sdb6: LABEL="/home" UUID="39975b7f-d6f9-4a6d-b5ea-921f04b8bdbd" TYPE="ext3" SEC_TYPE="ext2"
/dev/sdb3: TYPE="swap" LABEL="SWAP-sdb3" UUID="d3970d1b-e482-46f7-a7ae-78f8818c5d90"
/dev/sdb5: LABEL="/usr/local1" UUID="2f3c7242-1d8f-4a6c-aee6-926a3a552ab9" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdd1: UUID="DC5C9EC25C9E973C" LABEL="FreeAgent Drive" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="My Book" UUID="92A8-ABE1" TYPE="vfat"
/etc/fstab:
#
# /etc/fstab
# Created by anaconda on Sun Oct 18 12:36:12 2009
#
# Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk'
# See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or vol_id(8) for more info
#
UUID=39975b7f-d6f9-4a6d-b5ea-921f04b8bdbd /home ext3 defaults 1 2
UUID=7cf3ca01-b0a1-4cfd-9eb3-722efc2aca56 /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
UUID=6d4730b1-2943-47f0-a8b5-71f5316075ed / ext3 defaults 1 1
UUID=2f3c7242-1d8f-4a6c-aee6-926a3a552ab9 /usr/local ext3 defaults 1 2
#/dev/sda2 /mnt/c vfat defaults 0 0
LABEL="/c" /mnt/c vfat defaults 0 0
UUID=07D5-0217 /mnt/dell vfat defaults 0 0
UUID=421F-A48F /mnt/d vfat rw,uid=103 0 0
UUID=d3970d1b-e482-46f7-a7ae-78f8818c5d90 swap swap defaults 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
#devpts options modified by setup update to fix #515521 ugly way
sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
Linear Mode
