[ale] how do I properly move my home folder from ubuntu to mint

[Phil Turmel]

Hi Ron,

On 05/26/2013 10:19 AM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I just had a frustrating experience and want to learn how to avoid it
> next time.
> 
> Previously, I had set up all my machines to dual boot with ubuntu and
> windows.  I've now decided to move to Mint since I'm disenchanted with
> ubuntu.  Yes, I know they share the same core.
> 
> The hdd in question had an ext4 partition which was ubuntu and an ntfs
> partition which I use for data.  I booted a mint live cd, mounted the
> ubuntu file system by clicking it within the file browser, and copied my
> ron folder to the ntfs partition.  It complained about some files being
> inaccessible, but still copied about 43 MB of data, which looked like
> the right number.

Here's the first mistake.  NTFS is a Windows file system--it doesn't
store *nix metadata, and has different rules on file names, particularly
on what characters are valid in the names.  File *content* would be
intact, where it copied at all.  (The reverse is true as well--Windows
ACLs are not copied into *nix filesystems.)

Anyways, the only way to preserve this information when saving to NTFS
would be to wrap the files in a *nix-style container, like "tar".

> I then proceeded to install mint in the ext4 partition.  When I started
> the installer, I selected the option to erase ubuntu and install mint.

This was probably mistake number two.  If you don't need to erase
everything, you can leave a home folder intact on the original
filesystem, then install the new distro.  After install, you'll just
have to reset the ownership of your user files to the new user ids (if
you can't get the numbers to match in the first place.)

> I eventually got mint booting and working the way I wanted.  Then, I
> went back into the file browser and told it to copy the files back from
> the ntfs partition to the new mint home directory and merge any
> duplicate folders.  I made the mistake of using a move command rather
> than a copy command.  At some point, it generated another error saying
> it couldn't copy some files.  I cannot remember the exact message.  I
> clicked skip all.  The net result is that about 43 MB of data was copied
> to my new home folder and about 387 MB of data wasn't copied. 
> Unfortunately, the files were removed from the ntfs folder even though
> they were skipped, which I think is a design flaw.

I don't know if mint has a design flaw in its "move" operation... I
don't use it.  I suspect the missing 387MB was simply never copied to
the NTFS filesystem in the first place, due to some incompatible folder
name.

> The net result is that I lost about 9/10 of what was in my original
> ubuntu home folder unless I can find a backup somewhere.  I don't think
> there was anything too critical, but who knows.
> 
> So, can anyone please tell me the proper procedure to move the contents
> of my home folder from a ubuntu install to a mint install so this
> doesn't happen next time I install mint on another computer?

Use a linux filesystem as your intermediate storage location, or don't
destroy your /home folder at all.

I generally use a separate partition or logical volume mounted on /home,
so it possible to boot multiple installed distros all with the same users.

> Any help is appreciated and thanks in advance.

HTH,

Phil