Hard Drive partitioning [solved]

[tf1]

hi,

i want to create a new partition for backups. my /home partition is 107gb.

I've followed the howto help file in disk drake i.e. i log out as user and in as root but when i try to unmount /home i get ( error unmounting /home, device or resource busy ).

Any ideas what needs to be done to unmount /home for partitioning would be appreciated.

 

Thanks Ted

[polemicz]

The trouble is when you log in you are using /home. I wonder if you may be able to do what you want at run level 1. The trouble will be all your settings in /home. You may also try a live cd. You will probably want to copy your /home files somewhere for back-up purposes.

If you have enough space on one of your other mounted partitions you can create a directory there and copy your old home there, i.e.

#cd /home

#cp -ax * /path to temp directory this can be /mnt/newpart or whatever you want

When you have your new layout set you can do the reverse of the above to restore your /home partition. There may be easier ways, but I think this will work.

[Gowator]

you need to make sure nothing else is accessing the directory...

sometimes this can be automatically so its best to either be patient or do it after a reboot.

 

You can use fuser to see what is locking /home though

 

 

from man fuser:

 

 

fuser displays the PIDs of processes using the specified files or file

systems. In the default display mode, each file name is followed by a

letter denoting the type of access:

[tf1]

i understand that logging in is using the system, what i don't understand is why the helpfile tells me log in as root and then unmount the drive if its not possible. The helpfile is very clear that this is how to do it. is the helpfile wrong? or have i misunderstood, (this is more likely)!

Really all i want to do is make my /home dir smaller and make the empty space a seperate partition for general backup of personal files.

Any ideas on the simplist way to achieve this would be gratefully received.

 

Ted

[tf1]

Hi Guys

I think i sorted the problem. The problem seems to be that i was using auto logon! and wasn't cleanly logging out somehow.

Just turned it off and rebooted as root and it worked ok.

 

Thanks for the ideas it inspired me.

Regards

Ted