Reformat only the home partition
I have 3 partitions: swap, / and /home. How can I safely reformat /home? Do I have to take additional steps aside from ordinary reformating?
partitions
asked Jan 14 at 8:19
teatea
506
add a comment |
I have 3 partitions: swap, / and /home. How can I safely reformat /home? Do I have to take additional steps aside from ordinary reformating?
partitions
asked Jan 14 at 8:19
teatea
506
Seems like an XY problem. It is not clear why you would want to do that. Presumably you have another problem, and you think it can be solved by reformatting. That is not necessarily the best solution. Reformatting your home without technical precautions will break your installation.
– vanadium
Jan 14 at 8:48
1
why would you need to format /home? If you want to get rid of a user, delete the user. If you want to reset a user delete anything in /home/$USER of $USER (home will be recreated on the next login). I do not see any reason on why you would need to format /home and not /? I can understand formatting / and not /home but not the other way
– Rinzwind
Jan 14 at 10:08
add a comment |
I have 3 partitions: swap, / and /home. How can I safely reformat /home? Do I have to take additional steps aside from ordinary reformating?
partitions
asked Jan 14 at 8:19
teatea
506
I have 3 partitions: swap, / and /home. How can I safely reformat /home? Do I have to take additional steps aside from ordinary reformating?
partitions
partitions
asked Jan 14 at 8:19
teatea
506
asked Jan 14 at 8:19
teatea
506
asked Jan 14 at 8:19
teatea
506
asked Jan 14 at 8:19
teatea
506
asked Jan 14 at 8:19
teatea
506
506
Seems like an XY problem. It is not clear why you would want to do that. Presumably you have another problem, and you think it can be solved by reformatting. That is not necessarily the best solution. Reformatting your home without technical precautions will break your installation.
– vanadium
Jan 14 at 8:48
1
why would you need to format /home? If you want to get rid of a user, delete the user. If you want to reset a user delete anything in /home/$USER of $USER (home will be recreated on the next login). I do not see any reason on why you would need to format /home and not /? I can understand formatting / and not /home but not the other way
– Rinzwind
Jan 14 at 10:08
add a comment |
Seems like an XY problem. It is not clear why you would want to do that. Presumably you have another problem, and you think it can be solved by reformatting. That is not necessarily the best solution. Reformatting your home without technical precautions will break your installation.
– vanadium
Jan 14 at 8:48
1
why would you need to format /home? If you want to get rid of a user, delete the user. If you want to reset a user delete anything in /home/$USER of $USER (home will be recreated on the next login). I do not see any reason on why you would need to format /home and not /? I can understand formatting / and not /home but not the other way
– Rinzwind
Jan 14 at 10:08
Seems like an XY problem. It is not clear why you would want to do that. Presumably you have another problem, and you think it can be solved by reformatting. That is not necessarily the best solution. Reformatting your home without technical precautions will break your installation.
– vanadium
Jan 14 at 8:48
Seems like an XY problem. It is not clear why you would want to do that. Presumably you have another problem, and you think it can be solved by reformatting. That is not necessarily the best solution. Reformatting your home without technical precautions will break your installation.
– vanadium
Jan 14 at 8:48
1
1
why would you need to format /home? If you want to get rid of a user, delete the user. If you want to reset a user delete anything in /home/$USER of $USER (home will be recreated on the next login). I do not see any reason on why you would need to format /home and not /? I can understand formatting / and not /home but not the other way
– Rinzwind
Jan 14 at 10:08
why would you need to format /home? If you want to get rid of a user, delete the user. If you want to reset a user delete anything in /home/$USER of $USER (home will be recreated on the next login). I do not see any reason on why you would need to format /home and not /? I can understand formatting / and not /home but not the other way
– Rinzwind
Jan 14 at 10:08
add a comment |
1 Answer
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I assume you already create some backups of your important data (because they are hard to recover after a reformat).
The following step should do it:
Login as root (required, since you will remove the home folder of the current user)
$ sudo su –
Unmount the /home folder
$ umount /home
Reformat the home partition (make sure, hat you select the right partition. Check in
/etc/fstaband runlsblk)
$ mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/sdXX
Mount the empty filesystem to
/home(if the filesystem has changed, modify/etc/fstabaccordingly)
$ mount /home
Re-Create home folders for existing users.
$ cp -r /etc/skel /home/username
$ chown -R username:usergroup /home/username
That’s it.
answered Jan 14 at 9:20
Simon SudlerSimon Sudler
1,483314
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1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
I assume you already create some backups of your important data (because they are hard to recover after a reformat).
The following step should do it:
Login as root (required, since you will remove the home folder of the current user)
$ sudo su –
Unmount the /home folder
$ umount /home
Reformat the home partition (make sure, hat you select the right partition. Check in
/etc/fstaband runlsblk)
$ mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/sdXX
Mount the empty filesystem to
/home(if the filesystem has changed, modify/etc/fstabaccordingly)
$ mount /home
Re-Create home folders for existing users.
$ cp -r /etc/skel /home/username
$ chown -R username:usergroup /home/username
That’s it.
answered Jan 14 at 9:20
Simon SudlerSimon Sudler
1,483314
add a comment |
I assume you already create some backups of your important data (because they are hard to recover after a reformat).
The following step should do it:
Login as root (required, since you will remove the home folder of the current user)
$ sudo su –
Unmount the /home folder
$ umount /home
Reformat the home partition (make sure, hat you select the right partition. Check in
/etc/fstaband runlsblk)
$ mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/sdXX
Mount the empty filesystem to
/home(if the filesystem has changed, modify/etc/fstabaccordingly)
$ mount /home
Re-Create home folders for existing users.
$ cp -r /etc/skel /home/username
$ chown -R username:usergroup /home/username
That’s it.
answered Jan 14 at 9:20
Simon SudlerSimon Sudler
1,483314
add a comment |
I assume you already create some backups of your important data (because they are hard to recover after a reformat).
The following step should do it:
Login as root (required, since you will remove the home folder of the current user)
$ sudo su –
Unmount the /home folder
$ umount /home
Reformat the home partition (make sure, hat you select the right partition. Check in
/etc/fstaband runlsblk)
$ mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/sdXX
Mount the empty filesystem to
/home(if the filesystem has changed, modify/etc/fstabaccordingly)
$ mount /home
Re-Create home folders for existing users.
$ cp -r /etc/skel /home/username
$ chown -R username:usergroup /home/username
That’s it.
answered Jan 14 at 9:20
Simon SudlerSimon Sudler
1,483314
I assume you already create some backups of your important data (because they are hard to recover after a reformat).
The following step should do it:
Login as root (required, since you will remove the home folder of the current user)
$ sudo su –
Unmount the /home folder
$ umount /home
Reformat the home partition (make sure, hat you select the right partition. Check in
/etc/fstaband runlsblk)
$ mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/sdXX
Mount the empty filesystem to
/home(if the filesystem has changed, modify/etc/fstabaccordingly)
$ mount /home
Re-Create home folders for existing users.
$ cp -r /etc/skel /home/username
$ chown -R username:usergroup /home/username
That’s it.
answered Jan 14 at 9:20
Simon SudlerSimon Sudler
1,483314
edited Jan 14 at 10:05
answered Jan 14 at 9:20
Simon SudlerSimon Sudler
1,483314
answered Jan 14 at 9:20
Simon SudlerSimon Sudler
1,483314
answered Jan 14 at 9:20
Simon SudlerSimon Sudler
1,483314
1,483314
add a comment |
add a comment |
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Seems like an XY problem. It is not clear why you would want to do that. Presumably you have another problem, and you think it can be solved by reformatting. That is not necessarily the best solution. Reformatting your home without technical precautions will break your installation.
– vanadium
Jan 14 at 8:48
1
why would you need to format /home? If you want to get rid of a user, delete the user. If you want to reset a user delete anything in /home/$USER of $USER (home will be recreated on the next login). I do not see any reason on why you would need to format /home and not /? I can understand formatting / and not /home but not the other way
– Rinzwind
Jan 14 at 10:08