changing root partion

[dino]

hey,
can i just copy all files from one
hd partion to another and just modify
lilo.conf and then use that partion to
boot linux?
I need to change my linux installation
from /dev/hda1 to /dev/hda3 and dont
wanna install linux all over again.

Another question:
When I'm already changing partion, I thought
about switching to Reiser FS.
Is it worth it? and how do I format
/dev/hdb3 to be reiser fs?

Thanks

[The King Ant]

Well... You can just copy all files over, but some might not copy correctly. It might actually be easy to just reinstall.

If you're going to copy everything, you'll want to create the partition and then format it. You can use cfdisk and mke2fs to do this (reiserfs notes are below). Then you should mount the partition under /mnt. Like, "mkdir /mnt/newroot". "mount -t ext2 /dev/hda3 /mnt/newroot"

To copy stuff, you should do it directory by directory (it'll make it easier if you have problems, and that's only, like, 8 directories). For /dev, you should just copy over "MAKEDEV" and then run that and it should create all the devices. Don't copy /proc, that's all handled by the kernel. You should be able to not copy the stuff in /tmp, just make the dir.

Then I guess you'd want to edit your lilo.conf file and add a new entry for the new root partition/kernel.

I like reiserfs and haven't had any problems with it, but I've only been using it on a small and unimportant partition, and only since it was included in 2.4.2. There is info on it at www.reiserfs.org (http://www.reiserfs.org) (there might be an NHF too). You'll need a kernel compiled with reiserfs support (2.4.2 or later, or a earlier patched kernel). Then you need a small software package so you can format the partition. Then you just mount it.

[ 28 April 2001: Message edited by: The King Ant ]

[dino]

running MAKEDEV didnt produce anything, I just got the shell back...but I copied all
files in /dev without problems.

files in /proc couldnt be copied, (it stoped
on kmsg), but I rebooted the comp. anyway
and got 5 pages with errors about
not finding files in /proc...
(i didnt get the shell =)

How do I create the /proc directory,
any ideas?
Thanks