John B.
Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:34:51 am
Since 2012 I've taken to partitioning my BIOS-based PCs' MBR hard drives with /, swap & /home partitions so that I can reinstall a (or try a new) distro without having to restore my personal files from a backup disk via slow-as-molasses USB 2.0.
When doing so I start by deleting any .files and .folders in the target disk's /home partition's home folder to avoid having any old preference files etc gum up a fresh install, and then format the / partition but do not reformat the /home partition when running an OS' installer.
I've successsfully employed the above approach when installing various versions of Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, Linux Mint MATE, Linux Mint MATE Debian Edition and Debian, but Zorin 6.2, 6.4, 7, 7.1 and 8rc's installer refuses to properly recognize the mount point of an already preformatted /home partition unless I choose to reformat the /home partition during an installation--thus deleting all of my files.
The symptoms of said refusal include:
- A file installation stage of the install in which the progress bar speeds by as though the installer is skipping some files.
- Missing icons from the installed Zorin desktop's task bar, start menu, and look changer.
- An OS which misbehaves in general.
(The above symptoms are exhibited whether the preceeding installation was a non-Zorin or a Zorin install.)
However, when I DO format both the / and the /home partitions during a Zorin install, the OS installs and functions properly.
Some additional context:
- I've been a full time Ubuntu user since '08.
- I always download .iso's via wget or uget and then md5sum (or sha1sum, sha256sum or sha512sum when possible) the .iso before burning it to a CD/DVD at the slowest available speed.
- I have three different makes & models of DVD burners to choose from, along with two different brands & types of blank DVDs (DVD-R & DVD+R).
- All of the hard drives I use are <2TB in size and employ the MBR partition map.
- All of my DDR and DDR2 machines use a PC BIOS.
Does the above Zorin installation issue and resulting symptoms ring a bell with anyone?
Thank you.
John
When doing so I start by deleting any .files and .folders in the target disk's /home partition's home folder to avoid having any old preference files etc gum up a fresh install, and then format the / partition but do not reformat the /home partition when running an OS' installer.
I've successsfully employed the above approach when installing various versions of Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, Linux Mint MATE, Linux Mint MATE Debian Edition and Debian, but Zorin 6.2, 6.4, 7, 7.1 and 8rc's installer refuses to properly recognize the mount point of an already preformatted /home partition unless I choose to reformat the /home partition during an installation--thus deleting all of my files.
The symptoms of said refusal include:
- A file installation stage of the install in which the progress bar speeds by as though the installer is skipping some files.
- Missing icons from the installed Zorin desktop's task bar, start menu, and look changer.
- An OS which misbehaves in general.
(The above symptoms are exhibited whether the preceeding installation was a non-Zorin or a Zorin install.)
However, when I DO format both the / and the /home partitions during a Zorin install, the OS installs and functions properly.
Some additional context:
- I've been a full time Ubuntu user since '08.
- I always download .iso's via wget or uget and then md5sum (or sha1sum, sha256sum or sha512sum when possible) the .iso before burning it to a CD/DVD at the slowest available speed.
- I have three different makes & models of DVD burners to choose from, along with two different brands & types of blank DVDs (DVD-R & DVD+R).
- All of the hard drives I use are <2TB in size and employ the MBR partition map.
- All of my DDR and DDR2 machines use a PC BIOS.
Does the above Zorin installation issue and resulting symptoms ring a bell with anyone?
Thank you.
John
