On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:48:56 +0000, Ronnie wrote:

> On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 05:59:11 -0700, Rodney <me@127.0.0.1> wrote:
>
>>Ron, it might be worthwhile to just copy the data you want to save
>>somewhere else and let the installer format the partition, then copy your
>>data back after the install. You're not running out of room on that
>>partition during the install are you?
>>
> Plenty of space. I did wonder whether I might have to do that - the
> existing data is only about 400MB, so I can put it somewhere. The upside
> is that it would remove uncertainty about existing partitions etc - or
> flush out some more fundamental installation problem.
>
> My ultimate aim is different. After getting this going on a fairly
> biggish desktop with lots of disc space (and getting used to the process
> and using real Debian), I want to try the same thing on a laptop which I
> use heavily while out of the office. There, I will have less disc space
> and less freedom with partitions, so I genuinely was interested in
> installing to an existing Ext2 partition AND keeping (quite a bit of)
> data. But that's aspirational, for now.
>
> I'll take your suggestion, and thanks for the pointer.
>
> ______________
> regards,
> Ron

I think this is a good reason to keep your data and probably /home also on
a different partition from the one your operating system is on, it gives
you the freedom to muck-with, or even totally muck-up the install, yet
retain the data for when you get things working the way you want. I didn't
start out that way but now I understand why people recommend it and I
now keep home separate. Might also make backing up a bit easier, depending
on your method. You approach the problem similiar to the way I would, test
on something expendable before working on your mission-critical system.
I'm glad if this did help you a tiny bit and I wish you good luck. Let us
know how the install goes with a format.

Rodney