Need Unix/Linux guru help

Tried to post this before. Goofy Acronis/Wilders forum UI blew it into hyperspace. Never mind. Let's try again.

Running MS Windows XP/Pro/SP2 and need to migrate "C:\Documents and Settings" to "F:\Documents and Settings". Why? 1. MS made a bad decision to put this stuff in the OS partition. 2. My C:\ partition (50 GB) is almost full (lots of e-mail .

Tried to use MS recommended techniques (use admin account, copy everything except logged-in user's D&S subtree, switch to another admin account, copy original admin's D&S subtree). Naturally, it all failed. DRM bullsh*t. Files in use. Whatever. Big surprise.

So... what to do? Try a Real OS. Hey, Acronis uses Unix or Linux or Ubuntu or Whatever. Let's try that. Reboot Acronis Rescue Media. Wait for the menu. Press F11. Wait for "Bootmenu". Delete "quiet". Press OK. Select "Acronis Disk Director Full Version". Wait for # prompt. Gee, as Byzantine as anything Bill or Ballmer ever dreamed up.

Now what? Well, I haven't used Unix since 1979 (pay $50 to the Real AT&T before they morphed into sharks, send a magnetic tape to USC for BSD). No doubt, it's something involving "mount", "/devfs", and "cp". Hey masters/mistresses of the arcane, all I want to do is "cp" everything under MS "C:\Documents and Settings" into "F:\Documents and Settings". If it matters to the Unix Universe, here's the real disk:file mapping:

DISC0:
C: 50 GB
D: 50 GB
E: 50 GB

DISC1:
F: 500 GB

All I need to do is copy one disk's subtree to a virtual copy in another disc's subtree. After that, the plan is to edit MS registry keys and values. Hey, that'll suceed for sure (about as well as Plays For Sure . Never mind, I'm just looking for Step One. Please advise. Thanks in advance.

...Milo47

 

Milo47:

I'm assuming you tried this, right?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314843/

That method should work. What you are describing doing in Linux will certainly move the files but I don't think that Windows will be able to log into the profile if you simply move the files without changing the SID references in the registry.

How about an alternate suggestion? Since you state that you have a lot of email that is clogging your C: drive, then why not relocate the email? Depending upon the email app that you use, it should be a simple task to relocate the message store. I've done this with Outlook and with Outlook Express.

You can also move your "My Documents" folder anywhere you want. http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_mydocs.htm

 

The 'alternative' suggestion by k0lo is a good one!

I never ever used Outlook/Olexpress. But i used & tested a gamut of other mail clients. Those main apps never were installed in OS partition thou and 'saved msgs' folder were usually placed in a different directory by me.

Also in my own tests, a bloated C dir (either by contents or 12Gb+ allocations) slows down bootup time. I dunno if other folks got this particular feel as well?

 

K0lo,

Yes, I've tried the MS method, but it fails with various error messages about "cannot copy file" or "cannot access file"... which is why I'd like to know how to copy MS folder trees in Linux when XP isn't running. It's true that copying alone will not work; the MS method goes on to explain that all registry keys and values that refer to D&S must also be updated.

Relocating e-mail would help considerably, although that only accounts for about one-third of the 15 GB in D&S... which is why I haven't researched how to do it for my e-mail client (Mozilla Thunderbird).

I'd still like to know how to mount my C: and F: partitions under Linux. After that, I can probably muddle through with "cp". Any experienced Linux users listening here? TIA!

...Milo47

 

milo47:

It's your choice but you can easily relocate your "My Documents" folder to gain back a lot of space taken up on the C: partition. I have mine directly mapped to a data partition, D:.

The version of Linux on the Acronis recovery CDs is really bare-bones so I doubt that you'd be able to do much with it but maybe you could. Many of the Linux shell commands are missing but it does include the busybox shell with very rudimentary terminal commands. I'll give it a go and see if I can make any progress mounting an NTFS partition and copying files.

If you want to proceed with Linux, instead make yourself a Knoppix CD. When booted, you will find your Windows partitions mounted and available right on the desktop where you can copy files at will using a graphical user interface.

 

OK, here is as far as I got.

Boot into the Acronis recovery environment. Before starting TI or DD, press F11 and remove the word "quiet" from the kernel arguments line. When the boot process finishes you will be at a busybox prompt.

First, determine your partition identifiers

Code:

cd /proc
cat partitions

Figure out which ones correspond to the partitions that you want to mount. You'll probably have to do it by size and partition number.

Next create mount points:

Code:

cd /mnt
mkdir C
mkdir D

Or choose letters appropriate to your task. Finally, attempt to mount each partition. I did not succeed in mounting any NTFS partitions. The usual

Code:

mount -t ntfs {what} {where}

only resulted in error messages about missing kernel modules. I probably have the wrong name for the NTFS read/write module that Acronis is using.

I did succeed in mounting a FAT32 partition, however. This works:

Code:

mount -t vfat /devfs/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part9 /mnt/C

I could read and write at will after mounting the FAT32 partition but no such luck with NTFS partitions.

Try the Knoppix CD. It will work.

 

Have tried moving these files whilst in XP safe mode?

Colin