Convert ext2 to ext3

Cheers,

I've got two ext2 linux partitions where I installed Ubuntu:
part1: is /
pert2: is /home

I'm running DD10 in Windows XP and I wish to convert them both to ext3.
Can I just use DD10 and click between ext2 and ext3?
(Aside from the warning about making it bootable, which I believe I can ignore because I've got GRUB on the MBR)
Thanks.

 

duartix:

Yes, that should work. But make a backup first just in case.

 

I did. And I was glad I did it because Ubuntu would self reboot just after the Login Screen.
Don't know why that happened, but then I tried it in a different way, I formated the partition already on ext3 with DD and then recovered the image there with TI.
Same behavior, after about 3 reboots it stabilized and it looks OK for now, but the whole process didn't left me all too sure.

Thanks again.

 

Duarte:

If you formatted the partition to ext3 before restoring the image, and the image was of an ext2 partition, then you will end up with ext2 again. When TI restores the first thing it does is to delete the existing partition. Then it is restored with the filesystem that was present at the time of image creation, unless you chose the option to convert ext2 to ext3 at the time of restoration.

I haven't done ext2 to ext3 conversion in a while, so I don't know if DD changes the reference in the file system table, so you might want to check that. As an example, here is part of the file system table from my laptop; sda5 and sda6 are the Linux root and home partitions:

Code:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/sda1 /boot ext2 nouser,defaults,errors=remount-ro,noatime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 1
/dev/sda2 /windows ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,uid=1000,gid=100,auto,ro,nouser 0 1
/dev/sda5 / [COLOR="Red"]ext3[/COLOR] nouser,defaults,errors=remount-ro,noatime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 1
/dev/sda6 /home [COLOR="Red"]ext3[/COLOR] nouser,defaults,noatime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid 0 2
/dev/sda7 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/sda8 /backups ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,uid=1000,gid=100,auto,ro,nouser 0 1
/dev/sda9 /acronis vfat uid=1000,gid=100,auto,rw,nouser 0 0

If you convert your file system to ext3 but leave the ext2 designators in the fstab file, then I'm not sure what will happen.

So here is a something you might try:

1. Starting with ext2 partitions, boot into Ubuntu
2. Edit the file /etc/fstab (as root) and change the file system type designators from ext2 to ext3 on your root and home partitions
3. Reboot into the recovery CD version of Disk Director (DD)
4. Convert each of your root and home partitions to ext3

Before booting back into Ubuntu, run a file system check (like you would run chkdsk on a Windows partition) to see if there are any errors. You will need a Live Linux CD to do this, so get out your Ubuntu Live Desktop CD or use a Knoppix CD or any other distro as follows:

5. Boot from the Live Linux CD
6. Open a terminal window
7. Type "sudo fsck /dev/sdb5" to check your root partition for errors.
8. Type "sudo fsck /dev/sdb7" to check your home partition for errors.

*I'm using the partition designators from your previous post. If you've changed them, make the appropriate adjustments.

If any errors are found you will probably be prompted to run "fsck -p" to repair any discrepancies. Like Windows, this check must be run when the disk is dismounted, so that's the reason you must run the file system checks from a Live Linux CD.

Once you have a clean bill of health from the file system check, reboot into Ubuntu and see if you continue to see the unexpected reboot behavior.