Re: [gentoo-user] Moving / around...

[Mark Knecht]

On Sat, Sep 11, 2010 at 5:19 AM,  <meino.cramer@×××.de> wrote:
<SNIP>
> I think there is some misunderstanding:
>
> Before migration to 64bit:
>
> /dev/sda3 is mounted on / and contains the 32bit Gentoo
>
> /dev/sda10 is mounted on /home/mcc/migration and will contain the
> stuff of the 64bit Gentoo
>
> After migration I will *not* mount /dev/sda10 on / but will clear all
> stuff from /dev/sda3 and move the contents from /dev/sda10 to
> /dev/sda3.
>
> Is still valid what you said under this premissions, Wonko?
>
> Thanks a lot for your help in advance!
> Best regards
> mcc

Why not mount /dev/sda10 as root and be done with it.? No need to move anything.

Do the 64-bit install as you are suggesting. Do NOT install grub.

Place the 64-bit kernel in the current /boot pointing at /dev/sda10.

Modify grub.conf to allow you to boot either /dev/sda3 (your 32-bit
install) or /dev/sda10. (your 64-bit install)

Boot both installs a few times and test that each is working. (They
will be) Use the 64-bit install for a few days and make sure it's
working. When it is don't boot 32-bit for a week or two, just leaving
it there on the drive because almost certainly you will have forgotten
to copy something over. (I always do...) Only when you are comfortable
that 64-bit is working correctly delete the 32-bit on /dev/sda3 if you
need the disk space.

Remember, leaving /home out of the picture a Gentoo install takes
maybe 10GB. It's not that large. Probably less if you shared the
portage distfiles directory between the two.

It doesn't hurt very much to have multiple installs on the same drive
in different partitions. It's what I did playing with a stable and a
testing install. I eventually deleted the testing install and just
went with stable and a few testing application packages. (I still
don't understand why any normal user wants a ~amd64 install but that's
just me!) ;-)

Hope this helps,
Mark