I have been using a 500GB SSD and was running out of room, what to do? I
purchased a 1TB SSD and used a device made by Wavelink for cloning bought on
Amazon. It is a cloning device where the source must be smaller than the
target.The process of cloning the 500GB to the 1TB took aprox 30 minutes.
I then plugged the drive into my machine and booted GParted off a thumb
drive using Ventoy. Looking at this new drive I saw that there were 3
partitions, 1. the primary boot 2. The linux Swap ~60GB and 3. Unallocated
space.
I deleted the swap-file and now I had 2 partions. I resized the boot
partition to almost the entire drive space leaving ~60GB for a future swap-
file. Then I created a new swap-file in the 60GB space. I then applied the
changes. I then rebooted and all is well. The whole process took about 45
minutes.

On 5/4/22 06:54, this is what Nic wrote:
> I have been using a 500GB SSD and was running out of room, what to do? I
> purchased a 1TB SSD and used a device made by Wavelink for cloning bought on
> Amazon. It is a cloning device where the source must be smaller than the
> target.The process of cloning the 500GB to the 1TB took aprox 30 minutes.
> I then plugged the drive into my machine and booted GParted off a thumb
> drive using Ventoy. Looking at this new drive I saw that there were 3
> partitions, 1. the primary boot 2. The linux Swap ~60GB and 3. Unallocated
> space.
> I deleted the swap-file and now I had 2 partions. I resized the boot
> partition to almost the entire drive space leaving ~60GB for a future swap-
> file. Then I created a new swap-file in the 60GB space. I then applied the
> changes. I then rebooted and all is well. The whole process took about 45
> minutes.
I always thought that expanding the partition doesn't expand what linux thinks is there. There was some command you had
to type to make it use the full partition. Like 'resizefs'. Maybe I'm wrong. I have been reluctant to do any resizing
on my system, and the one time I move from 128 to 500G I just loaded all the Windows partitions because they're so hard
to reload, but I reloaded Linux because I have a huge script that loads and applies tweaks to a lot of things, making a
reload about 30 minutes. Not 1005 perfect but 90%.

Al

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

Big Al wrote:
> On 5/4/22 06:54, this is what Nic wrote:
>> I have been using a 500GB SSD and was running out of room, what to do? I
>> purchased a 1TB SSD and used a device made by Wavelink for cloning bought on
>> Amazon. It is a cloning device where the source must be smaller than the
>> target.The process of cloning the 500GB to the 1TB took aprox 30 minutes.
>> I then plugged the drive into my machine and booted GParted off a thumb
>> drive using Ventoy. Looking at this new drive I saw that there were 3
>> partitions, 1. the primary boot 2. The linux Swap ~60GB and 3. Unallocated
>> space.
>> I deleted the swap-file and now I had 2 partions. I resized the boot
>> partition to almost the entire drive space leaving ~60GB for a future swap-
>> file. Then I created a new swap-file in the 60GB space. I then applied the
>> changes. I then rebooted and all is well. The whole process took about 45
>> minutes.
> I always thought that expanding the partition doesn't expand what
> linux thinks is there. There was some command you had to type to make
> it use the full partition. Like 'resizefs'. Maybe I'm wrong. I have

Just a typo -- it's 'resize2fs' (at least for ext 2/3/4 partitions).
That being said, when using 'gparted' to do the work, it should
automatically include the necessary commands to resize the filesystem
after expanding the partition.

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Nic wrote:
> [...]
> I then plugged the drive into my machine and booted GParted off a thumb
> drive using Ventoy. Looking at this new drive I saw that there were 3
> partitions, 1. the primary boot 2. The linux Swap ~60GB and 3.
> Unallocated space.
> I deleted the swap-file and now I had 2 partions. I resized the boot

That's a swap partition, not a swap file. A swap file is merely a file
(generally in "/" ) that would not be visible to gparted.

> [...] Then I created a new swap-file in the 60GB space. I then
> applied the changes. I then rebooted and all is well. The whole
> process took about 45 minutes.

Don't forget to check your /etc/fstab to ensure it's trying to mount the
correct swap partition, now that you've deleted and re-created it.

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On 5/4/22 9:02 AM, Dan Purgert wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA512
>
> Nic wrote:
>> [...]
>> I then plugged the drive into my machine and booted GParted off a thumb
>> drive using Ventoy. Looking at this new drive I saw that there were 3
>> partitions, 1. the primary boot 2. The linux Swap ~60GB and 3.
>> Unallocated space.
>> I deleted the swap-file and now I had 2 partions. I resized the boot
> That's a swap partition, not a swap file. A swap file is merely a file
> (generally in "/" ) that would not be visible to gparted.
>
>> [...] Then I created a new swap-file in the 60GB space. I then
>> applied the changes. I then rebooted and all is well. The whole
>> process took about 45 minutes.
> Don't forget to check your /etc/fstab to ensure it's trying to mount the
> correct swap partition, now that you've deleted and re-created it.
>
>
>
Yes I meant swap-partition. I checked the folder /etc/---and there is no
fstab, what does that mean?

On 04.05.2022 at 09:13, Nic scribbled:

> I checked the folder /etc/---and there is no fstab, what does that mean?

It means that your partitions are either being mounted by systemd units,
or that they are automatically detected by systemd from the entries in
your GPT partition table.

If you have a simple partition layout — /, /home and /boot/efi — then
systemd can auto-detect that layout. Likewise for a swap partition.
This will however not work with more convoluted setups — e.g. a
separate /usr, /var, et al.

--
With respect,
= Aragorn

On 5/4/22 11:17 AM, Aragorn wrote:
> On 04.05.2022 at 09:13, Nic scribbled:
>
>> I checked the folder /etc/---and there is no fstab, what does that mean?
> It means that your partitions are either being mounted by systemd units,
> or that they are automatically detected by systemd from the entries in
> your GPT partition table.
>
> If you have a simple partition layout — /, /home and /boot/efi — then
> systemd can auto-detect that layout. Likewise for a swap partition.
> This will however not work with more convoluted setups — e.g. a
> separate /usr, /var, et al.
>
I really don't understand what you are saying. I found this website
https://linuxhandbook.com/linux-list-disks/

6 Different Ways to List Hard Drives in Linux

Table of Contents

1. Listing Hard Drives in Linux
<https://linuxhandbook.com/linux-list-disks/#listing-hard-drives-in-linux>

1. 1. df <https://linuxhandbook.com/linux-list-disks/#1-df>
2. 2. fdisk <https://linuxhandbook.com/linux-list-disks/#2-fdisk>
3. 3. lsblk <https://linuxhandbook.com/linux-list-disks/#3-lsblk>
4. 4. cfdisk <https://linuxhandbook.com/linux-list-disks/#4-cfdisk>
5. 5. parted <https://linuxhandbook.com/linux-list-disks/#5-parted>
6. 6. sfdisk <https://linuxhandbook.com/linux-list-disks/#6-sfdisk>

I did not see any problems.

On 5/4/2022 8:35 AM, Big Al wrote:
> On 5/4/22 06:54, this is what Nic wrote:
>> I have been using a 500GB SSD and was running out of room, what to do? I
>> purchased a 1TB SSD and used a device made by Wavelink for cloning bought on
>> Amazon. It is a cloning device where the source must be smaller than the
>> target.The process of cloning the 500GB to the 1TB took aprox 30 minutes.
>> I then plugged the drive into my machine and booted GParted off a thumb
>> drive using Ventoy. Looking at this new drive I saw that there were 3
>> partitions, 1. the primary boot 2. The linux Swap ~60GB and 3. Unallocated
>> space.
>> I deleted the swap-file and now I had 2 partions. I resized the boot
>> partition to almost the entire drive space leaving ~60GB for a future swap-
>> file. Then I created a new swap-file in the 60GB space. I then applied the
>> changes. I then rebooted and all is well. The whole process took about 45
>> minutes.
> > I always thought that expanding the partition doesn't expand what linux
> thinks is there.  There was some command you had to type to make it use
> the full partition. Like 'resizefs'.  Maybe I'm wrong.   I have been
> reluctant to do any resizing on my system, and the one time I move from
> 128 to 500G I just loaded all the Windows partitions because they're
> so hard to reload, but I reloaded Linux because I have a huge script
> that loads and applies tweaks to a lot of things, making a reload
> about 30 minutes.   Not 1005 perfect but 90%.
>
> Al

There are two parts to storage.

The "envelope" size, diagrammatically shown this way.

+-----+------------------------------------+ - - -
| MBR | Envelope / nominal size |
+-----+------------------------------------+ - - -

The file system is not allowed to walk-off-the-end and
past that bar on the end.

Addresses must be sanitized, so that bad code in
one file system driver, cannot overwrite
the header of the next file system.

The first sector inside the envelope, is the file system header.
And in it, is declared the number of inodes or clusters. This
is the size of the filesystem, for the purposes of the filesystem
itself. It normally does not fill the envelope, even under the
best circumstances. It can be a fraction of a cylinder
short of the end of the envelope.

+-----+------------------------------------+ - - -
| MBR | Envelope / nominal size |
+-----+------------------------------------+ - - -
File System Declaration
<------------------------------>
-->| |<-- fraction of a cylinder

The resize operation is done in two steps.

Changing the envelope is a separate step from changing
the declaration of the file system size inside.

Occasionally, this screws up. It's possible for the
envelope to grow, yet the filesystem step failed and
this happens.

+-----+--------------------------------------------------------+ - - -
| MBR | Envelope / nominal size |
+-----+--------------------------------------------------------+ - - -

<------------------------------>

It takes a wide-awake operator, to notice this has happened
and issue the command manually to fix it. Usually there
is a structural problem, and your attempt to run the
second command, gives an arithmetic statement indicating
some declarations are overlapping or there is other
mayhem present. It's also quite possible under these
circumstances (declaratives screwed up) that the file
system is already destroyed.

A mechanism for this to happen, is for a naive operator to use
TestDisk, "push the button" and rewrite the partition table,
without thoroughly reviewing what is about to happen. I've seen
TestDisk agree to overlap partition definitions, which is deadly.
There are *lots* of sectors which look like File System headers,
which are not in fact file system headers. There will be lots
of false positives on a TestDisk run.

If you haven't been using TestDisk, there is little reason
for a traffic pileup on I-95 :-)

In any case, it takes a sharp sharp eye, to detect every
nuance of trouble. We are very trusting of the tools we use,
and the trust is occasionally not well placed.

To date, I haven't seen a problem on GPT. And GPT has
duplicate partition tables, the second one placed (inconveniently)
at the end of the disk drive. Complicating the lives of the
"Let me dd this" crowd. If you dd a small drive to a large drive,
the secondary partition table ends up in the wrong place.
When I draw diagrams, I never show the primary and secondary
GPT partition tables, which is a failing (laziness) on my part.

"dd transfer to a larger disk, of a GPT, if no effort is made to correct SPT"

+-----+-----+-----------------------------------+-----+
From | MBR | PPT |Envelope / nominal size | SPT |
+-----+-----+-----------------------------------+-----+

+-----+-----+-----------------------------------+-----+---------------+
To | MBR | PPT |Envelope / nominal size | SPT | Unallocated |
+-----+-----+-----------------------------------+-----+---------------+

<------------------------------>
-->| |<-- fraction of a cylinder

Use a professional tool, when cloning a GPT, not good ole dd.

Should have looked like this.

+-----+-----+-----------------------------------+---------------+-----+
To | MBR | PPT |Envelope / nominal size | Unallocated | SPT |
+-----+-----+-----------------------------------+---------------+-----+

<------------------------------>
-->| |<-- fraction of a cylinder

Paul

On 04.05.2022 at 12:00, Nic scribbled:

> On 5/4/22 11:17 AM, Aragorn wrote:
>
> > On 04.05.2022 at 09:13, Nic scribbled:
> >
> >> I checked the folder /etc/---and there is no fstab, what does that
> >> mean?
> >
> > It means that your partitions are either being mounted by systemd
> > units, or that they are automatically detected by systemd from the
> > entries in your GPT partition table.
> >
> > If you have a simple partition layout — /, /home and /boot/efi —
> > then systemd can auto-detect that layout. Likewise for a swap
> > partition. This will however not work with more convoluted setups —
> > e.g. a separate /usr, /var, et al.
> >
> I really don't understand what you are saying. I found this website
> https://linuxhandbook.com/linux-list-disks/
>
> 6 Different Ways to List Hard Drives in Linux
>
> [...]
>
> I did not see any problems.

You were inquiring about how it can be that you do not have an
/etc/fstab file. I merely gave you the answer to that inquiry.

I did not say anything about listing partitions, because that has
nothing to so with what you were asking and what I was replying to.

--
With respect,
= Aragorn

On 5/4/22 08:59, this is what Dan Purgert wrote:
> Big Al wrote:
>> On 5/4/22 06:54, this is what Nic wrote:
>>> I have been using a 500GB SSD and was running out of room, what to do? I
>>> purchased a 1TB SSD and used a device made by Wavelink for cloning bought on
>>> Amazon. It is a cloning device where the source must be smaller than the
>>> target.The process of cloning the 500GB to the 1TB took aprox 30 minutes.
>>> I then plugged the drive into my machine and booted GParted off a thumb
>>> drive using Ventoy. Looking at this new drive I saw that there were 3
>>> partitions, 1. the primary boot 2. The linux Swap ~60GB and 3. Unallocated
>>> space.
>>> I deleted the swap-file and now I had 2 partions. I resized the boot
>>> partition to almost the entire drive space leaving ~60GB for a future swap-
>>> file. Then I created a new swap-file in the 60GB space. I then applied the
>>> changes. I then rebooted and all is well. The whole process took about 45
>>> minutes.
>> I always thought that expanding the partition doesn't expand what
>> linux thinks is there. There was some command you had to type to make
>> it use the full partition. Like 'resizefs'. Maybe I'm wrong. I have
>
> Just a typo -- it's 'resize2fs' (at least for ext 2/3/4 partitions).
> That being said, when using 'gparted' to do the work, it should
> automatically include the necessary commands to resize the filesystem
> after expanding the partition.
>
>
Thanks, puts my mind at ease. I almost always use gparted so that fits in just perfect.

On 5/4/22 11:17 AM, Aragorn wrote:
> On 04.05.2022 at 09:13, Nic scribbled:
>
>> I checked the folder /etc/---and there is no fstab, what does that mean?
> It means that your partitions are either being mounted by systemd units,
> or that they are automatically detected by systemd from the entries in
> your GPT partition table.
>
> If you have a simple partition layout — /, /home and /boot/efi — then
> systemd can auto-detect that layout. Likewise for a swap partition.
> This will however not work with more convoluted setups — e.g. a
> separate /usr, /var, et al.
>
Thank you for your answer to my question, which you can see how my
question was shaped by DanP suggesting that such a directory should be
there. I might add that this machine has 3 8GB Ram disks, which ~23GB is
seen by Linux. May I assume that given my use of my computer never
demands that extra swap space.

I really like Linux.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

Nic wrote:
> On 5/4/22 11:17 AM, Aragorn wrote:
>> On 04.05.2022 at 09:13, Nic scribbled:
>>
>>> I checked the folder /etc/---and there is no fstab, what does that mean?
>> It means that your partitions are either being mounted by systemd units,
>> or that they are automatically detected by systemd from the entries in
>> your GPT partition table.
>>
>> If you have a simple partition layout — /, /home and /boot/efi — then
>> systemd can auto-detect that layout. Likewise for a swap partition.
>> This will however not work with more convoluted setups — e.g. a
>> separate /usr, /var, et al.
>>
> Thank you for your answer to my question, which you can see how my
> question was shaped by DanP suggesting that such a directory should be
> there.

.... once again, systemd fixing something that wasn't broken ... *sigh"

'/etc/fstab' is a FILE, not a DIRECTORY.

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|O|O|O| PGP: DDAB 23FB 19FA 7D85 1CC1 E067 6D65 70E5 4CE7 2860

On 5/5/22 8:01 AM, Dan Purgert wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA512
>
> Nic wrote:
>> On 5/4/22 11:17 AM, Aragorn wrote:
>>> On 04.05.2022 at 09:13, Nic scribbled:
>>>
>>>> I checked the folder /etc/---and there is no fstab, what does that mean?
>>> It means that your partitions are either being mounted by systemd units,
>>> or that they are automatically detected by systemd from the entries in
>>> your GPT partition table.
>>>
>>> If you have a simple partition layout — /, /home and /boot/efi — then
>>> systemd can auto-detect that layout. Likewise for a swap partition.
>>> This will however not work with more convoluted setups — e.g. a
>>> separate /usr, /var, et al.
>>>
>> Thank you for your answer to my question, which you can see how my
>> question was shaped by DanP suggesting that such a directory should be
>> there.
> ... once again, systemd fixing something that wasn't broken ... *sigh"
>
> '/etc/fstab' is a FILE, not a DIRECTORY.
>
> -
>
My system is working fine and my original post was about the method i
used to migrate LM to a larger drive.

On Thu, 5 May 2022 08:36:44 -0400, Nic wrote:
> On 5/5/22 8:01 AM, Dan Purgert wrote:
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>> Hash: SHA512
>>
>> Nic wrote:
>>> On 5/4/22 11:17 AM, Aragorn wrote:
>>>> On 04.05.2022 at 09:13, Nic scribbled:
>>>>
>>>>> I checked the folder /etc/---and there is no fstab, what does that mean?
>>>> It means that your partitions are either being mounted by systemd units,
>>>> or that they are automatically detected by systemd from the entries in
>>>> your GPT partition table.
>>>>
>>>> If you have a simple partition layout — /, /home and /boot/efi — then
>>>> systemd can auto-detect that layout. Likewise for a swap partition.
>>>> This will however not work with more convoluted setups — e.g. a
>>>> separate /usr, /var, et al.
>>>>
>>> Thank you for your answer to my question, which you can see how my
>>> question was shaped by DanP suggesting that such a directory should be
>>> there.
>> ... once again, systemd fixing something that wasn't broken ... *sigh"
>>
>> '/etc/fstab' is a FILE, not a DIRECTORY.
>>
>> -
>>
> My system is working fine and my original post was about the method i
> used to migrate LM to a larger drive.

And the missing /etc/fstab makes me think it was not done correctly. :(
If so, old/original partition is being used for booting/running.

I suggest booting a rescue cd and use gparted to label all partitions, boot
install and see what you can see with something like

lsblk -o NAME,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINT,SIZE,FSAVAIL,FSUSED,LABEL,PARTLABEL
gets me
NAME TYPE FSTYPE MOUNTPOINT SIZE FSAVAIL FSUSED LABEL PARTLABEL
sda disk 931.5G
├─sda1 part ext4 40G mga6 mga6
├─sda2 part ext4 / 42G 22.8G 16.1G mga8 mga8
├─sda3 part ext4 40.8G mga7 mga7
├─sda4 part ext4 40.4G cauldron cauldron

As you can see / is using partition mga8 and mga6, mga7 and cauldron are
not mounted.

On 5/5/22 10:29 AM, Bit Twister wrote:
> On Thu, 5 May 2022 08:36:44 -0400, Nic wrote:
>> On 5/5/22 8:01 AM, Dan Purgert wrote:
>>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>>> Hash: SHA512
>>>
>>> Nic wrote:
>>>> On 5/4/22 11:17 AM, Aragorn wrote:
>>>>> On 04.05.2022 at 09:13, Nic scribbled:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I checked the folder /etc/---and there is no fstab, what does that mean?
>>>>> It means that your partitions are either being mounted by systemd units,
>>>>> or that they are automatically detected by systemd from the entries in
>>>>> your GPT partition table.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you have a simple partition layout — /, /home and /boot/efi — then
>>>>> systemd can auto-detect that layout. Likewise for a swap partition.
>>>>> This will however not work with more convoluted setups — e.g. a
>>>>> separate /usr, /var, et al.
>>>>>
>>>> Thank you for your answer to my question, which you can see how my
>>>> question was shaped by DanP suggesting that such a directory should be
>>>> there.
>>> ... once again, systemd fixing something that wasn't broken ... *sigh"
>>>
>>> '/etc/fstab' is a FILE, not a DIRECTORY.
>>>
>>> -
>>>
>> My system is working fine and my original post was about the method i
>> used to migrate LM to a larger drive.
> And the missing /etc/fstab makes me think it was not done correctly. :(
> If so, old/original partition is being used for booting/running.
>
> I suggest booting a rescue cd and use gparted to label all partitions, boot
> install and see what you can see with something like
>
> lsblk -o NAME,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINT,SIZE,FSAVAIL,FSUSED,LABEL,PARTLABEL
> gets me
> NAME TYPE FSTYPE MOUNTPOINT SIZE FSAVAIL FSUSED LABEL PARTLABEL
> sda disk 931.5G
> ├─sda1 part ext4 40G mga6 mga6
> ├─sda2 part ext4 / 42G 22.8G 16.1G mga8 mga8
> ├─sda3 part ext4 40.8G mga7 mga7
> ├─sda4 part ext4 40.4G cauldron cauldron
>
>
> As you can see / is using partition mga8 and mga6, mga7 and cauldron are
> not mounted.
>
>
This is what I get

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk
├─sda1   8:1    0 864.5G  0 part /
└─sda2   8:2    0  67.1G  0 part
sdb      8:16   0   3.7T  0 disk
└─sdb1   8:17   0   3.7T  0 part
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom

On 04.05.2022 at 18:18, Nic scribbled:

> On 5/4/22 11:17 AM, Aragorn wrote:
> > On 04.05.2022 at 09:13, Nic scribbled:
> >
> >> I checked the folder /etc/---and there is no fstab, what does that
> >> mean?
> > It means that your partitions are either being mounted by systemd
> > units, or that they are automatically detected by systemd from the
> > entries in your GPT partition table.
> >
> > If you have a simple partition layout — /, /home and /boot/efi —
> > then systemd can auto-detect that layout. Likewise for a swap
> > partition. This will however not work with more convoluted setups —
> > e.g. a separate /usr, /var, et al.
> >
> Thank you for your answer to my question, which you can see how my
> question was shaped by DanP suggesting that such a directory should
> be there.

It's a file, not a directory. It normally contains a line for each
filesystem that is to be mounted at boot time, although you can also
add lines for each removable device, if you will.

Each line is a record, comprised of six fields, separated by
whitespace. The fields are defined as follows:

1. The device to be mounted. This can be a device special file (e.g.
/dev/sda1), a filesystem UUID or filesystem LABEL
("UUID=some-long-string", or "LABEL=rootfs"), or a partition
PARTLABEL or PARTUUID (the latter two only on GPT-partitioned
drives).

2. The mountpoint (e.g. "/home").

3. The filesystem type (e.g. "ext4"). For removable devices, if the
filesystem is unknown, you can use "auto" and let the kernel detect
the filesystem.

4. The mount options, separated by commas without spaces (e.g.
"auto,defaults,nouser,nodev,noatime").

5. The dump field, with a value of either 0 or 1. This denotes
whether the filesystem on the device must be backed up when the
dump utility (/bin/dump) is used. dump is an older utility that
backs up a filesystem into a tar archive, but these days, much
better backup solutions exist. The option is however still
supported for compatibility reasons.

6. The pass field, with a value of 0, 1 or 2. This fields denotes
whether the filesystem must be checked at boot — provided that an
option to do this automatically is not already included in the
initramfs — and if so, in what order. "0" means "do not check",
"1" means "always check", and "2" means "check only after checking
the root filesystem (which should have value "1").

An fstab entry might look like this...:

UUID=some-long-string / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1

> I might add that this machine has 3 8GB Ram disks, which
> ~23GB is seen by Linux. May I assume that given my use of my computer
> never demands that extra swap space.

Do you mean RAM disks, or did you mean memory modules? Either way,
with ~24 GiB of RAM, you don't need a swap partition for normal usage,
unless — and this is important — you use hibernation, i.e.
suspend-to-disk.

My system here has 16 GiB of RAM, of which about 512 MiB is used for
the integrated Intel graphics processor. I do have two swap
partitions, because when I bought this computer, it had 8 GiB of RAM.
But ever since I've got 16 GiB, I've disabled swap, and so far I've
never had a need for it, and I do have quite a number of applications
open at all time.

Of course, I don't use hibernation.

> I really like Linux.
So do I. I've been using it exclusively since 01.01.2000 — before
that, it was two years with Windows NT 4.0, and before that, over 5
years of OS/2 2.x. I did also have some experience with proprietary
UNIX on minicomputers, but not as root user.

I've never had a need or desire to use anything else, least of
all Microsoft Windows, which I've always found a horrible operating
system.

But of course, should for whatever freak reason GNU/Linux would
cease to exist, then I'd probably switch to one of the BSDs, or maybe to
OpenIndiana (formerly OpenSolaris). It would either way have to be a
UNIX system, and it would have to be Free & Open-Source Software.

It's not just GNU/Linux that is so great, but also the whole FLOSS
ecosystem. I like the philosophy, and whatever your needs, there's
bound to be a FLOSS application for it.

I am however not a Mint user, and even less so Ubuntu. I've used
various distributions over the years — including Gentoo — but for the
last three years, I've been using Manjaro, which is Arch-based but
which unlike Arch proper has a GUI installer and some GUI administration
tools.

It's also more stable than Arch, because it's a curated rolling-release
distro — updates are normally bundled together and pushed out on
average twice per month, barring urgent security fixes, which are of
course pushed out immediately. Manjaro also has support for the Arch
User repository, which greatly increases the amount of available
software. There is also support for AppImages, Snaps and FlatPaks, but
I personally don't use either of those.

Mind you, I'm not saying that Manjaro would be the best distribution. I
will say that about no distribution, because we're all individuals, and
we all have our own preferences and requirements, and there's a distro
for everyone's needs. What's best is what's best for you. ;)

--
With respect,
= Aragorn

On Thu, 5 May 2022 10:38:45 -0400, Nic wrote:
> On 5/5/22 10:29 AM, Bit Twister wrote:
>> On Thu, 5 May 2022 08:36:44 -0400, Nic wrote:
>>> On 5/5/22 8:01 AM, Dan Purgert wrote:

>>> My system is working fine and my original post was about the method i
>>> used to migrate LM to a larger drive.
>> And the missing /etc/fstab makes me think it was not done correctly. :(
>> If so, old/original partition is being used for booting/running.
>>
>> I suggest booting a rescue cd and use gparted to label all partitions, boot
>> install and see what you can see with something like
>>
>> lsblk -o NAME,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINT,SIZE,FSAVAIL,FSUSED,LABEL,PARTLABEL
>> gets me
>> NAME TYPE FSTYPE MOUNTPOINT SIZE FSAVAIL FSUSED LABEL PARTLABEL
>> sda disk 931.5G
>> ├─sda1 part ext4 40G mga6 mga6
>> ├─sda2 part ext4 / 42G 22.8G 16.1G mga8 mga8
>> ├─sda3 part ext4 40.8G mga7 mga7
>> ├─sda4 part ext4 40.4G cauldron cauldron
>>
>>
>> As you can see / is using partition mga8 and mga6, mga7 and cauldron are
>> not mounted.
>>
>>
> This is what I get
>
> NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
> sda      8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk
> ├─sda1   8:1    0 864.5G  0 part /
> └─sda2   8:2    0  67.1G  0 part
> sdb      8:16   0   3.7T  0 disk
> └─sdb1   8:17   0   3.7T  0 part
> sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom

That indicates / is mounted on sda1 and you have no labels on partitions.
No FSAVAIL FSUSED columns indicate you have an older lsblk app than what
my distribution has.

I can suggest systemrescuecd
https://www.system-rescue.org/
http://www.sysresccd.org/Download has instructions/script to burn iso
to usb stick.

You can click the gparted icon from taskbar and label and partition label
(if drive is gpt) your partitions.

On 5/5/22 11:09 AM, Bit Twister wrote:
> On Thu, 5 May 2022 10:38:45 -0400, Nic wrote:
>> On 5/5/22 10:29 AM, Bit Twister wrote:
>>> On Thu, 5 May 2022 08:36:44 -0400, Nic wrote:
>>>> On 5/5/22 8:01 AM, Dan Purgert wrote:
>
>>>> My system is working fine and my original post was about the method i
>>>> used to migrate LM to a larger drive.
>>> And the missing /etc/fstab makes me think it was not done correctly. :(
>>> If so, old/original partition is being used for booting/running.
>>>
>>> I suggest booting a rescue cd and use gparted to label all partitions, boot
>>> install and see what you can see with something like
>>>
>>> lsblk -o NAME,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINT,SIZE,FSAVAIL,FSUSED,LABEL,PARTLABEL
>>> gets me
>>> NAME TYPE FSTYPE MOUNTPOINT SIZE FSAVAIL FSUSED LABEL PARTLABEL
>>> sda disk 931.5G
>>> ├─sda1 part ext4 40G mga6 mga6
>>> ├─sda2 part ext4 / 42G 22.8G 16.1G mga8 mga8
>>> ├─sda3 part ext4 40.8G mga7 mga7
>>> ├─sda4 part ext4 40.4G cauldron cauldron
>>>
>>>
>>> As you can see / is using partition mga8 and mga6, mga7 and cauldron are
>>> not mounted.
>>>
>>>
>> This is what I get
>>
>> NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
>> sda      8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk
>> ├─sda1   8:1    0 864.5G  0 part /
>> └─sda2   8:2    0  67.1G  0 part
>> sdb      8:16   0   3.7T  0 disk
>> └─sdb1   8:17   0   3.7T  0 part
>> sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom
> That indicates / is mounted on sda1 and you have no labels on partitions.
> No FSAVAIL FSUSED columns indicate you have an older lsblk app than what
> my distribution has.
>
> I can suggest systemrescuecd
> https://www.system-rescue.org/
> http://www.sysresccd.org/Download has instructions/script to burn iso
> to usb stick.
>
> You can click the gparted icon from taskbar and label and partition label
> (if drive is gpt) your partitions.
>
>
I am not sure what you are suggesting. Given that my system is booting
up and working to my needs. Are you suggesting that I use Gparted to
write labels for my drives and partitions? Is that necessary for my
computer to work properly?

On Thu, 5 May 2022 11:38:07 -0400, Nic wrote:
> On 5/5/22 11:09 AM, Bit Twister wrote:

>> I can suggest systemrescuecd
>> https://www.system-rescue.org/
>> http://www.sysresccd.org/Download has instructions/script to burn iso
>> to usb stick.
>>
>> You can click the gparted icon from taskbar and label and partition label
>> (if drive is gpt) your partitions.
>>
>>
> I am not sure what you are suggesting. Given that my system is booting
> up and working to my needs. Are you suggesting that I use Gparted to
> write labels for my drives and partitions? Is that necessary for my
> computer to work properly?

Not required. I was just suggesting that labeling partitions can be helpful
when moving/copying partitions when you have to start troubleshooting
problems.

I see lots of posts by people using partition cloneing tools and wind up
booting the old partition instead of new partition.

Labeling helps identify partition with different partitioning tools.

for example
$ gdisk -l /dev/sda
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 83888127 40.0 GiB 8300 mga6
2 83888128 171864063 42.0 GiB 8300 mga8
3 171864064 257384447 40.8 GiB 8300 mga7
4 257384448 342192127 40.4 GiB 8300 cauldron
5 342192128 387309567 21.5 GiB 8300 local
6 387309568 434296831 22.4 GiB 8300 accounts
7 434296832 558874623 59.4 GiB 8300 misc
8 558874624 712286207 73.2 GiB 8300 spare
9 712286208 1471924223 362.2 GiB 8300 vmguest
10 1471924224 1471926271 1024.0 KiB EF02 bios_grub

On 5/5/22 11:55 AM, Bit Twister wrote:
> On Thu, 5 May 2022 11:38:07 -0400, Nic wrote:
>> On 5/5/22 11:09 AM, Bit Twister wrote:
>>> I can suggest systemrescuecd
>>> https://www.system-rescue.org/
>>> http://www.sysresccd.org/Download has instructions/script to burn iso
>>> to usb stick.
>>>
>>> You can click the gparted icon from taskbar and label and partition label
>>> (if drive is gpt) your partitions.
>>>
>>>
>> I am not sure what you are suggesting. Given that my system is booting
>> up and working to my needs. Are you suggesting that I use Gparted to
>> write labels for my drives and partitions? Is that necessary for my
>> computer to work properly?
> Not required. I was just suggesting that labeling partitions can be helpful
> when moving/copying partitions when you have to start troubleshooting
> problems.
>
> I see lots of posts by people using partition cloneing tools and wind up
> booting the old partition instead of new partition.
>
> Labeling helps identify partition with different partitioning tools.
>
> for example
> $ gdisk -l /dev/sda
> Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
> 1 2048 83888127 40.0 GiB 8300 mga6
> 2 83888128 171864063 42.0 GiB 8300 mga8
> 3 171864064 257384447 40.8 GiB 8300 mga7
> 4 257384448 342192127 40.4 GiB 8300 cauldron
> 5 342192128 387309567 21.5 GiB 8300 local
> 6 387309568 434296831 22.4 GiB 8300 accounts
> 7 434296832 558874623 59.4 GiB 8300 misc
> 8 558874624 712286207 73.2 GiB 8300 spare
> 9 712286208 1471924223 362.2 GiB 8300 vmguest
> 10 1471924224 1471926271 1024.0 KiB EF02 bios_grub

This what I get

gdisk -l /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.3

Partition table scan:
  MBR: MBR only
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: not present

***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory.
***************************************************************

Disk /dev/sda: 1953525168 sectors, 931.5 GiB
Model: SanDisk SSD PLUS
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 4A985AF3-CA3E-4EF6-80E0-5272088AF109
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1953525134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 3437 sectors (1.7 MiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048      1812869119   864.4 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem
   2      1812869120      1953523711   67.1 GiB    8200  Linux swap

Bit Twister wrote:
> sda disk 931.5G
> ├─sda1 part ext4 40G mga6 mga6
> ├─sda2 part ext4 / 42G 22.8G 16.1G mga8 mga8
> ├─sda3 part ext4 40.8G mga7 mga7
> ├─sda4 part ext4 40.4G cauldron cauldron

Mageia. Were you formerly Mandriva before Mageia or something else? Is
your preferred DE KDE or what?

--
Mike Easter

On Thu, 5 May 2022 09:06:07 -0700, Mike Easter wrote:
> Bit Twister wrote:
>> sda disk 931.5G
>> ├─sda1 part ext4 40G mga6 mga6
>> ├─sda2 part ext4 / 42G 22.8G 16.1G mga8 mga8
>> ├─sda3 part ext4 40.8G mga7 mga7
>> ├─sda4 part ext4 40.4G cauldron cauldron
>
> Mageia. Were you formerly Mandriva before Mageia or something else?

Stared with Redhat, moved to Mandriva then Mageia because of easy gui
control center interface for modifying the system setup.

https://doc.mageia.org/mcc/8/en/content/software-management.html

Lots of live iso for test driving
https://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/mageia/iso/8/
and plenty of Mageia people to help with any questions on Usenet and forums.

> Is your preferred DE KDE or what?

Hated the constant KDE/Plasma DE problems. Moved to Xfce to get back to
look/feel/speed of original KDE.

Also the xdotool makes it plum easy to script stuff to switch windows/desktop
and xfconf-query to automagically configure everything in my Xfce.

Reason being I always do clean installs instead of upgrades and the occasional
Xfce release indicates you should delete configuration files on a given release
to pick up new changes.

Bit Twister wrote:
> Hated the constant KDE/Plasma DE problems. Moved to Xfce to get back to
> look/feel/speed of original KDE.

Did you ever tinker w/ Trinity DE, like KDE 3.5? There's a repo for Mageia.

--
Mike Easter

On Thu, 5 May 2022 10:47:43 -0700, Mike Easter wrote:
> Bit Twister wrote:
>> Hated the constant KDE/Plasma DE problems. Moved to Xfce to get back to
>> look/feel/speed of original KDE.
>
> Did you ever tinker w/ Trinity DE, like KDE 3.5? There's a repo for Mageia.

Nope, Tried scripting KDE configuration via custom configuration scripts
and aborted the attempts when I found it much easier on Xfce.