a follow up of How to easily install Ubuntu
There are cases when I'd recommend re-installing the distribution you have instead of upgrading it. For example Ubuntu has an extraordinary upgrade mechanism but the system always tends to be a little slower after an upgrade compared to re-installation. Another reason can be that something went wrong during the upgrade process and for example a peripheral stopped working.
Preparation
The most important preparation point for a Linux re-install is checking the way you have partitioned your hard disk. To be more precise it is important that your "/" (root) partition is separate from your "/home" partition. Install Gparted via Software Management (or Synaptic). Then start the program as root (superuser) by opening a terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal) and typing the following in it :
sudo gparted
After pressing Enter you will be asked to type in the root password (in Ubuntu it is the password of the main account) and click Enter. Gparted will open :
In your upper right corner you will see your physical disks (including external USB disks/sticks plugged currently into the system) and when you click on some of them you will see how they are partitioned. On the example above my first hard disk is divided in 3 partitions (leftmost column), namely :
/dev/sda1 with no Mountpoint because it is used as SWAP (means users "cannot see or access it")
/dev/sda2 with Mountpoint "/" (root) which is used for holding all the installed software
/dev/sda3 with Mountpoint "/home" where all user files and directories reside
Each and every Linux has to have these three Mountpoints (all other mountpoints are optional). In my previous post I recommended these are set up on three different partitions during first install which makes a re-installation a breeze. Many Linux distributions default to placing "/" and "/home" on 1 partition which makes re-installation a complicated task.
Please make a note of your Partitions (leftmost column) and the respective Mountpoints (third column from the left) lying on them.
I also have a second internal hard disk and to see it I click in the upper right corner on its name and Gparted reveals its partitions and Mountpoints :
You can see I have just one partition on it "/dev/sdb1" with a Mountpoint named "/multimedia". This is a second hard disk which I use only for storing multimedia files. I have this already several years but nowadays I would recommend not using more than one internal disk if you do not want to fiddle around on re-installations. Use an external USB disk for storing your files instead.In case you have one for historical reasons (like me) do not forget to make a note of the Partition, the exact name of its Mountpoint and its Filesystem type (second column from the left) which is Ext3 in my case.
Re-installation
Plug in and turn on all your peripherals (external CD/DVD writers, printers, webcameras, etc.). In case you have any external USB-connected storage (harddisk, memorystick, even memory cards) I would recommend unplugging them before starting the reinstallation. When you start the Disk partitioning it may look unnecessarily complicated.
Start the Installation CD, choose to install a new system and once you reach the disk Partitioner you will see the following :
Choose Manual in the lower left corner and Click on Forward. On the next screen you will see all the storage media connected to your computer :
/dev/sda1 is a SWAP partition. SWAP partitions are always detected automatically - no need to think or worry about them.
/dev/sda2 was in my case "/" (root) so I click on it and choose "Edit partition". A smaller window pops up :
We do not touch the "size in megabytes" box. From the "Use as" drop-down we choose "Ext3 journaling file system". Next we choose to Format the partition, set the mount point to "/" and click OK. Remember we format only this time because we need to get rid of the old software !
/dev/sda3 is the next partition we need to edit - right click on it and choose Edit partition :
In the pop-up window we do only two things : From the "Use as" drop-down we choose "Ext3 journaling file system" and set the Mountpoint to "/home" - we do NOT choose to Format !!!
In case you have an additional hard disk like me you click on its mount point (/dev/sdb1 in my case) and choose Edit partition. In the pop-up window you choose in the "Use as" drop-down the correct filesystem and set the correct Mounpoint (Ext3 & "/multimedia" in my case). The "Mount point" drop-down box allows you to write custom names and values in it. Again you do NOT choose to Format !!!
At the end your disk partitioner will look something like that :
Notice that only my root "/" partition has been chosen to Format?. Formatting means irreversibly deleting all data on the partition and I want this to happen on the partition with the installed applications/software only (in order to clean the space for the new ones). I want to keep everything intact in /home and /multimedia so there is no Format? check in their checkboxes.
Now you can continue by clicking Forward. On the next step you reach the User Creation dialog which is also very important. You have to create the exact same users as the ones using the computer by now in order to automatically "inherit" all their files and rights. Remember that you can change the computer name, the password, but you should keep the user name (name to use to log in) exactly the same as it used to be :
If you want to "Log in automatically" just check the lower left box. You can now click Forward and finalize your re-installation.
Plug in and turn on all your peripherals (external CD/DVD writers, printers, webcameras, etc.). In case you have any external USB-connected storage (harddisk, memorystick, even memory cards) I would recommend unplugging them before starting the reinstallation. When you start the Disk partitioning it may look unnecessarily complicated.
Start the Installation CD, choose to install a new system and once you reach the disk Partitioner you will see the following :
Choose Manual in the lower left corner and Click on Forward. On the next screen you will see all the storage media connected to your computer :
/dev/sda1 is a SWAP partition. SWAP partitions are always detected automatically - no need to think or worry about them.
/dev/sda2 was in my case "/" (root) so I click on it and choose "Edit partition". A smaller window pops up :
We do not touch the "size in megabytes" box. From the "Use as" drop-down we choose "Ext3 journaling file system". Next we choose to Format the partition, set the mount point to "/" and click OK. Remember we format only this time because we need to get rid of the old software !/dev/sda3 is the next partition we need to edit - right click on it and choose Edit partition :
In the pop-up window we do only two things : From the "Use as" drop-down we choose "Ext3 journaling file system" and set the Mountpoint to "/home" - we do NOT choose to Format !!!
In case you have an additional hard disk like me you click on its mount point (/dev/sdb1 in my case) and choose Edit partition. In the pop-up window you choose in the "Use as" drop-down the correct filesystem and set the correct Mounpoint (Ext3 & "/multimedia" in my case). The "Mount point" drop-down box allows you to write custom names and values in it. Again you do NOT choose to Format !!!
At the end your disk partitioner will look something like that :
Notice that only my root "/" partition has been chosen to Format?. Formatting means irreversibly deleting all data on the partition and I want this to happen on the partition with the installed applications/software only (in order to clean the space for the new ones). I want to keep everything intact in /home and /multimedia so there is no Format? check in their checkboxes.Now you can continue by clicking Forward. On the next step you reach the User Creation dialog which is also very important. You have to create the exact same users as the ones using the computer by now in order to automatically "inherit" all their files and rights. Remember that you can change the computer name, the password, but you should keep the user name (name to use to log in) exactly the same as it used to be :
If you want to "Log in automatically" just check the lower left box. You can now click Forward and finalize your re-installation.
* If you are enjoying Ubuntu please consider donating a small amount to the project :
http://www.ubuntu.com/community/donations
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