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Matte88
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:47 pm    Post subject: elegant way to mount folders from another distro into Gentoo Reply with quote

Hi all!
I'd like to get my Ubuntu /home folders (music, docs, Steam, downloads, video) get mounted auto at boot when using Gentoo so to have same files always available for both, no matter what I'm using. I have Ubuntu in only one partition and also Gentoo :p
Two little examples to explain me:
1) when I'm on one of them and I continue my tasks with docs, I must mount the whole Ubuntu or Gentoo partition to get the file from the last time I modified it, if previously I didn't remember to save on both /home/username/docs/ (Gentoo and Ubuntu).
2) when playing with Steam, I have to copy the savegames from a partition to another and keep 17GB of games in both!
I don't want to mount the whole Ubuntu /home in Gentoo's one 'cause I have different programs and different versions/settings of FF, Thunderbird, VLC, etc...
Now I have the whole Ubuntu partition mounted at boot via FSTAB, but I'd like to have not the whole partition mounted, only the needed folders. Is there an elegant way to do that (without exposing Ubuntu's root to user)?
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The Doctor
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

First off, I don't think you can mount folders. You mount partitions.

Second, there is a way to make your current setup more elegant. Choose one partition, say Ubuntu, to house the data. mount the partition in /mnt/ubuntu. make symbolic links to your folders in Gentoo. This way you have complete access to the data on both computers. A soft link should suffice. (ln -s)

The more elegant way is to make a new partition. Use lvm to create as many partitions as folders using the new partition. mount them in both places via fstab.
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Matte88
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Doctor wrote:
First off, I don't think you can mount folders. You mount partitions.

Second, there is a way to make your current setup more elegant. Choose one partition, say Ubuntu, to house the data. mount the partition in /mnt/ubuntu. make symbolic links to your folders in Gentoo. This way you have complete access to the data on both computers. A soft link should suffice. (ln -s)

The more elegant way is to make a new partition. Use lvm to create as many partitions as folders using the new partition. mount them in both places via fstab.
LVM always scared me, plus add I'm new to GPT and UEFI (which my laptop has) and you'll have a mess! :lol: I'm terrified at the thought of losing my data or having to reinstall Gentoo!!! :oops:
I'll give a try with soft links (can I softlink a folder?!? Whoa!).

Thanks "The Doctor"! 8)
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666threesixes666
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

go to ubuntu and run "cat /etc/fstab" write down your $HOME partition info.... get on gentoo run "nano /etc/fstab" and restart your gentoo to auto mount your $HOME into gentoo..... (this will work kind of ok and be kind of messy and copy your ubuntu stuff into your gentoo stuff as your asking for)

for me

/dev/sda8 /home xfs noatime 0 3

(it also helps if you DONT have anything in your $HOME as mounting normally on linux requires a blank directory to mount to..... u might have to migrate your $HOME to a backup area but is probably blank as your asking this question)

you can symlink directories cd /usr/src.... sudo ln -s linux-3.7.3 linux.... is how i made my /usr/src/linux point @ linux-3.7.3 (or the other way around) (ln -s is a symlink) (mount --bind = mount a folder to another folder.... inter system portal)

home is just a data store and settings directory for me.... .bashrc would cross over and many settings would also for programs that store files in hidden directories or configuration files (starting with . before the file name)

your making it sound like your home is part of your / partition.... in that case, you want to mount the entire ubuntu, and take files like your steam and symlink them to your $HOME where you can find them...... some systems and programs and files do NOT like symlinks or run properly.... mount --bind for those cases....
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