Changing the /home partition

opensuse 13.2
linux 3.16.7-7-desktop x86_64

Flush with my success at moving the /usr volume from a hard drive to an SSD, I decided to do the same for the /home volume. Apparently just copying files and modifying /etc/fstab is not good enough for moving /home, either.

All proceeds normally during boot up to the login screen. There I enter the password, and … The login screen reappears. I cannot login to my account located on (the new) /home.

What additional work required to make the new /home acceptable?

Copied the contents of the volume:

OPTS='--recursive --one-file-system --links --stats --itemize-changes --quiet --delete --times -HAXS';
rsync ${OPTS} --log-file=${LOGFILE} /home/ /mnt/home/

Modified /etc/fstab:

/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SSEAGATE_ST336753LW_3HX0G0GM000073370Y4S-part1    swap    swap    defaults 0 0 
/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SSEAGATE_ST336753LW_3HX0G0GM000073370Y4S-part2    /    ext4    acl,user_xattr 1 1 
#
##/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SFUJITSU_MAW3073NP_DAS0P740510C-part1    /home    ext4    acl,user_xattr 1 2 
UUID=2658fa01-ad6e-4e5f-bfac-f2e9d7742321 /home  btrfs defaults 0 0
#
## UUID=2658fa01-ad6e-4e5f-bfac-f2e9d7742321 /mnt/home  btrfs defaults 0 0
#
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Axiom_Signature_Series_III_SSD_AX150206AS1706441-part2 /usr  xfs defaults  1 #
LABEL=data_storage    /d500g    ext4    acl,user_xattr 1 2 
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-BUFFALO_External_HDD_._Z240RTNL-part1 /backup01 ext4 defaults  1 2
#

The copy looks like it created a proper image:

$ ll /mnt/
total 24
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root   58 Sep 25  2014 home/
drwxrwxrwx 3 root root 4096 Apr 17 09:51 k-scanner/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 27 15:37 usr1/
$ ll /mnt/home
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3220 Apr 17 12:58 jmoe/
drwx------ 1 root root    0 Feb 12  2010 lost+found/
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1012 Jan 23  2012 sma-user4/
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root  818 May  9  2011 testee/
$ 

It looks as if the user home directories are all owned by root. You must have missed the “rsync” argument to preserve owners/groups/permissions.

Bingo!
After adding “–perms --owner --group --executability” to the options, the system booted normally and I successfully logged in.

Thank you.