Root (and others) mounted from old installation

English Install/Boot/Login
1

I’ve made the transfer to Linux a few months ago and so far I’m loving it. After a couple of botched experimental installs, as you’re supposed to do, I finally got everything in place and have been working happily on my openSUSE Tumbleweed install since.

Today a game installation complained it had no more space. Weird, it’s an almost empty 2TB SSD and there’s still 1.8TB free… except for the home folder. It turns out all this time the old home folder from an old installation has been mounted in /home.

That was the moment I noticed it wasn’t just /home… apparently during installation, openSUSE noticed an old install and assumed I wanted to keep using that one Because in my /etc/fstab I can see several crucial folder being mounted from the old disk.

image
image901×203 43.4 KB

Moving smaller folders I can probably manage. Copy the data to a new destination, unmounting the link to the old disk (and remove it from fstab), and copy the data back. But that probably won’t work for the system folders.

Am I royally screwed, or is there a way to fix this without having to start installation all over again? Thanks in advance for the help!

2

First please, to make your posts better consumable by technical oriented people:

Then, all your assumptions are wrong.
There are only two file sytems. One is on the EFI partition and needed for UEFI booting.
The other is a BTRFS file system as root (/) file system… All the subvols there are part of that Btrfs file system.
So there is no separate file system for /home.

About the size I can say nothing. For that we need e.g. (as root):

fdisk -l
3

How did you mount the old /home ?

4

Thanks for the quick replies. Since there wasn’t anything on the screenshot worth copy/pasting like paths or commands, I did not bother preformatting it, it was included to show how I came to my conclusion. But I will better my life in this reply :slight_smile:

When opening the properties of my home dir, I get to see this:
image
That disk it’s mounted from is my old drive.

Below the result of fdisk -l

Disk /dev/nvme1n1: 1,82 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors
Disk model: Samsung SSD 990 PRO with Heatsink 2TB   
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 4BC25F84-457C-4028-8AFD-465DF099DD37

Device            Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
/dev/nvme1n1p1     2048   67110911   67108864   32G Linux swap
/dev/nvme1n1p2 67110912 3907029134 3839918223  1,8T Linux filesystem


Disk /dev/nvme2n1: 931,51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: KINGSTON SA2000M81000G                  
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 53C9E1FD-3285-403A-BA7B-806568D2398E

Device             Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
/dev/nvme2n1p1      2048  102402047  102400000  48,8G Microsoft basic data
/dev/nvme2n1p2 102402048  167938047   65536000  31,3G Linux swap
/dev/nvme2n1p3 167938048  168988671    1050624   513M Microsoft basic data
/dev/nvme2n1p5 168988672  680988671  512000000 244,1G Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme2n1p6 680988672 1953523711 1272535040 606,8G Linux filesystem


Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 931,51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: WD_BLACK SN850X HS 1000GB               
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 3A8A2ADC-F27F-4E50-AB7F-66689455F173

Device              Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1       2048    3149823    3147776   1,5G EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2    4198400    4231167      32768    16M Microsoft reserved
/dev/nvme0n1p3    4231168 1133252607 1129021440 538,4G Microsoft basic data
/dev/nvme0n1p4 1133252608 1134321663    1069056   522M Windows recovery environment
/dev/nvme0n1p5    3149824    4198399    1048576   512M Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p6 1134321664 1646321663  512000000 244,1G Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p7 1646321664 1748721663  102400000  48,8G Microsoft basic data

Three drives:
/dev/nvme0 = Old, contains Windows, an Ubuntu and whatnot
/dev/nvme1 = New, contains my active openSUSE
/dev/nvme2 = Old, contains experimental openSUSE, another Ubuntu (don’t ask)

The UUID mentioned in fstab d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e can be found using blkid, it is indeed of /dev/nvme2:
/dev/nvme2n1p6: LABEL="openSUSE" UUID="d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e"

So there you have it… since this UUID is mentioned in fstab, the /home mount matches that drive and the remaining space matches that drive as well, I would say the old drive is used. And since that same UUID is mentioned for a whole lot of system critical folder, I’m assuming those are from the old drive as well. Perhaps I’m mistaking there, being new to Linux and openSUSE. If so please set me straight :slight_smile:

5

You still haven’t shown the fstab where the old home is mounted. Mount that somewhere else and (as root) rsync everything to the /home on the new install.

6

Well, we now have the information that there are three (3!) disks involved (you never explained that in the first post) and how they are partitioned, plus some explanation on what those are for.

Can you now please explain what your problem is? As far as I understand the above reactions, there are some ideas about what “could be” your question, but for me it is still unclear.

7

Not sure what you mean by ‘old home’. The home that is currently mounted was part of an earlier install on that /dev/nvme2n1p6 partition. It seems everything on my new drive is mounted from the old drive :expressionless: No clue why.

Apparently it has been this way from the start, it’s the only home folder I have.

Tried copying /home data to a third folder, unmount the current one and move the data to the local /home where it should be. That ends up in all kinds of permission errors.

Perhaps we’re not talking about the same thing, or at least I’m not understanding you correctly.

8

This sounds like nonsense to me.

But you could show the information from the current openSUSE Tumbleweed (the one we are talking about all the time I hope). To begin with that what @knurpht asked for:

cat /etc/fstab

the following is also very informative:

lsblk -f
9

The fstab from the current active TW is the screenshot in my opening post:

# Disk
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /                       btrfs  defaults                      0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /var                    btrfs  subvol=/@/var                 0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /usr/local              btrfs  subvol=/@/usr/local           0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /srv                    btrfs  subvol=/@/srv                 0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /root                   btrfs  subvol=/@/root                0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /opt                    btrfs  subvol=/@/opt                 0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /home                   btrfs  subvol=/@/home                0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /boot/grub2/x86_64-efi  btrfs  subvol=/@/boot/grub2/x86_64-efi  0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /boot/grub2/i386-pc     btrfs  subvol=/@/boot/grub2/i386-pc  0  0
UUID=14BB-7C5D                             /boot/efi               vfat   utf8                          0  2
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /.snapshots             btrfs  subvol=/@/.snapshots          0  0

and lsblk -f

NAME        FSTYPE FSVER LABEL    UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
nvme2n1                                                                               
├─nvme2n1p1 ntfs                  399265262B4FF49A                                    
├─nvme2n1p2 swap   1              21ced23c-90aa-4762-92d7-29aee38df5bb                
├─nvme2n1p3 vfat   FAT32          C86A-19DD                                           
├─nvme2n1p5 ext4   1.0            e6cdfb76-c0d9-4dcb-b710-bb7781f93bed                
└─nvme2n1p6 btrfs        openSUSE d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e   40,5G    93% /var
                                                                                      /home
                                                                                      /root
                                                                                      /.snapshots
                                                                                      /boot/grub2/x86_64-efi
                                                                                      /opt
                                                                                      /boot/grub2/i386-pc
                                                                                      /srv
                                                                                      /usr/local
nvme1n1                                                                               
├─nvme1n1p1 swap   1              ab3f6e66-c0fd-4384-989c-5e78e28233c2                [SWAP]
└─nvme1n1p2 btrfs                 9161c8fb-f521-4ef7-b23d-33f03ca12ac0    1,3T    28% /
nvme0n1                                                                               
├─nvme0n1p1 vfat   FAT32 EFI      14BB-7C5D                                 1G    31% /boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2                                                                           
├─nvme0n1p3 ntfs                  7CC47342C472FE28                                    
├─nvme0n1p4 ntfs                  6C98888398884E10                                    
├─nvme0n1p5 vfat   FAT32          F7F9-4B9E                                           
├─nvme0n1p6 ext4   1.0            e6cdfb76-c0d9-4dcb-b710-bb7781f93bed                
└─nvme0n1p7 ntfs                  399265262B4FF49A                       21,5G    56% /mnt/data
10

Why not using cat /etc/fstab ? I have no idea what Disk is.
And as I said earlier, that screenshot does not really work here. Not possible to use the browsers Search functionality, not possible to quote from it and badly readable.

And, as I explained above, In this fstab there are only two (2!) file systems:

  1. UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e is a btrfs file sytem and to be mounted at / , thus the root file system. It has also a range of btrfs subvols. These are internal to the btrfs file system and they are NOT separate file systems for /var , … /home , etc.
  2. UUID=14BB-7C5D is to be mounted at /boot/efi . This is normally done with the EFI partition so that it can be used from the running system.

Now to the lsblk listing.
It shows that UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e is on the partition /dev/nvme2n1/nvme2n1p6 .

We also see in the lsblk listing that the root file system / as mounted now is the btrfs file system with UUID=9161c8fb-f521-4ef7-b23d-33f03ca12ac0, which is on /dev/nmve1n1/nmve1n1p2 .

This is very strange, as it is not in /etc/fstab as such. Also the subvols seem to be mounted from somewhere else.

I still mistrust your so called /etc/fstab . Please provide as asked:

cat /etc/fstab
11

That is exactly what I posted, that is the result of “cat /etc/fstab”. The #Disk is just a comment I added on the install. There also is a #Network with two entries, but since it’s completely unrelated, I left it out.

12

Sorry, but what people here want is a complete and unchanged or abreviated computer listing. Complete means starting with the prompt/command line, then all output end at the end the new prompt line. That is the way you earn trust in what you post.

As an example I will post my fstab

henk@boven:~> cat /etc/fstab
UUID=7dc53b12-93a9-4e97-b0ae-ab165a8bd688  /               ext4   acl,user_xattr        1  1
UUID=212ea772-7bec-4bee-85b5-786f7a810356  swap            swap   defaults              0  0
UUID=A626-CF2D                             /boot/efi       vfat   umask=0002,utf8=true  0  0
UUID=8c561c1d-e51f-4eb9-a28a-92b3a98df5be  /home           ext4   defaults              1  2
tmpfs                                      /tmp            tmpfs  size=25%,uid=root,gid=root,mode=1777  0  0
henk@boven:~>

This is not to compare the contents with what you have, but to show how people here love reported computer facts.

13

Root filesystem is mounted before /etc/fstab is available, so the content of /etc/fstab is irrelevant here. Usually root filesystem is reference on the kernel command line (at least using common grub scripts). It may also be stored in initrd.

Something is most certainly messed up. Changing /etc/fstab may be too late now (because content of the root subvolume will no more match the content of other subvolumes), I would say new install makes sense.

14

I was thinking on the same lines. I assume something is wrong with the EFI, things pointing to the wrong root file system, or a wrong EFI (I giuss there are more candidates for an EFI in the lsblk listing).

But a listing of fstab would at least show what should be the correct root file system.

In any case, as long as I do not trust the listings provided, I will not venture further into this. I am a bit old fashioned, wanting to act on the base of facts.

15

Being a developer, I can understand why you won’t simply trust anything someone tells you :wink:

So to prove it’s really just this, here is the full output:

egbert@kaas:~> cat /etc/fstab
# Disk
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /                       btrfs  defaults                      0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /var                    btrfs  subvol=/@/var                 0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /usr/local              btrfs  subvol=/@/usr/local           0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /srv                    btrfs  subvol=/@/srv                 0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /root                   btrfs  subvol=/@/root                0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /opt                    btrfs  subvol=/@/opt                 0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /home                   btrfs  subvol=/@/home                0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /boot/grub2/x86_64-efi  btrfs  subvol=/@/boot/grub2/x86_64-efi  0  0
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /boot/grub2/i386-pc     btrfs  subvol=/@/boot/grub2/i386-pc  0  0
UUID=14BB-7C5D                             /boot/efi               vfat   utf8                          0  2
UUID=d30470e4-d4a1-4628-9ac7-3abdce16b76e  /.snapshots             btrfs  subvol=/@/.snapshots          0  0

# Drives
UUID=399265262B4FF49A   /mnt/data               ntfs    defaults 0 0

# Network
//192.168.1.30/data     /mnt/net_data           cifs    rw,auto,noserverino,uid=egbert,credentials=/home/egbert/.smbcredentials_net 0 0
//192.168.1.30/download /mnt/net_download       cifs    rw,auto,noserverino,uid=egbert,credentials=/home/egbert/.smbcredentials_net 0 0

The #Drives and #Network entries were added by me manually. And to be complete, I simply added the #Disk tag in front of the first entries. Those were there when the install was complete. In hindsight of course I should have checked everything, but things finally worked and I was looking forward to finally using the system :slight_smile:

But the last replies nudge towards the resolution of a full re-install. I’m afraid that if I try to fix things any other way it will end up as another botched install… unless anyone can explain what has probably happened and that there’s a proper way to fix it.

16

That is now becoming clear. It looked as if root gave the command Disk because we assume such a listing starts with the prompt/command line.

When re-installing take care. As it is now it seems that either in the EFI partition, or in the grub config things are messed up.

As far as I can see it now, the other Btrfs file system was booted from and then the entries in fstab were used to mount a lot of file systems from the intended boot disk as normal file systems instead of subvolumes of the the root file system. No idea what the results will be.

Others are more capable of working through these EFI and grub configurations then I am. You could wait a bit for them (it takes 24 hours for all of them to wake up and attend the forum :wink: ).

17

Thanks for bearing with me :slight_smile: EFI is indeed a whole different topic. One I’m only just getting my head around. In theory it should be pretty straight-forward, but that goes straight out the window once different OS-es have been working on different EFI partitions. Not to mention grub configuration.

I’ll make sure to have all the required information before treading in that direction and re-installing the entire thing again. Properly this time.

Bedankt!

18

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