During openSUSE 11.1 install, I accidentally created partition, with a /tmp mount point (from the drop-down list); this was intended as a storage/backup partition.
Now I find there are all sorts of (temp) files in the /tmp directory. How can I make a /tmp in / (root) and recover this /tmp partition/ directory for storage/backup. Of course, I will rename it to something else (/backup as Mount Point), once I ceate the new /tmp folder within / (root), but not sure how to do this.
You can do this by removing the entry for that partition from the mount table /etc/fstab. I don’t know whether the YaST partitioner will allow you to remove an entry that is currently mounted. Certainly you can edit /etc/fstab with a text editor as root.
Then reboot. Since the directory /tmp should already exist, it should be put into use. Only question is whether it has the right permission. As root, do:
ls -ld /tmp
should show
drwxrwxrwxt
The last t is important. If not, do:
chmod 1777 /tmp
To recover the disk space that was previously in that partition you need something like gparted on a rescue CD to merge (if possible) that space with an adjacent partition. Otherwise you could mount it somewhere else using the YaST partitioner.
What I want to do is rename the /tmp partition *(which is a separate partition **by itself, **of about 50 GB that was created during installation of oS 11.1, for backing up important system files) *to /backup and make a new folder (like /etc, /usr, /var, etc) called /tmp in / [root, ie immediately under / (root)]. This new /tmp folder would then be the default temp folder.
I will move whatever temporary files are currently in /tmp (50 GB) to the new /tmp.
This will free up the 50 GB partition for backup space.
Can this be done from Boot CD (such as the Knoppix Live CD/PCLinux OS Live CD).
You can do it from the rescue (not repair) system on the install CD. You login as root, no password, then mount /dev/something on /mnt and then you can edit /mnt/etc/fstab to remove the /tmp line. Then make sure that /mnt/tmp has mode 1777.
Generally there is no need to copy the stuff in /tmp over to the new /tmp, after all they are temp files. But if there is something there you need you can mount that partition on some other mount point to get files off it.