[CentOS] What's the best way to convert a whole set of filesystems?

[Mark Hull-Richter]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: centos-bounces at centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On
> Behalf Of John R Pierce
> Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 12:16 PM
> To: CentOS mailing list
> Subject: Re: [CentOS] What's the best way to convert a whole set of
> filesystems?
> 
> the only major distribution that really supports reiser natively is
SuSE
> 
I can live with that.  I've heard unkind words about ext3, but so far no
problems....

> 10k bytes isn't really a small file, < 512 bytes is small, and where
> both NTFS and Reiser's trick of hiding small files directly in the
> directory entries may give some benefit.
> 
Oh, okay - didn't know that.  I do have a lot of files under 512b, but
not thousands.  Most of them are "batch" files that I'll have to rewrite
as shell scripts if I want to continue to use that approach, but that's
trivial.

> in place format conversion is a nightmare waiting to happen.       I'd
> fully backup a disk before even attempting that, even assuming any
such
> tools exist (afaik, they don't).    once its backed up, its probably
> faster to restore this backup to the new format rather than attempting
> any sort of conversion.
> 
What sort of backup would be best from NTFS to ext3?  I've a feeling
that a straight binary copy might not be the best choice, but I'm
guessing.

> frankly, I'd build a new computer, install Linux on it, then copy the
> files across the network.   when done, recycle the old computer for
> parts, or sell it intact as is (its probably worth more as a working
> system than as parts).
> 
(sigh) now you're talking money - it would cost me an extra $300-500 to
do that, and I've already strained my budget and my credit to do the
$400 for the upgrade.  On the positive side, I've done this many times -
been building and upgrading home machines since 1984, and I'm pretty
good at that.  This is the first time I'll be switching from an M$ OS to
a real one.  :-)

Thanks!