On 06/23/2012 12:42 PM Keith Roberts wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jun 2012, ken wrote: *snip*
... redhat (and so too centos) has always recognized that those partitions contain data and will ask if I want to leave them as they are or, instead, overwrite them. If you currently have just one volume/partition, then you *must* backup any data you want to save and then re-install it you have 6.2 running. If you already have separate volumes/partitions on your 5.8 system, you still will want to note which are which so that when you install 6.2 you will be able to make the correct assignments.
I've been caught out before when installing Linux with existing data on several partitions, and had my partitions and data trashed. My work around is to only let the installer use / tmp and swap. That way it cannot touch my partitions with data on them.
I've done at least a dozen, maybe three or four dozen installs, with (actual) redhat, suse, centos, and probably others too, but have never had that happen to me. Linux has even recognized every Windows partition I've had and has left those alone to when I've asked it to. This might be because I always select "Custom Install" at the very beginning of the process. IMS, if you select "New Install" (or words to that effect), you don't have the option to select partitions you want to leave untouched during the install.
....