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I have three partitions on my netbook:

  1. ntfs with windows 7
  2. ext 4 with Ubuntu 11 and
  3. fat32 for my private data

On the fat32-Partition Ubuntu und Windows 7 should share my private data.

How could I move my home directory with the exiting files to the fat32-partition? And how do I mount this partition permanently as my home-directory?

Many thanks for an helpful answer.

Eric Carvalho
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Himmi
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2 Answers2

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As per my point of view please understand the merit and demerit of moving home folder to other file system

NTFS is not suitable for an home partition, there are certain type of file system objects (character devices, named pipes, etc) which are required for certain services but are not supported on NTFS. source

It's not a good idea to have the whole of /home in a fat32 or NTFS partition because those two Windows filesystems don't support Linux permissions. Also, the /home folder has many hidden files and folders (these have a leading . i.e for hidden files) for configuration and I don't know what effect this would have in Vista, or whether Vista would interfere with these..

But what I do is to have a separate NTFS partition for data and set up symlinks from my /home in Linux and whatever the equivalent is in Windows (links? shortcuts? ). So - say I have a 'Music' folder in my NTFS data partition, then I create a symlink called 'Music' in my Linux home and a link called - yes, you've guessed it - 'Music' in Windows My Documents. (I'm using XP.) In fact I also multiboot several Linux distros, so I do the same in each. Whichever distro/OS I'm in I can access the same files from my home folder by double-clicking on the symlinks (which look like folders with bendy arrows in Linux)

If I am wrong correct me

Community
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twister_void
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  • That seem to be quite good, but how I create this symlinks? – Himmi Nov 09 '11 at 10:42
  • +1 for symlinks. Simlinks in Windows XP are called junctions. See: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768 – lgarzo Nov 09 '11 at 12:44
  • I used Win7. There you can change the path of some folder (like Photos) by right click --> properties --> path. But how does it goes at ubuntu 11. – Himmi Nov 09 '11 at 13:27
  • Please use blockquote while using part of other user's writing. Thanks – Anwar Nov 08 '12 at 17:13
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Follow these commands

usermod -d /home/your_home_directory USERNAME

chown -R USERNAME /new_location/your_home_directory

coder
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