FC11 to FC13 preupgrade

[scgrif32]

Hello all,

I would like to thank those ahead of time to who take the time to help with this issue.

Earlier this week I began the process of backing up all of my data (music & videos) from my server so I could upgrade to FC13. I forgot to backup my database data as well as all of the scripts I had running on my Apache server. Keep that in mind.

Last night I was finally ready to do a "preupgrade" from FC11 to FC13 and everything went well. Of course, the first time my box rebooted after doing the installation FC13 ran a little slow but after that all seemed fine. I began the post install cleanup and ran the following command:

package-cleanup --orphans

I was returned a list of packages that should have no longer been used by FC13 and began to delete these packages using "yum remove package1 package2, etc...".

I should have paid better attention but one of those packages began the process of removing ALL packages that were just installed for FC13. Now when I start my box FC13 starts to boot up and once it gets to the kernel screen does nothing further.

I figured one of two things could be done to get FC13 back on my server w/o losing my home directory but I fear all of the data I had stored in my MySQL database and running on my Apache server are gone for good.

What I need help with is what are my solutions if any exists? I think I should be able to do a clean install and FC13 may recognize during the installation process that I had a previous version installed and maybe "repair" what is currently there?

I am at a lost and hoping someone has seen such and successfully restored the OS w/o losing any data. Please help!!!

Thanks again to all who take the time to provide feedback.

- scgrif32

[jayd512]

for your database info, your safest bet might be to boot up from a LiveCD and start migrating your data to an external drive.
As far as the /home directory, was it on its own partition? If so, you can make sure not to format that partition when you go to install F13.

[devils casper]

Now when I start my box FC13 starts to boot up and once it gets to the kernel screen does nothing further.

Where does it stop? Command prompt or any error message?

[scgrif32]

GNU GRUB screen where I can select (Fedora 2.6.33.5-112-fc13.i686). The background is black. I select it and nothing further happens upon hitting enter.

[scgrif32]

Yes, my "home" directory was on it's own partition. I know if I do a clean install not to reformat that partition. My major concern is backing up my DB and getting the scripts I had on Apache.

[devils casper]

Which Graphics Card do you have? Have you tried to boot up in Command Line mode?

[jayd512]

Aside from Command Line mode, have you tried a LiveCD yet?
Check to see that your data is still intact. If you can get to it from something like Knoppix, you're good to go.

[scgrif32]

I tried LiveCD and there were issues with it mounting to my system which caused an error. However I was able to do a system rescue using the FC 13 DVD and all of my server data/database are now located under the "/mnt/sysimage" directory.

What I am wondering is how am I suppose to get this data off of my server?

[devils casper]

If you can use Rescue Mode then you can use LiveCD too. Could you post partition structure of your Hard disk? Post the output of fdisk -l command here.
Are you using LVM?

[scgrif32]

I want to thank you for your suggestions. I was able to back up my data but trying to proceed with the installation proved to be an issue. It appears that my software RAID was messed up some how and now I need to rebuild my server.

The good in all of this is I am going to be rebuilding my box on my own this time around without the help of my friend who helped set it up the very first time so I am going to need a lot of help getting started with this.

My original goal was to setup a RAID 0+1 hardware RAID, but found that Fedora had issues with hardware RAIDS (FC11) so we had to setup a software RAID but choose to do RAID 1 (mirroring). Now that FC13 is available does anyone know if fedora is capable of dealing with hardware RAID or RAID 0+1?

I am using a Intel Entry Server Board S875WP1-E along with two 1 TB Western Digital hard drives. I would like to try and setup a hardware RAID if possible given the face that my motherboard has the built in controller to do such. If that is not a go what would you suggest as the best setup for a server that would be used for the following:

Store iTunes library (music/video), web server and personal storage?

All suggestions are appreciated being I don't know the best way to use the most storage and still have a fast server.

Thanks,

Scgrif32