Duplicate files

[pen_guin007]

1. I have Suse 10.2 on two hard drives. (20, and 40 Gig)
2. I have multiple copies of the same documents on both hard drives.
3. I need to clean up both drives and install 10.3 0r 11.0
4. I am lost !!! Where and how do I start ?? I am a novice
Any help will be highly appreciated

Thanks

[root@126 union]# fdisk /dev/hda

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 2432.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

cfdisk 2.12r

Disk Drive: /dev/hda
Size: 20003880960 bytes, 20.0 GB
Heads: 255 Sectors per Track: 63 Cylinders: 2432

Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hda1 Primary Linux swap / Solaris 526.42
Pri/Log Free Space 8.23
hda2 Boot Primary Linux ext3 4877.60
Pri/Log Free Space 3018.68
hda3 Primary Linux ext3 11572.97


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

40GIG..

root@localhost root]# sfdisk /dev/hda -l

Disk /dev/hda: 77520 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors/track
Warning: extended partition does not start at a cylinder boundary.
DOS and Linux will interpret the contents differently.
Warning: The partition table looks like it was made
for C/H/S=*/255/63 (instead of 77520/16/63).
For this listing I'll assume that geometry.
Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0

Device Boot Start End #cyls #blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 0+ 2510 2511- 20169576 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 3995 4863 869 6980242+ 5 Extended
start: (c,h,s) expected (1023,254,63) found (1023,165,1)
/dev/hda3 * 2511 3619 1109 8908042+ 83 Linux
start: (c,h,s) expected (1023,254,63) found (1023,225,1)
/dev/hda4 3620 3994 375 3012187+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda5 4771+ 4863 93- 746991 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda6 4678+ 4770 93- 746959+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda7 4630+ 4677 48- 385497 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda8 3995+ 4598 604- 4851567 83 Linux
/dev/hda9 4599+ 4629 31- 248976 82 Linux swap / Solaris

[Jonathan183]

Welcome to the forums pen_guin007

I like to use Krusader to check duplicate files .. there are other tools available as well, but for comparing a small number of folders I find it useful. Then backup all your user data before doing either an upgrade, fresh install, or changing partitions

Ed: a root /, home and swap partition are usually required. If you want to install multiple versions of Linux they can share the same swap partition.

[pen_guin007]

Thanks for the warm welcome and quick response.

I have started using Krusader. The process will be a long one. In the meantime I have at least 3Gig free space on the 20Gig hard drive. How do I add it (free space) to my partition ?

I have already tried to expand the partition (Gparted) but it will not work

Thanks again

[Jonathan183]

If the GParted CD will not work (does not boot) try the PartedMagic CD. I found this worked on a system GParted did not and have used PartedMagic since.

I really think you are better to backup data before starting partition resize attempts. Once you start the partition resize you can not stop it without serious risk of data loss ... the resize can take quite a while especially if you have a lot of data.

[pen_guin007]

Thanks again..

I am interested in saving only my document files, which exceed 4Gig at present. All I have is a 4Gig thumb drive for backing up. I have discovered numerous copies of the same documents via a word search, and sorting by size, using Krusader. Is there another quicker way of searching ?

My strategy is to reduce the files below 4Gig, back up to the thumb drive, and do a fresh install. (Suse 10.3 Kubuntu 8.04 or any other KDE distro) Is there a better option ??

By the way, I "BELIEVE" I have 2 versions of Suse 10.2 on the 40Gig hard drive. I need only one. How can I verify ?
And how can save 1 version, delete everything from the remaining partition and install whatever on whats left ?

Does anything I am saying makes any sense ?

As always Thanks...

[Jonathan183]

I tried fslint but I found it did not really save much time. I ended up using krusader to find duplicates and then reviewed the duplicates list.

[pen_guin007]

Thanks for the help

I guess there is no easy way out of this one, I just have to do the work.

Peace....

[Jonathan183]

After having to go through a similar process I started creating separate partitions for data. I find it easier to backup, share info between OS etc. A separate home partition helps to some extent but the /home area still contains config files which I don't backup.