[Bug 987956] Re: Installer Deletes Contents from Separate HOME partition without WARNING!

[John M.K.]

Yes, I chose ext4 on both root and home (separate partitions), and only chose the format option for root.

The result was home being correctly installed in the separate,
designated partition. But the contents I previously had in it were all
gone, and in its place a typical default structure you would get with
any fresh installation of ubuntu. For example the Desktop and Documents
folders where empty.

Note that I also tried the 11.10 installer and it did exactly the same.

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Title:
  Installer Deletes Contents from Separate HOME partition without
  WARNING!

Status in “ubiquity” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I installed both Ubuntu 11.10 and 12.04 with a separate partition for
  the root and home directory. I chose to only partition the root
  directory.

  After installation, I always ended up with a HOME partition with
  deleted contents!  I just lost all the data therein without warning,
  which IMO is not something to take lightly.

  I can understand why it is necessary to restructure from scratch the
  HOME directory, but I see no reason whatsoever as to why the existing
  contents should not be backed up under a new directory ($HOME/OLD or
  whatever). Or at least informing the user about what is coming up
  before he finalizes his choice!

  Anyways, the whole Idea with a separate HOME partition is to be able to reinstall distributions without having to backup your data. If the Installer cannot be 100%
  trusted about not messing with your files, backing it up is unavoidable, and a
  separate HOME partition is rendered more or less useless...

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
  Package: ubiquity (not installed)
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-23.36-generic 3.2.14
  Uname: Linux 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
  ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu5
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Tue Apr 24 20:57:18 2012
  InstallCmdLine: noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- maybe-ubiquity
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120423)
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=xterm
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: ubiquity
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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