Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Basics · Joined: 02 Jun 2011 Posts: 10

I hope that I can describe this well enough for someone to help me.

I am currently running Puppy over Ubuntu 9.10, in a dual boot off CD on laptop 1. I cannot remember which version of Puppy that I originally installed. Puppy was doing fine and I was using it primarily over Ubuntu. Suddenly and without warning, upon booting to desktop, I got a blank desktop and the ROX-filer error that I've since discovered is fairly common. I still used Puppy though, and didn't try too hard to fix the ROX problem, as everything else was still functional. I did, however, have quite a bit in the Puppy home folder.

I installed Puppy on another laptop (#2) as the primary, after Ubuntu 9.10 killed itself, and one day popped the Puppy boot CD into #1 on a whim. Lo and behold, I had my desktop back and thought everything was fine. Just now, I move into the home folder and there is, of course, nothing there.

Now, onto my questions: Where or how do I access the previous version home folder? Is the data gone? Did I "install" Puppy over the previous version?

Thanks in advance.

Bruce B · Posted: Thu 02 Jun 2011, 01:04 Post subject:

Many Linux make a /home directory. I don't think Puppy does. I've not seen it anyway. Considering how many Puppies there are, could be some exceptions, in which case /home is where it would be.

Home could also mean to say the user's home directory which user root would find at /root

And often there is a symlink /mnt/home which might point to /initrd/mnt/dev_save

Of course apart from defaults, the user can make a directory called home.

~

Shep · Joined: 08 Nov 2008 Posts: 840 Location: GIRT-BY-SEA

Was the filesystem mounted, the one with your old savefile? You say your desktop was back, but maybe that's the one from the CD (like booting with pfix=ram) and it's of course going to be empty. Maybe your old savefile is not being accessed?

There is a /mnt/home directory in Wary. It's a symlink.

Basics · Joined: 02 Jun 2011 Posts: 10

Thanks for the help so far.

To start, is my problem/description good enough for someone to understand?

My "home folder" is actually meant to describe the "file" icon on the desktop. Prior to the ROX filer error, I was putting all data in the "my documents" folder here. Now, none of that data is visible.

Maybe a better question would be: Would a different version, older or newer, 'overwrite' a prior version?

All I really want is to recover the data. The Ubuntu underneath Puppy is still basically broken, and I'm looking at losing a lot of stuff. And yes, that hurts immensely, mostly because for months I would nag myself to back it all up. Alas, I am an idiot and ignored my better judgment. It wasn't the first time and it probably won't be the last. Big sigh.

Keep the feedback coming, please. Unless it's about backing data up. The new tattoo on my forehead will fix that problem.

bigpup · Posted: Sat 04 Jun 2011, 00:55 Post subject:

Basics · Joined: 02 Jun 2011 Posts: 10

[/quote]
The file icon on the desktop is the root directory in the file system.

When running Puppy
Left click on desktop icon for the hard drive
Go to the Puppy install.
Select the root directory of the Puppy file system.[/quote]

The "file" icon doesn't contain anything labeled Puppy, except for 'Puppy reference', or even 'root'.

I can attach screenshots if necessary.

rokytnji · Joined: 20 Jan 2009 Posts: 742 Location: Pecos/ Texas

rhadon · Joined: 27 Mar 2008 Posts: 1228 Location: Germany

I assume you have a frugal install.
So everything you stored, you did it in your savefile (different puppies use different names), the one which ends with .2fs or .3fs.

During boot, this file will be merged and you see no difference. If you use another OS, you see only this savefile.

Getting access to another savefile is easy in Puppy: simply leftclick to the file (in your file manager) and it will be mounted and you have access. A second click unmounts it.

If you get a message like "file is already mounted", you need to rename the file you want to mount. The first part of the name must be the same, also the ending (2.fs or 3.fs). E.g. lupusave.3fs you can change to lupusave-old.3fs.

If you want to store something outside your savefile you must store it in mnt/home/... (the first folder of your mounted drive) or mnt/sdxX/....

Changes in all other places go to the savefile.

HTH

Rolf

Bruce B · Posted: Sat 04 Jun 2011, 08:13 Post subject:

bigpup · Posted: Sat 04 Jun 2011, 12:52 Post subject:

Bruce B,

I am learning that we need to insist that people give us all the details before trying to guess at what they are trying to say.
I am still not sure what he has done or what he has.
Maybe that picture he offered will clear things up.

Basics · Joined: 02 Jun 2011 Posts: 10

I appreciate the help. To answer/clarify- haven't installed Puppy. I'm still booting from the CD. Without the BIOS set to check CD first, Puppy won't load.

With default settings, where could my data be? I've tried the usual places, but can't seem to find anything. Am I in a "layer" above or below and don't have access to the data because it simply isn't seen due to permissions? Or did the data somehow get deleted?

Thanks in advance.

Béèm · Posted: Wed 08 Jun 2011, 13:55 Post subject:

In your first install/way of working (not very clear how you operate) you may have created a save file. (ending .2fs or .3fs) In this file you have the personal data. Where did you create that file?

In your second attempt, you may have created a save file again. Maybe stored at the same place. And if stored with the same name, your data of the first one is lost.