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I installed an additional Linux installation into a separate partition set the /home directory into that partition as well and afterwards I modified /etc/fstab to point to the old partition.

How can I access the contents of the initial /home directory?

# initial configuration UUID=001 /disks/disk1part1 ext2 auto,users,rw,exec,relatime 0 0 UUID=002 / ext4 defaults,relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1 UUID=003 /disks/disk26 ext4 auto,users,rw,exec,relatime 0 0 UUID=004 none swap sw 0 0 # changed configuration UUID=001 /disks/disk1part1 ext2 auto,users,rw,exec,relatime 0 0 UUID=002 / ext4 defaults,relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1 UUID=003 /home ext4 auto,users,rw,exec,relatime 0 0 UUID=004 none swap sw 0 0

The initial system had no /home in /etc/fstab because it was under the root, and the second configuration added changed /home to /disks/disks26.

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2 Answers 2

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After a mount --bind / /mnt you can access the /home directory of your root partition as /mnt/home, even if /home is already mounted over.

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  • Does that affect other directories already mounted under /mnt? Can another name be used besides /mnt? Commented Oct 2, 2015 at 9:48
  • If you mount something over /mnt, that will shadow all its previous content. I used /mnt because that's what routinely used for temporary mounts. You can use any other existing directory. Commented Oct 2, 2015 at 11:42
  • What does the --bind signify? Is there a special command to unmount it? Commented Oct 4, 2015 at 1:41
  • A bind mount, see man mount. You can simply umount it as any other mount if it's not in use. Commented Oct 4, 2015 at 7:22
  • @vfclists unix.stackexchange.com/questions/198590/what-is-a-bind-mount Commented Oct 4, 2015 at 22:14
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A mere two edit (and two reboot).

  1. comment line with /home; like

    ## UUID=003 /home ext4 auto,users,rw,exec,relatime 0 0

  2. reboot, log

    cd / mv /home /home.old mkdir /home

    edit /etc/fstab, uncomment.

What happened ?

As you guess new /home was mount over old /home, there is no way, save umounting to see old /home.

If you could umount /home, there is no need to reboot on above commands.

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  • Isn't it possible to access via another means without changing the fstab and rebooting and renaming it? I am thinking along the lines of perhaps finding the inode and renaming it. Does changing the /home /etc/fstab make the /home inaccessible completely? It has to be there somewhere. Commented Oct 1, 2015 at 13:36

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