When My Save.sfs is Full?

[AndyMack]

This may sound thick but what happens when I run out of disc space? The extra programs like opera etc i downloaded will be lost...is that right?

[Pizzasgood]

When it gets full, you can't save anything else to it. There also may be problems when you shutdown. There is a wizard to increase its size under (I think) start -> utilities -> resize save file. If it's not there, it's somewhere in either utilities, setup, or control panel (I'm using a different menu setup right now so I can't check). It won't take effect until you reboot though.

[AndyMack]

thats a shame but does mean i will learn how to do my own remaster, sooner rather than later which is a good thing.

Thanks Pizzasgood

[Artie]

Menu -> Utilities -> Resize personal storage file in 2.12
I just add to it when I run out

Artie

[rarsa]

I actually rarely save data to my pup_save file. I always either create an additional sfs file for data or create an additional partition. I just use the pup_save for the bare minimum.

The advantage is that I can start with a clean pup_save and all my data is still available.

[slapshot]

@rarsa.
This is quite interesting. Could you give us some further details on how to make this ?

[theinfamousj]

Yes, please. How do you create a .sfs?

[Pizzasgood]

Before this continues, I should mention that you actually mean a .3fs. The .sfs files are read-only. The advantage of using a .sfs is that it's smaller (sfs stands for squashfs). But to store personal data, you need something writable, like the pup_save.3fs. The 3fs stands for ext3 file system. Though I've been hearing that it might be better to use ext2 for situations like this (which would be .2fs).

Anyways,
dd if=/dev/zero of=file.2fs bs=1M count=20
will make a 20MB file named file.2fs. Then you can turn it into an ext2 filesystem:
mke2fs file.2fs

That can be mounted with the mount command, which can be added to /etc/rc.d/rc.local:
mount file.2fs /mnt/data -o loop
That would mount it at /mnt/data (the '-o loop' bit is because it's a filesystem image, not a device).

Keep in mind that file.2fs will probably need to be stored outside Puppy's filesystem due to the unionfs bugs. That means it needs to be on the harddrive itself, not inside the pup_save.3fs file.

[Ian]

Pizzasgood is right in saying that you need to store the data external to the pup_save.ex3fs on the hard drive, I always create extra ext2 partitions on my hard drives to store data or try new Puppy installs on.
This way I do not run out of room if I am not using a Hard drive install.

[slapshot]

Thank you both for the explanation, really interesting. My doubt now is that usually dotpup and pupget packages install theirselves into /usr/local or my-roxapps etc.. Ok for data such as editing file, calc file etc.. which is possible to memorize wherever we want but the pup_save.3fs file is always the one that contains the software we installed, it is right ? So the softwares are still there ?

Thanks

[joki]

i've always thought that application code should be separate from personal data and app config settings.

This isnt the case with the pup_save.3fs - apps and personal data are held there when ideally, the stuff you really want to have a backup of is your personal data because that cannot be recreated/reinstalled unlike an app.

it's a difficult one. the linux file structure (like all? other platforms) is not rigid enough and lets apps put files in various places so i guess we are stuck with this.

personally, i try to do just this. my 3fs is 32mb yet i have 100mb of apps easily. when an app installs into my 3fs i simply move the whole directory out of the 3fs area into another partition, then create a symlink in the 3fs to the new location of the app.

going for apps packaged as sfs files in preference to dotpups also eliminates the dreaded app code in 3fs

[Pizzasgood]

Thank you both for the explanation, really interesting. My doubt now is that usually dotpup and pupget packages install theirselves into /usr/local or my-roxapps etc.. Ok for data such as editing file, calc file etc.. which is possible to memorize wherever we want but the pup_save.3fs file is always the one that contains the software we installed, it is right ? So the softwares are still there ?

I'm not quite sure what you're asking.


I keep my large programs in a separate directory outside my save-file also. Blender, Google Earth, Open Office, etc. are all on /mnt/other/programs/*, and I have that directory symlinked to /usr/share-alt. My homework, music, icons, wallpapers, and install files are all outside Puppy too, in /mnt/home/. I link them into /root/.


One way to make Puppy more segregated would be to have separate files for /root and everything else. Many normal distros encourage you to place /home on another partition. It could be done now by making a separate filesystem image (home.2fs) and configuring Puppy to mount it at /root automatically. Then you'd just have to move everything from the actual /root to that file. As for programs that install in /root/my-applications, you can usually just move them into /usr/local/. In fact, you could symlink /root/my-applications to /mnt/usr/local (or /mnt/usr). Then you'd never have to worry about that.