Is there a way to install without nuking the current drive?

This absolutely won't help you now, but it may help you in the future.

When you make your partitions, it is good practice to make 2: one for the system ("/") and one for the user files ("/home/"). That way, you can install over the system ("/") without touching the files ("/home/").

Why do you not have a backup? If yuor data is important you should have a backup.

If the drive motor fails you will have to fork out THOUSANDS of dollars in professional data recovery or spend a couple of HUNDRED for a basic USB drive to backup to.

Your data is clearly disposable to you as you have no backup. You can boot to a live CD, mount the partition and copy the data across. I also advise NOT using encrypted file systems for this reason.

This will help:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EncryptedFilesystemHowto

I didn't say I have no backup. I said I didn't want to back it up. The
backup I have is a little old, and I was hoping there was an easier way.
So, clearly my data is NOT disposable. The initial question was whether
a new install could be done without nuking the current drive (i.e.
simply installing the OS files where they need to go). Thanks for your
advice, anyway.
--
Mannex

-----Original Message-----
From: actionparsnip <email address hidden>
Reply-to: <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #113250]: Is there a way to install without
nuking the current drive?
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:50:35 -0000

Your question #113250 on Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/113250

    Status: Open => Answered

actionparsnip proposed the following answer:
Why do you not have a backup? If yuor data is important you should have
a backup.

If the drive motor fails you will have to fork out THOUSANDS of dollars
in professional data recovery or spend a couple of HUNDRED for a basic
USB drive to backup to.

Your data is clearly disposable to you as you have no backup. You can
boot to a live CD, mount the partition and copy the data across. I also
advise NOT using encrypted file systems for this reason.

This will help:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EncryptedFilesystemHowto

Thank you. I am trying this now.
--
Mannex

-----Original Message-----
From: actionparsnip <email address hidden>
Reply-to: <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #113250]: Is there a way to install without
nuking the current drive?
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:12:43 -0000

Your question #113250 on Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/113250

    Status: Open => Answered

actionparsnip proposed the following answer:
you could delete all the folders except /home and reinstall to the
partition without formatting. I suggest you get your backups up to
speed.

You may have to backup first as you have used encrypted file system
which adds extra complexity to an otherwise simple task.

Hey, I want to thank you for your solution. It had not dawned on me that
there was a way to reinstall the OS without the format. Once I started
playing around with the partitioner, I saw how to do it by selecting the
partition, changing the install location to "/" and not checking the
format button. The system works now. Thanks! I'll mark it as closed.
--
Mannex

-----Original Message-----
From: actionparsnip <email address hidden>
Reply-to: <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #113250]: Is there a way to install without
nuking the current drive?
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:12:43 -0000

Your question #113250 on Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/113250

    Status: Open => Answered

actionparsnip proposed the following answer:
you could delete all the folders except /home and reinstall to the
partition without formatting. I suggest you get your backups up to
speed.

You may have to backup first as you have used encrypted file system
which adds extra complexity to an otherwise simple task.

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.