How to convert /tmp partition in to other format ? also give some details about /tmp partition?

Question

I'm new to Ubuntu so don't know much about partitions. I have a 320Gb Hard-drive on a HP DV6 i3 2150us.

When I was installing Ubuntu I gave 100 Gb to /tmp mount point thinking that it would be a place other than home to save data. However I can't save data in /tmp . I don't know about /tmp or what it is used for and would be grateful if someone could provide a link.

Also if anyone could tell me how to convert it into some other format that I would be able to save data on I would be very grateful.

Answer 1

The directory /tmp is, as name might indicate, for temporary files. Do not store any data there, as it can be removed. Also, you probably do not need 100 Gb for temporary files.

1. Remove the /tmp entry from /etc/fstab. That way, /tmp will be just on the root partition (the one with the system files), and you will be able to use your 100 Gb partition for something else.

   To do that, open a terminal and type

   sudo cp /etc/fstab /root/fstab.backup
   

   This makes a backup of your current fstab, should anything go wrong.

   gksudo gedit /etc/fstab
   

   Locate the line containing /tmp and replace /tmp with /data. Save the file.

2. Make sure that /tmp has the correct permissions:

   sudo chmod a+rwxt /tmp
   

3. Create the mount point for data:

   sudo mkdir /data
   

Now, your 100GB partition will be mounted under /data, and the contents of it will not be removed.

To use it as user, you need to give yourself permissions to write on this partition. For example, create a directory and change it's ownership to "muhammad" (assuming that is your username):

sudo mkdir /data/Videos
chown -R muhammad:muhammad /data/Videos