[solved] New distro, wanted to use old HOME

[Algeorge]

Hi I followed the info on backing up my Linux Mint 11, and made a new Mint Debian on another partition.
Since the destination partition had another distro in the installation chose no Grub, which after installation caused a Grub error (no Grub), which surprised me, as expected the old grub to remain pointed correctly. Fixed by reinstall LMDE with Grub.

Copied all the Mint 11 HOME directories across to LMDE and afterwards, the old HOME in the new LMDE causes all sorts of errors.

QUESTION: can I use the old Home, including hidden directories as data for the new distro (accepted some needs upgrading)?

Or, should I set up a new user with data on a fixed partition away from the distros, and spend some time reinstalling the old apps? If yes, are there any faq on how to do this eg set up a new user/data partition and point to it under CP?

Thanks vm.
Alistair.

[powerhouse]

Running the old Linux Mint version, use the "backup" menu item and select to backup the applications selections you made. If you installed only via Synaptic or the Software installation application, you should be able to backup your software selection.

In the new/upgraded Linux Mint boot you select the "backup" feature to restore the applications.

Copying the old /home directory with it's hidden files and folders is not a good option. It's best to have a clean new installation and to copy back only your data / documents to the new /home/<user> directory and use the backup tool to install the required applications.

[Algeorge]

Thank you for confirming that, which I have done. I had backed up the apps using Mint Backup, so that was very easy. However Mint backup seems to have an issue (when using Files backup/restore), which has been reported already that permissions are not replicated on restore (from either archive or structure backup) please note anyone reading this thread!
Kind regards,
Alistair.