Backup Tool: restore order

[robenroute]

Hi there,

According to the back up/restore description on page http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2, the correct order is as follows:

1. Back up (user) data;
2. Back up installed applications (list);
3. Restore (user) data;
4. Restore (install) applications (based on list).

I was just wondering whether 3. and 4. should/could be swapped; somehow, it just makes more sense to me to install all the applications before restoring the user data. Just as an example: could restoring your documents to /home/user/Dropbox before installing Dropbox possibly lead to data loss?

Thanks for any feedback!

[xenopeek]

No, the order is in fact correct and switching it could cause problems. When installing applications through the package manager (as this does), there won't be any files or directories created in your home directory. Only in system directories. When you first start an application just installed, and whatever files it needs to keep in your home directory (with data specific to your account) don't exist yet, only then does an application create such files in your home directory. When the files are already there because you copied them over from your previous installation, as following this guide does for you, those files will be used by the application instead of it creating new default blank ones for you.

[robenroute]

Thanks for the explanation, Vincent. I'll stick to the prescription; at least I know how and why now. Thanks again.