preparing for upgrade

[jerrybee]

What is the best way to set up a Mint (Linux) installation in order to minimize the loss of installed programs, data, etc., when one upgrades to the next version of it? For example, I partition the HDD by creating /boot, /, and /home partitions, then do the installation. When the next version comes out, I install it by letting it format those 3 partitions, do the installation, then start all over again to install the various programs I'd previously installed in the last version -- so I lose all my "customization" and data. Is there a way to set things up in order to avoid this loss when upgrading?

[Husse]

Why format your home partition? I hope that's just a slip of the keyboard
Three ways
1) I use a separate data partition, mounted in home. Before I install (and of course erase home) I move all hidden files and folders in home to a folder in the data partition
2) Use a home partition and move all hidden files and folders in home to a folder somewhere in home.
Why you ask. If you let them be the new Mint will inherit settings from the old and may not be as fresh as desired - that's why these should be moved away before install
You should keep them because you can use the settings in there for your applications. Check the version and if it's OK copy the settings for that specific application to it's correct place - you have a working application
3) Use the new upgrade tool
http://www.linuxmint.com/blog/?p=481

[jerrybee]

Why format your home partition? I hope that's just a slip of the keyboard
Three ways
1) I use a separate data partition, mounted in home. Before I install (and of course erase home) I move all hidden files and folders in home to a folder in the data partition
2) Use a home partition and move all hidden files and folders in home to a folder somewhere in home.
Why you ask. If you let them be the new Mint will inherit settings from the old and may not be as fresh as desired - that's why these should be moved away before install
You should keep them because you can use the settings in there for your applications. Check the version and if it's OK copy the settings for that specific application to it's correct place - you have a working application
3) Use the new upgrade tool
http://www.linuxmint.com/blog/?p=481

Thanks for the info. But I'm confused with at least part of it.
Not a slip of the keyboard -- I had assumed that when instructions say "do a fresh/clean install" it means to format /boot, /, and /home partitions (in my situation) and leave none of the old installation on the HDD.
1) You say "erase home". I would normally assume that "erase" means "format", but that can't be what you mean because you've moved hidden stuff to a data partition in home, and formatting home will wipe out that stuff. So what do you mean when you say "erase home"?
2) By your first comment and those in this paragraph, I infer that you do not format the /home partition. True?
3) I followed that link and read many of the comments about the new upgrade tool. It appears that many folks have found that it causes problems of varying severity. Have you used it?

Thanks in advance for your additional help with this.

[DataMan]

I think that what he meant to say is that he moved the hidden files from /home to a separate data partition. Wipe out the /home (as in re-format) in the install process. Then bring back after the upgrade is happy from the data partition.

DataMan

[bobpur]

3) I followed that link and read many of the comments about the new upgrade tool. It appears that many folks have found that it causes problems of varying severity. Have you used it?

The website for the "Upgrade Tool" tells you several times to do a fresh install rather than use the tool. This is most sage advice.

I still don't have a Mint 6 install I'm happy with; however, I have several Mint 5 installs that work out of the box (usually, following a bad Mint 6 install:))

I used the tool the first time and haven't used it since.

Good Luck.

[jerrybee]

3) I followed that link and read many of the comments about the new upgrade tool. It appears that many folks have found that it causes problems of varying severity. Have you used it?

The website for the "Upgrade Tool" tells you several times to do a fresh install rather than use the tool. This is most sage advice.

I still don't have a Mint 6 install I'm happy with; however, I have several Mint 5 installs that work out of the box (usually, following a bad Mint 6 install:))

I used the tool the first time and haven't used it since.

Good Luck.

I recently did a fresh install of Mint 6 on my dual-boot HDD, and am quite pleased with it. Unfortunately, I tried to install TIVO Desktop using wine, the install "hung" part way through, and I haven't found a way to uninstall it.
Over the past 2 days, I took a separate HDD and did a fresh install of Mint 5 on it. And then I did a couple things to "customize" it, in preparation for trying out the mintupgrader. mintupgrader seemed to go well except right at the end where some kind of error messages showed up in the bottom-left corner of the screen. After a reboot, the far-left message in the bottom panel still says Elyssa instead of saying Menu. Last night I took a quick look at my "customizations" and they seem to have been retained, which was the main thing I was hoping for. I'll examine things further today.

Happy New Year.