upgrade guide for newbis please

[nivosh]

Hello.

I have been using mint 6 for the past 6 monthes and enjoyed every moment.
I think it's the best linux distro out there.

I want to upgrade to 7 but i've heard it's best to do a clean install instead of upgrade.
my home folder is located at a different partition (sda6) and my root at (sda5)
can someone please write the necessary steps for a clean install but to keep all the settings from home?
I need to keep the font's, theme, links between different folders, shortcuts etc'.

Thanks

[proxima_centauri]

Hi nivosh,

What you desire is not too difficult to achieve. I suggest making a backup of your /home folder. Your configuration files should not take up much room, they are the hidden folders in your user's home folder.

Once you download and burn the LinuxMint 7 LiveCD, boot up as normal into the live session.
1. Start the installer
2. Choose your location, keyboard layout
3. Choose "Specify partitions manually (advanced)" on the Prepare disk space screen.
4. Select your SWAP partition to be used as SWAP. Choose your /dev/sda5 partition to be set up as "/" and choose the option to format it. Choose your /dev/sda6 partition to be used as "/home", *leave it unformatted*.
5. Continue and finish the installation with user details, installation of grub, etc.

[nivosh]

Thank you proxima_centauri for the precise explanation...
will all the folder links, settings, fonts etc' will be preserved in the process?

[proxima_centauri]

Yes, as I mentioned - most all of your configuration files should be stored in your user's /home profile.

The exception may be if you installed fonts to /usr/share/fonts, then you will need to make a backup - if you store your fonts in /home/$USER/.fonts, then they will be saved.

When in doubt, backup