Can you update from 9 to 13 in one leap? - SOLVED

[g0lrk]

As title says is it possible to go from 9 to 13 in one leap WITHOUT losing information please?

I have been very happy indeed with Isadora, and have been running Maya virtually since RC with no problem and feel that the time is now right to make THE move from one LTS to another, but I do have an excess of baggage to take with me though! [good job it's not one of these budget airlines it would cost me an arm and two legs, that's how much baggage there is!]

Unfortunately it's all on the same drive and would take ages to sort out, yes I've got back-ups but they are all disorganised to hell and back and also would take one hell of a lot of time, that's why I could see this as the easy option out really. I'm inherently a lazy bas***d about this, as I feel to a degree we all are?

Anyway back to the topic, is it possible to achieve this safely and relatively easily please?

I await any answers re this.

Cheers Kevin.

[chiefjim]

Does your present setup include separate partitions? If so I'd say going from 9 to 13 would be rather routine. Just be certain NOT to format /home.

[g0lrk]

chiefjim Yes they are separate partitions thanks.

'Routine' - I have my drive with mint 9 on it with 4 partitions - swap - / - home & usr/local. So I just format then / and re-install and all should be OK then?

Basically so long as I don't touch home or usr/local?
Kevin.

[g0lrk]

Just thought of a small glitch, what about the programs I have installed that I use often now I would have to re-install them after upgrading by making a backup of the list of files installed doing it this way, that's the only problem I can see chiefjim unless there is a work-about?

Cheers.

Kevin.

[remoulder]

The only things you should leave in your home are your data directories, Documents, etc, plus .mozilla and .thunderbird if you use those or the equivalent otherwise. ALL the other hidden folders should be deleted or moved elsewhere as none of these are going to be compatible. You will need to re-install any applications.

[g0lrk]

remoulder OK thanks for that.

After my lunch later on I will get stuck-in and see what needs to be done then.

I think it's a case of getting my backups made first just in case - then disconnect the usb drive and all other internal drives except the one I'm going to install on to and then going for it and seeing confused happens. I can see me coming back here later in the week for more help, but at least I'll have an up to date backup to start from, [the last one was 2 weeks ago].

Data retention is king I find, especially if it is yours and you REALLY MUST have it yesterday.

Thanks to all for the help so far.

Cheers.

Kevin.

[chiefjim]

As remoulder mentioned get rid of the hidden folders (files too) leaving .mozilla and .thunderbird.

You may also wish to make a copy of your current installation using remastersys. So nice knowing you can revert back if desired.

Sorting out the data was a project I also performed recently after retiring. Found fslint to be an ideal tool for this. Was amazed to find how many unintened duplicates were taking up space.

[g0lrk]

Well just an update on this.....

Did as suggested and left .mozilla and .thunderbird and deleted all the other hidden files, left all my info on there, after a major and I mean major backup. Then went for it.

And after all my worries and if this if that I shouldn't have blinked twice, Mint didn't - it took everything in it's stride and carried on as normal.

I then just re-installed probably 75 - 80% of the programs that were on Mint 9 by a bit at a time from the backup file list, [had to be a bit at a time as it threw it's dummy out when it found glitches it couldn't understand - but what the 'eck!]

Cheers to all, and anyone else out there in the same boat I had no problems, but it may be different for you though, [just covering my self there].

Will say though there is nothing like backup, backup & backup again. Just putting a copy on to one other drive is not really a backup folks!

Anyway thanks a lot to everyone who metaphorically held my hand through this - Cheers!

Kevin.

[chiefjim]

Now that you have 13 installed and customized with your desired applications the time has come to run remastersys. Since you say you had lots of data I'd suggest you first run just the distribution option. That will create a live-disc iso of your newly installed system.