[Solved] Copy /home directory to fresh install?

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Vrai

[Solved] Copy /home directory to fresh install?

Post by Vrai »

Hello,
Long time Mint user here. About to do a 'fresh' or 'clean' install of Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon 64bit V2 on my Acer laptop which is currently dual booting Mint 18.3 and Manjaro.

My question is: will there be any deleterious effects if I make a back-up copy of my /home and then copy it over to the new Mint 19 installation?
I'm concerned about all the hidden files and folders which contain user data and/or configurations which may not be applicable any longer. Will there be any issues with old applications vs newer applications? Will any outdated or unneeded .(dot) files and folders just be ignored?

Thanks very much for any insight or advice.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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all41
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Re: Copy /home directory to fresh install?

Post by all41 »

About to do a 'fresh' or 'clean' install of Linux Mint 19
Do the clean install but copy only your /home user files forward, but not the .hidden files .
It will be best to not apply every .hidden file to your newly installed system,
You can apply them one by one later and observe the effects.
Personally I never carry previous install configs forward
Everything in life was difficult before it became easy.
gm10

Re: Copy /home directory to fresh install?

Post by gm10 »

Vrai wrote: Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:53 pm I'm concerned about all the hidden files and folders which contain user data and/or configurations which may not be applicable any longer. Will there be any issues with old applications vs newer applications? Will any outdated or unneeded .(dot) files and folders just be ignored?
It's usually fine, old format files get updates automatically, applications know to handle that, it's no different as if you had just updated just the application. There might be some settings issue if you were to use the home folder from your Manjaro (mostly because of different paths) but if it's the Mint 18.3 home folder then there's no problem.
Last edited by gm10 on Fri Oct 19, 2018 3:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
Vrai

Re: Copy /home directory to fresh install?

Post by Vrai »

Thanks or the replies all41 and gm10.
I was hoping to save some configuration time but I think I rather prefer to keep things neat and tidy.

Hadn't thought of restoring the .hidden files one at a time. I may try a few and see how it goes. Thanks for the tip.
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all41
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Re: Copy /home directory to fresh install?

Post by all41 »

Hadn't thought of restoring the .hidden files one at a time. I may try a few and see how it goes.
It's pretty easy to do this, just rename your .hidden files to something such as .hidden.original
Then copy your old config files to that directory--if there is a snag just delete the newly copied file and
rename the original
Everything in life was difficult before it became easy.
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