is this mess fixable?

[tmoble]

this system is several years old now, has a lot of stuff on it I'd hate to lose. this is 64 bit hardware, but Mint installed as 32 bit for reasons unknown to me. here is my inxi output:

Code: Select all

tom@mint ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: mint Kernel: 3.16.0-38-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.8.2)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 2.8.8 (Gtk 3.10.8) Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine:   System: ASUS product: All Series
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: H97-PLUS v: Rev X.0x
           Bios: American Megatrends v: 2504 date: 05/20/2015
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i3-4370 (-HT-MCP-) cache: 4096 KB
           flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 15199
           clock speeds: max: 3800 MHz 1: 3796 MHz 2: 3544 MHz 3: 3800 MHz
           4: 3790 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.15.1 driver: N/A
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.0hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4, 256 bits)
           GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:03.0
           Card-2 Intel 9 Series Family HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.16.0-38-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: e000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: NetGear WG111v3 54 Mbps Wireless [realtek RTL8187B]
           driver: rtl8187 usb-ID: 003-002
           IF: wlan0 state: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 2070.4GB (3.9% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: Samsung_SSD_850 size: 250.1GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: ST3320620AS size: 320.1GB
           ID-3: /dev/sdc model: ST31500341AS size: 1500.3GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 214G used: 60G (30%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0
           ID-2: /boot size: 236M used: 56M (25%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 17.05GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-1
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 51.0C mobo: 27.8C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 182 Uptime: 3 days Memory: 3441.2/15929.1MB
           Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.2.28 

apparently there was some point a failed update to 4.x because I get error msgs referring to 4.4 when I try to update. I can't update the video driver because of this. cant update to latest mint. I'm thinking of wiping the system and stating over. That's a big deal for me. I can post the error messages I get when I try to update mint, but there's a lot, I'd probably have to go to pastebinit or something.

Anybody willing to help out?

[Larry78723]

Seeing as the 17.x series is no longer supported, I would back-up my /home and do a clean install. The errors you're getting are probably because the repositories are no longer available.

[tmoble]

Thank you for taking time to look at this. If I use the copy command to copy the home dir to another drive how do I go about getting back all the stuff on my desktop? just copy it back? copy the entire home dir back? I have a feeling that's not going to go as hoped.

on the clean install, would that include re-formatting the drive the OS is on?

[Larry78723]

I would zip all the subdirectories under /home and then unzip them after a clean install. Yes, a clean install is needed. Follow the instructions at https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... t.html#ID4. It states it's for 18 series to 19 series but will work for you. It was written by a very knowledgable member of this forum.

[Moem]

this system is several years old now, has a lot of stuff on it I'd hate to lose. this is 64 bit hardware, but Mint installed as 32 bit for reasons unknown to me.

It could only have done that if you'd downloaded a 32-bits version. So that's what must have happened.

I have personally upgraded (by doing a new installation) from 17.3 Cinnamon 32-bits to 18.1 Cinnamon 64-bits and retained my entire home partition (by not formatting it; I had also made a backup on an external medium). This was something that I did not assume to work flawlessly, but it was interesting as an experiment and if things did not work out, I could always do a completely clean install and then import my data. So I had nothing to lose but some extra time, and if it did work out, I'd have saved myself time.

Surprisingly, it worked out very well. There were two small applications doubled up, which caused some confusion; one was the screensaver and I can't remember the other. It was easily fixed.
Of course, retaining my home (which was already in a separate partition, so that was easy enough) meant that not only were all my files and system settings present from the start, I only needed to reinstall my applications and the settings for those were back instantly.

I cannot explicitly recommend this course of action, because it's inherently risky, and not completely 'clean', so to speak. But if you make very sure you have all the backups needed to use more conservative methods if this one does not work out, then I see no reason to discourage you, or anyone, from trying.

[AndyMH]

has a lot of stuff on it I'd hate to lose

A lesson I learn't a while back when I upgraded 17.3 to 18.0 - what had I installed and how did I do it? Now I have a simple text file linked to a launcher on the desktop. Every time I make a change or add something I make a note of it. Made the change 18.3 to 19.0 straightforward.

[Pierre]

since I've also done a few Clean Installations of LinuxMint, by now,
& each time, I've just recycled the existing /home partition, with the No Format option,
as well as re-using the existing / root partition, whilst also formatting that / root partition ..

thus retaining almost everything - that was in that /home partition

[hcentaur13]

I hold /home in its own partition. That allows to forman / to get a clean install while /home lives unchanged. It may help cleanup something by remove some of some files and directories and files in /home with names startitng with '.' as this are settings of the applications with that name. But you should check them to be sure you likes to remove the settings to get them rebuild by its installers. In question let them alive. These settings are the last used - remove sets the settings back to reset them back to fresh clean . .thundervbird (email) and .mozilla (WEB browser) resets news/email and browser to "not configured" and should NOT reset except you will like to loose theyr settings and configurations.

Having /home in its own partition makes it easy and quick to upgrade the system to a new release by letting the installer format / but not /home. It lets /home and anything on it unchanged alive. Manually clean up parts of them may or may be not clean up is possible by you!.

This lets you the chouce to select which settings should remind and which programs you likes to reinstall again.

[JerryF]

this system is several years old now, has a lot of stuff on it I'd hate to lose. this is 64 bit hardware, but Mint installed as 32 bit for reasons unknown to me. here is my inxi output:

Code: Select all

tom@mint ~ $ inxi -Fxz
...
Partition: ID-1: / size: 214G used: 60G (30%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0
           ID-2: /boot size: 236M used: 56M (25%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 17.05GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-1
...

Unfortunately, you don't have a separate /home partition, so using Pierre's method won't work for you, but he makes an excellent point by having a separate /home partition.

My suggestion is:
Download the 64-bit version of 19.1
Backup everything in your home directory.
From the live DVD/USB, using the installer, use the Something else option.
Delete your partitions on the sda drive and set up 3 partitions. A /, /home, and swap partition. I personally wouldn't set up a /boot partition (it's more trouble than it's worth). The / partition can be around 20 GB, the swap set to 1.5 times your RAM, and rest for /home.
Then restore your backed up home directory content.

[fabien85]

/home contains your personal files. So as suggested you can back it up and put it back after the clean install.

Another thing is your programs. You probably installed several of them, you will want to reinstall them after the install but wont be able to remember all of them, until the day where you need the program, which can be at a critical point where you are busy and have no time to lose.
So you may want to have a backup list of your installed programs. That's what Mint's "Backup Tool" (Menu > Administration > Backup Tool) can do, using Software Selection > Backup now.
In principle you can use the generated list to restore automatically after install (Backup Tool > Software Selection > Restore). But in your case you do NOT want to do that, because your current Mint is 32-bit, so you have 32-bit programs, while your new Mint should be 64-bit.
You will have to look yourself through the list, find the programs you want to reinstall (it's also the occasion to cleanup, there are probably programs you installed but in fact do not use anymore) then search it in the software manager (it's probably the same name but without the -i386 or -i386-pc in the name) and reinstall.
The point is that you have the list to start with.

You may also have added PPAs to install special programs (e.g. google chrome). Go to Menu > Administration > Software Sources > PPA , then for each PPA select it > edit , copy the URL and save it somewhere. Same for "Additional Repositories", with the problem of signing keys that I dont know how to deal with easily (except redoing the original steps to add the additional repo).

[lsemmens]

Of course if you want to be 100% certain you don't lose anything.My process is a little more involved but I have not lost any critical data for decades (except when I did something stupid).

Remove your drive from the system and replace it with another, loading your new OS (be it Linux, Windwoes, OSux, OS2 or CP/M - remember them) onto that. Once all is working correctly and you are happy, plug your old system drive in as a slave and copy the stuff you need to to the new system. Of course on a lappy, that makes it a little harder. I have drive caddies for that.

My Actual setup now is that I have several networked computers in my home, so all my historical data resides on my file server My working data also lives there and on the computer that I need (typically, my lappie). Any time I need to perform a full re-load (which I do rather than fix most of the time) the whole process only takes, at most, 30 minutes and that includes backup and restore. Searching for a solution to a problem can often drag on for days, so, in the end, much time and heartache is saved. Of course, occasionally, a problem is endemic, then I must search for an answer, but that has not been often in all my years of computing - until W10, then I found a better way