Getting updated Mintbackup when Mint install is broken

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forger

Getting updated Mintbackup when Mint install is broken

Post by forger »

Hi,

I have Mint 6 intstalled and I want to replace it with a later version. However the tutorials say to download an up to date version of Mintbackup to backup up ahead of the new installation. Problem is Mintinstall has ceased to work. So how can I go about backing up? I have multiple HDDs available to I can keep the old installation to one side if necessary. Do I need to back up? Can i just copy the /home into new installation? i was thinking of either Mint 9 or 12, Gnome 32 bit. Sorry for the multiple questions but I think the situation might affect the solution that is best.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Aging Technogeek

Re: Getting updated Mintbackup when Mint install is broken

Post by Aging Technogeek »

Mintinstall does not work because Mint 6 is well past end-of-life. All support for Mint 6 was dropped over a year ago.

The jump from Mint 6 to Mint 9 is a little long and to Mint 12 is extreme for most of the files in /home. I'm talking about all of the hidden configuration files that would be several years out of date if you tried to use them in the newest Mint versions.

The same goes for most of the apps installed on Mint 6. If you tried to use them in Mint 9 or later, you could run into a lot of dependency problems.

I would save all personal data and do a clean install of the newer Mint over the Mint 6 installation.

Your personal data files would be no problem to move to an external drive or to a separate partition on the internal drive while doing the installation and move back to the new Mint. Just open both folders side by side on the desktop and drag the files from the Mint 6 /home folder to the external drive. Do the same to restore the files to the new Mint installation.
forger

Re: Getting updated Mintbackup when Mint install is broken

Post by forger »

Thanks, that clears up alot of my issues.

My main concern is to copy across my mail from Thunderbird and my Firefox set up. Can that be done in the way you suggest? Can I just move the whole profiles across?

Would I have any problem accessing the /home files from the Mint 6 if they were on a seperate HDD from the new install?
Aging Technogeek

Re: Getting updated Mintbackup when Mint install is broken

Post by Aging Technogeek »

Anything in your /home partition, whether on the same drive with root, or on a separate drive can be transfered into the corresponding folders id the new installation. I would not try moving the config files for Firefox and Thunderbird since the new installation will include a much newer version of each, but mail and data files can be transfered with no trouble.
As long as the drive is connected to the computer, it will be displayed in Nautilus. Open Computer by clicking the icon and look in the left sidebar for a file system of the correct size then click it to mount it, and files can be transfered. The only possible problem is permissions. This can be a non problem or it can be a deal breaker. If you run into permission problems, post back here and I will either help you myself or call in some one who can teach us both about file permissions.
blue_bullet

Re: Getting updated Mintbackup when Mint install is broken

Post by blue_bullet »

I use this all the time to copy files preserving time stamps and permissions. I keep it in Tomboy Notes, Linux Tips and Tricks. I copied it from a website I Googled on preserving permissions via copy. Sorry not to give credit.
Most of the time the Linux server administrator requires to copy file for backup purpose. If you use the Linux command cp to copy your file, you may need to retain the file permission of source directory at destination directory.

The command is
cp -r --preserve /source_dir /destin_dir

Here -r for copy all inner sub directory, and --preserve for retain the exact file permission.

If you have some files that starts with dot(.) like .htaccess file, those may not copy properly. You can use regular expression to copy those file. Only to copy those files, below is the command
cp -r --preserve /source_dir/.[a-zA-Z0-9]* /destin_dir
OR below one.
cp -r --preserve /source_dir/.\S* /destin_dir

Remember if you use * at regular expression for example as below, it may not work for some people interestingly to move files like .htaccess.
cp -r --preserve /source_dir/.* /destin_dir

Most of the cases the site administrator used to write a Shell/Perl/PHP script that compile the above cp command, and put the script into the cron tab to perform the task as a schedule.
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