Linux Mint Forums

Hi
I am running Linux Mint 13 Maya and want to update/upgrade to Linux 14 Nadia.

Is there a way of doing this without losing my things which are saved on the pc or without having to save them onto discs or something

Thanks

africanlion wrote:Is there a way of doing this without losing my things which are saved on the pc or without having to save them onto discs or something

Yes, it is possible. However, since you had to ask, it's likely that you don't know enough to get yourself out of trouble therefore you're highly likely to be destined for failure and lost data. It's not a risk I'm prepared to help you take.

catweazel wrote:

africanlion wrote:Is there a way of doing this without losing my things which are saved on the pc or without having to save them onto discs or something

Yes, it is possible. However, since you had to ask, it's likely that you don't know enough to get yourself out of trouble therefore you're highly likely to be destined for failure and lost data. It's not a risk I'm prepared to help you take.

I am not totally clueless and can do some of the stuff. How about you give a description and i will give you an honest opinion if i can do it or not

Ok, it's your data. Simply boot into a live cd, start a file browser as root or use the terminal to rm everything except your home directory then install without formatting the / partition.

You may have to delete some of the hidden files and directories inside /home/<user> too otherwise you may end up with a borked profile and find you can't login to the desktop environment. The best way to avoid this, and here I assume you will want to keep your existing user name, is to rename your /home/<user> directory then copy everything you need into your new /home/<user> directory.

The biggest issue is making sure you delete everything that should be deleted, and of course making sure you don't format /.

Unless you simplify the above there is no way i can manage what you describe and thats me being honest. So my best bet is to save stuff on cd or something and then put it back on after a clean install yes?