Please help me upgrade for 2019

[johanna morgan]

I have Linux mint 7.3 and need help to upgrade for 2019. I lost the link to where I bought the usb sticks. I believe I need to upgrade to 8.0 first and then to 8.3. Is that correct? Will it save my documents... if not how to I save them? Every time someone at a store sells me discs they never work.

Thank you
JohannaM

[karlchen]

Hello, Johanna Morgan.

Welcome aboard the Linux Mint user forum.
May I suspect that
+ Linux Mint 7.3, which you mention, is actually Linux Mint 17.3?
+ Linux Mint 8.0 and 8.3, which you mention, are actually Linux Mint 18 and Linux Mint 18.3?
+ Linux Mint 2019 actually is Linux Mint 19?
Please, see the correct Linux Mint release numbers and their nicknames here: Linux Mint Releases.
Using the correct release numbers will spare you a few questions for clarification and us some confusion.

If I understand you right, then you are currently using Linux Mint 17.3. You would like to upgrade from Linux Mint 17.3 to Linux Mint 19. Is this correct?

Honestly, for a Linux Mint user, who is not too experienced (and we all started with little to no experience once upon a time, only some of us forgot so), the most hassle free approach is installing Linux Mint 19 from the Linux Mint 19 live and installation medium.
The in-place upgrade path from Mint 17.3 to Mint 18, from Mint 18 to Mint 18.3 and finally from Mint 18.3 to Mint 19, this in-place upgrade path is simply very time consuming and it is the way, which is not unlikely to cause a lot of headache. Much more so than a clean Mint 19 installation from scratch.

+ Backup your data from Mint 17.3 to an external medium (external USB disk e.g.)
+ Download the Linux Mint 19 ISO image file.
+ Install Linux Mint 19, following carefully the Official Installation Guide
+ Restore your data, backed up in the beginning.

Best regards,
Karl

[michael louwe]

I have Linux mint 7.3 and need help to upgrade for 2019. I lost the link to where I bought the usb sticks. I believe I need to upgrade to 8.0 first and then to 8.3. Is that correct? Will it save my documents... if not how to I save them? Every time someone at a store sells me discs they never work.

.
LM 17.x is supported until April 2019. LM 19.x is supported until April 2023. Inplace upgrades should only be performed by non-newbies/novices, eg ...
viewtopic.php?f=60&t=277741 - Upgrade from Mint 17.1 to Mint 19 in-place (experiment)

As a newbie who has been comfortable buying LM discs/DVDs for installation, you should continue to do so. "Do not fix what ain't broken". You should wait a bit for the soon-to-be-released LM 19.1 which should be more stable than LM 19.0.
....... Will you be single-booting or dual-booting LM.? What is your computer brand, model and specs.?

To save Documents and other personal data, you should copy them to a USB-stick or external USB HDD and paste them back to your newly installed LM 19.x system. In comparison, tech-geeks do so by manually creating a separate Home partition in the LM systems and preserving the Home partition when they install an LM upgrade; or they do an inplace upgrade.

Afaik, opt for DVD+R discs and avoid DVD-R or DVD+RW discs. Install DVDs should be burned at the slowest rate possible, eg 2X, to eliminate burning errors. So, select reputable retailers when buying such discs. Or buy Live LM USB-sticks.

[srq2625]

To save Documents and other personal data, you should copy them to a USB-stick or external USB HDD and paste them back to your newly installed LM 19.x system. In comparison, tech-geeks do so by manually creating a separate Home partition in the LM systems and preserving the Home partition when they install an LM upgrade; or they do an inplace upgrade.

I also use a separate /home partition and what I usually do in this situation is boot up the LiveUSB, mount the /home partition, backup the user data (because life has a way of happening), and rename the user folder(s). Then I do a fresh install, using the old user name(s). Once the install is done, I copy the data from the renamed folders to the freshly created user folders. Finally, when I've confirmed that copy is complete and verified, I delete the old folders. If the copy didn't work well, I have the backup to fall back upon.

Afaik, opt for DVD+R discs and avoid DVD-R or DVD+RW discs. Install DVDs should be burned at the slowest rate possible, eg 2X, to eliminate burning errors. So, select reputable retailers when buying such discs. Or buy Live LM USB-sticks.

Rather than buying the LiveUSB, just download the iso and "burn" it to a memory stick using any number of tools. If one is already running a Linux install, the dd command works quite well - if one is careful about the arguments and double check them before hitting the <return> key.

[JerryF]

Rather than buying the LiveUSB, just download the iso and "burn" it to a memory stick using any number of tools. If one is already running a Linux install, the dd command works quite well - if one is careful about the arguments and double check them before hitting the <return> key.

• If you have blank DVDs, you can burn a downloaded ISO to the DVD using Brasero's "Burn Image" option. I've created my DVDs that way.

• If you want to use a USB flash drive, you can downloaded an ISO and write it to a USB flash drive with "USB Image Writer". I've also used UNetbooin to create Mint flash drives.

[JerryF]

Hello, Johanna Morgan.

Welcome aboard the Linux Mint user forum.
May I suspect that
+ Linux Mint 7.3, which you mention, is actually Linux Mint 17.3?
+ Linux Mint 8.0 and 8.3, which you mention, are actually Linux Mint 18 and Linux Mint 18.3?
+ Linux Mint 2019 actually is Linux Mint 19?
Please, see the correct Linux Mint release numbers and their nicknames here: Linux Mint Releases.
Using the correct release numbers will spare you a few questions for clarification and us some confusion.

If I understand you right, then you are currently using Linux Mint 17.3. You would like to upgrade from Linux Mint 17.3 to Linux Mint 19. Is this correct?
...

I think Johanna would like to upgrade for the year 2019 because 17.3 will no longer be supported.

[phd21]

Hi "johanna morgan"

Welcome to the wonderful world of Linux Mint and its excellent forum!

I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

Linux Mint 18.3 has long-term support (LTS) until 2021 and Linux Mint 19.x has long-term support until 2023.

I would first backup or copy all important personal files and data to an external drive and or cloud storage provider, or another partition if you have one, or DVD discs. Then, download Linux Mint 18.3 or Linux Mint 19 iso disc image file and burn that to a USB stick (4gb or larger) or DVD and boot to that DVD or USB stick (faster) and install the new version over the existing Linux Mint partition, takes around 15 minutes, then copy or restore your personal files and data, then install any applications that you want or had before that are not already installed.

Linux Mint - downloads, click a version, then click which edition of Linux Mint (Cinnamon, Mate, KDE, or Xfce) then click 64-bit or 32-bit depending upon your computer hardware, after downloading the iso disc image file, "burn" the iso to a DVD using a DVD app, or to a USB stick using Mint Image writer in your menu, "unetbootin", Etcher, or one of the other USB stick image writers, and boot to it to install the newer version over the existing Linux Mint partition.
https://linuxmint.com/download_all.php


Hope this helps ...