[SOLVED] How to move from Sarah 18.2 to Una 20.3 without loosing data?

[Olissofoss]

Hello, how do I move from Linux Mint Sarah 18.2 to Una 20.3 without loosing my applications and my data? And I would like to keep the second partition with Windows 10. While booting 20.3 from the USB-Stick I get the advise that all data with be deleted if I continue. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards, Dirk

[Pierre]

that can only be done,
- if you have created an separate /home partition in the LM18.2 system.
then an clean installation, whilst preserving that /home partition .. is possible.


if that is Not the case, then you will need to Back-Up all of your Data to an usb stick / usb drive,
so that you can Erase the existing LM 18.2 with the new LM 20.3 Installation.

[JoeFootball]

Hello, how do I move from Linux Mint Sarah 18.2 to Una 20.3 without loosing my applications and my data?

I always do a fresh install when going to a new major version. I already have backups of all my important data, so I just verify them, then move forward with the install. That said ...

Upgrade 18.2 to 18.3 ...
https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3462

Upgrade 18.3 to 19 ...
https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3615

Upgrade 19 to 19.3 ...
https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3838

Upgrade 19.3 to 20 ...
https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3946

Upgrade 20 to 20.3 ...
https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4216

[JoeFootball]

that can only be done,
- if you have created an separate /home partition in the LM18.2 system.
then an clean installation, whilst preserving that /home partition .. is possible.

Note that won't preserve the installed applications.

[Kendoori]

I really like Aptik for this https://teejeetech.com/2019/07/21/using-aptik/ Note: there is a cost, but this is a great tool to have on hand. If I'm you, I would also consider cloning your current set up to a spearate external drive just for safety purposes. Foxclone is a good option for that (search these forums for details on that).

[Moem]

Hello, how do I move from Linux Mint Sarah 18.2 to Una 20.3 without loosing my applications

That part is impossible. Most of the applications for Mint 18.x will not even run on Mint 20.x.

[AZgl1800]

I can confirm, that even with Aptik, which is one of my favorite tools, that you will not be able to transfer all of your applications.

Why?
the old ones may not be available in the 20.3 Repository, which is what I found going from 19.3 to 20.3

However, Aptik does create a list of the apps it could not install, all of them were things that I installed outside of Mint's Repository... via PPAs, or Deb files.

I used LuckyBackup to create a backup folder in an external drive, so all of /home folders were preserved there.

after 20.3 was Fresh Installed, I ran Aptik to 'recover my 19.3" setup.

it gave me this list when it was done.... it did a great job of copying my Mint Repository apps over to 20.3, but... when you see this at the end of the Aptik run, it leaves you a list of Apps to be Manually installed. a lot easier than doing every thing from scratch.

[Kendoori]

In my experience, Aptik gets most of this right, and I've been able to spend a small amount of time getting to the proverbial "Goldilocks" state. I have several external drives and have made a habit of doing a full Aptik backup to those just in case; whereby, I used to meticulously clone drives regularly.

[Olissofoss]

Hello, how do I move from Linux Mint Sarah 18.2 to Una 20.3 without loosing my applications and my data?

I always do a fresh install when going to a new major version. I already have backups of all my important data, so I just verify them, then move forward with the install. That said ...

Upgrade 18.2 to 18.3 ...
https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3462

Thank you so far. I started to go the first step from 18.2 to 18.3 using the installation of timeshift. But I did not have enough space on my hd... and now I cannot start 18.2 anymore: after typing in my access pw MDM was not able to write into the legitimation file.

a) How can I remove timeshift and some 100k files from the existing 18.2?

b) Can I use my 18.2-back up files I store regulary on a NAS with deja dub connected to my router on 20.3?

[RollyShed]

But I did not have enough space on my hd...

First you go and buy an SSD, possibly 250GB or better, bigger, (twice as big?) than your existing disk.
Unplug all disks and plug in the new one to SATA0 (or 1 if the numbering starts at 1).
Then you install Linux Mint Cinnamon 20.3. We presume you have Mint burnt to a USB stick.
Run updates.
Install all apps that are not already there.
Then you plug the original disk in to SATA 1 or 2.
Copy all of your files and folders across.

Doing the above gives you a clean system and hopefully, plenty of spare space. The old disk is backup and it seems, has Windows on it.

a) How can I remove timeshift and some 100k files from the existing 18.2?

You don't need to.

[JoeFootball]

Thank you so far.

You're welcome. I'll take this opportunity to (again) say that I always go with fresh installs for new major versions, and that I already keep external backups of my important files regardless. If someone were to press me for a recommendation, that's what I'd advise. And I'd think it would be easier than this endeavor.

... I did not have enough space on my hd... and now I cannot start 18.2 anymore ...

Sounds like you selected the same partition as your LM 18.2 for storing your Timeshift snapshots.

a) How can I remove timeshift and some 100k files from the existing 18.2?

I would boot to a live session of Linux Mint (or otherwise) and move/delete what I could from the hard drive. Timeshift snapshots are stored in the /timeshift directory on the partition that was selected during its setup.

b) Can I use my 18.2-back up files I store regulary on a NAS with deja dub connected to my router on 20.3?

I don't use Deja Dup, so I don't know. Though I'd suspect the formats would be the same.

[Olissofoss]

Thanks to all of you. I made it. I started with a backup of my personnel data and then implemented a new 20.3 on my Linux-partition. After getting back my data and all programs I am now happy to go that step from 18.2 directly to 20.3.