This may not be a newbie question, but to the pros, it is.



I got a CentOS 6.6 32bit set up in Virtual Box. I want to either upgrade it to Centos 7 64bit or switch it over to the latest version of OpenSUSE.

Beings this is all on a virtual box, my main concern is not just getting an updated Distro. Because I can just install clean Distros all day.

This CentOS 6.6 system I have has a lot of stuff on it which is the reason I need and use it. It's not just personal data in the home directory either.I'm talking Databases and the Developer Environment...

Is it possible to update my OS version and keep everything, or even as crazy as it sounds, change Distros and keep everything?

Just attach a real hard drive to the vbox image, do a backup of all your data, install the upgraded version, then reattach the drive again to restore your data. This would, IMO, be the easiest method.

You should be backing up your data periodically, regardless.

Just copy it off to another HD, a thumb drive, a DVD, whatever.

Given its a virtual setup, just setup a new one with the new OS, then try to txfr across.
That way you've got a perfectly working before system that you can a) compare against b) you can continue using until you get the new system finalised.

Kind of depends on the data.

If this is a home/simple type setup then maybe just copy over data. If this has a database or many types programs then the data may not be easy to copy.

You could use VirtualBox's "shared folder" feature to back up the files to a folder in the host distribution.

You must have VB Guest Additions installed to your virtual machine to use a shared folder.

I'll try that