Hi

I want to update my Mandrake from 8.1 to 10.0, however, I do not want to lose all my data and current working configuration - I mean I have alot of things working fine at the moment ie XINE, AMSN, EMail etc, etc.

If I buy the Mandrake 10.0 CDs, is it simply updating it from 8.1 to 10, or do I have to start from scratch.

Thanks for your input.
Regards
Shelton.

You can indeed just put the mdk10 cds in and select "upgrade"...

But, if you have a separate /home partition (which is a good thing to do, btw.), and tell a fresh mandrake install to mount it at /home, all of your personal settings, etc. that reside in your home directory will be preserved into a fresh install, so long as you use the same login.

However that method does not keep anyting from other partitions.

I use Mandrake 10.0 Official, and most things work out-of-the-box so to speak - everything you mentioned bar AMSN works fine. Things have come a long way since 8.1...

Realize that trying to do an "update" is highly problematic as those scripts, etc. that you may have modified have changed extensively.

In your shoes here is what I always do.

1) Download a live CD version of Linux, such as Knoppix

2) Mount your existing partitions under Knoppix

3) Tar off your /etc directory e.g.

tar -czvf /mnt/Mandrake/root/oldetc.tar.gz /mnt/Mandrake/etc/*

4) Now recusively delete EVERYTHING except /etc/fstab (you can make a copy and put it back) and your home directories, including /root and /home

This keeps your old files around and your old settings are saved in the tar file.

I.E.

rm -rf /mnt/Mandrake/etc /mnt/Mandrake/var /mnt/Mandrake/usr /mnt/Mandrake/lib /mnt/Mandrake/sbin

and so forth.

BE SURE that the old fstab file is left where it was...

5) Now install 10.0 and do a NEW install but tell it to utilize EXISTING partitions on the drive.

This will cause it to search for the old /etc/fstab file and use your existing partitions without reformatting everything nor deleting your saved home directories and tar files.

Once done unpack the tar file to another directory and MANUALLY make any adjustments to the new files.

You'll find that there have been rather dramatic changes to things so doing it manually is your best bet.