I am running Linux Mint 17.3 and I am shortly going to install Linux Mint 18.3. How do I install/restore Lm17.3 back ups to lm18.3?

It would really help to know a few things:

What is it you wish to backup? Your "home" folder, something else?

If it's just your "home" folder, it would depend on weather or not you have a separate partition for your "home" folder or not. If you do, there are a number of ways your could do that. Like for example, using backup software, doing a crude backup, ie. copying the files and folders themselves, etc.

If your talking about OS settings, while you could backup say for example, the configuration files themselves, it would probably be better to just backup your "home" folder and do a clean install instead.

At the end of the day, you should base it on your requirements. Also, in the end, it's up to you how you do it.

Edit: How did you backup it up in the first place?

In adddition to all of the above, what do you mean by "install Linux Mint 18.3" ?.

A clean install from a USB ?. There are upgrade options that I can attest work just fine from 17.3 - although I did them early in the Mint 18 release cycle.

Do you have a SystemRescue CD? It has a lot of useful backup tools. I swear by fsarchiver myself.

Most people just need to back up their personal files from their home directory, copy them to external media, then once you have (re)installed the O/S, just copy them back into your new home directory.

I've got a separate /home partition and at present am getting a few weird error messages from update manager since I upgraded from Mint 18.2 to 18.3 so I'm contemplating doing a fresh install. I've already backed up everything using Timeshift and even off loaded my /home directory files by copying them over to the backup drive as well. (What I would consider a "belt and braces (suspenders)" solution.)

I've got a live Mint 18.3 DVD care of Linux Format magazine (LXF233) which I'd use. During the partitioning section I'd re-assign my existing /home partition to er... /home and uncheck the "format" option. Once installed I should be back in business! I've done this successfully in the past and so far any local .config files haven't caused any problems.

My

Play Bonny!

Concerning the OS, I'd only back up certain config files. Ones I know I have already modify them to fit the scenario of whatever they pertains to. All other config files I just take my leave of them.

home drive, I just copy or move onto another hdd, ( I actually keep a separate /home so none of this pertain to me really, unless I start doing dual boots of Linux to copy to that one if needed) then after install of a new system just copy or move them back into my home, including certain config files I had in my home directory, ie .bashrc modded to fit my needs, .inputrc, and other various apps that use config files. make sure you have show hidden selected in your fav file manager then go through .config to look in there to see if there maybe some config files you might want to save to reuse on your apps. vlc for example, customization's. I save them configs so I do not have to go through all of that again. (sometimes) . etc....

how to back up? there are many different ways, I just use a file manager to copy paste, or sometimes, depending on how much, I open a terminal move or copy to ' source -> detestation'. For other reasons others use other means.

Could be possible to create a list of programs installed to be used to install on 18. Forget that command or where they are at. Something to do with package manager.

I always (every five years or so) do a clean install. I back up my browser settings, email, user data files, pics, docs, etc. Then I wipe out everything else on the clean install. I just leave the backup. I don't restore it to the new system unless and until I need something.

I redo all the configuration manually, because otherwise I forget how.

Just one thing to be prepared for. If you restore your home directory to your new installation, many configuration files in your home directory will work for the new installation. In my experience that even includes settings for Thunderbird and Firefox. Which is amazing and extremely convenient.

But I have also seen that the other configuration files (mainly of the Desktop Environment) hopelessly fail to migrate and produce the most opaque erroneous behavior. Which cannot be corrected by configuration or re-configuration of from within the GUI.

The configuration of the Desktop Environment is mostly stored in a directory like ~/.gnome or ~/.mate or so. I don't have an active machine running Mint near me so I cannot check. Anyone else maybe?

Anyway, it might be a good idea to back up this directory in a separate folder after installation and before restoring your /home directory. It can save you a complete re-installation in case things go awry.

jlinkels

tomiki,

If you are planning to replace Mint 17.3 with a fresh installation of Mint 18.3, whilst keeping your Home folder and settings unchanged, I suggest you follow the instructions here:

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...-distro-37074/

@ tomiki

I've just had quite an exciting day doing a clean re-install of Mint 18.3. as my original update from Mint 18.2 ended up with the Update Manager complaining bitterly about some of the updates
There were some security updates for firmware, etc, which it just decided it had had enough and wasn't going to do any more, so... Clean re-install.


99% of it looked like it was working. I copied my /home partition contents to a backup USB hard drive and ran Timeshift as well. Exported my Firefox bookmarks and my Thunderbird contacts to the backup drive.

Having been in this situation before over the years I now always have my /home directory on a separate partition which makes life easier.

My re-install from the Linux Format LXF233 magazine DVD went fine, (I already had this, why burn a fresh one?) partitioning the drive being the only section which required a bit of poking about as how to set up the partitions wasn't immediately obvious. I just changed the existing Mint 18.3 partition to be mounted on / and formatted and the existing /home partition to be mounted on, er... /home with my other partitions (backup drive, etc) to be left alone, definitely NOT formatted!

The install was fine, my home directory was intact, backup not needed at this point, Firefox bookmarks were OK, contacts OK. I did have to load a few extra packages as my 3D printing software and slicer didn't work but after a quick Google we're back in business!

beachboy2's link is very informative and it's nice to have confirmation that I arrived at the same conclusion!

Play Bonny!