Question About Updating 11.0 to 11.1 beta 4 or future distro

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hey

I know this is a weird question but I just want to know if I update 11.0 to beta 4 and future distros will it do a clean install or will it update my current install??? or is there any other way to change 11.0

#2

No, an update will not do a clean install; it will retain many of your old config files.

When changing versions, I recommend a clean install (from the beginning, i.e., format the partitions) after backing up your data.

#3

how do I back-up my data?? or is there some “Drive Imaging” Program? Or do you mean just save all of the programs and stuff??

#4

Hi there,

If you are going to do a full (destructive) install, you might get by with just not formatting your /home directory - this assumes you have a separate /home partition. If that is the case you can just install whatever distro you like, but keep your old home partition and mount it as your new /home.

Now, this will not save all your programs, as those might be store in /usr/local or /opt or /usr/bin or any number of places. However, most of the time reinstalling desktop apps is so easy it is not a big deal - just zypper install whatever. This also makes sure you have the latest versions and the associated dependencies, libraries, etc.

Also, preserving your /home does not mean ALL your setting will actually be preserved. Some things will work fine, others are going to be broken, etc.

If you need to back up your entire /home directory (maybe it is not on it’s own partition) that is very easy too. You could look at using rsync or even just tar from the command line - tar up all of /home and then move it to an external drive, burn it to a CD / DVD and then extract it back into your new /home after your reinstall.

If you plan on playing around with a lot of different distors then something like VMWare Server or Virtual box is absolutely the way to go. This will let you test drive pretty much any distro you want and not have to make any changes to your OS - such is the wonder of virtualization. It is not too hard to get these set up and well worth your time.

Good luck and have fun!

Pete