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ZDNET key takeaways
- Hopping to a unique distro does not imply you must lose information.
- There are three choices you’ll be able to attempt.
- Make certain to check these earlier than you do it.
Are you feeling that everlasting pull to leap to a unique Linux distribution? It occurs. I’ve gone by means of that have so many occasions that I’ve misplaced depend.
Migrating from one distribution to a different is not all that arduous… Except you wish to retain all the information inside your property listing (or any listing, for that matter). In case you do not do one thing to avoid wasting that information, you’ll lose out and have to start out throughout.
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You do not need that (except you don’t have anything of significance in your house listing).
What you are able to do will depend on your setup and wishes.
One of the best ways to change distributions and hold your information
Linux is so nicely designed that you could set up the working system in such a manner that your property listing could be simply migrated from one distribution to a different.
The way you do that is to partition the distribution in order that your property listing is on a separate partition from the OS.
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Let me present you the fundamentals of how that is executed, demonstrating on the most recent launch of Ubuntu. Earlier than you even begin the set up, it’s best to both ensure there is a second disk in your machine or join an exterior SSD (with a cable quick sufficient to deal with information transmission). To do that, stroll by means of the set up as you usually would till you attain the Disk Setup part.
Whenever you’re introduced with the 2 routes of organising your disk, choose “Guide set up.” Within the ensuing window, it’s best to see your drive listed. In case you have a secondary drive, it ought to be listed as nicely.
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Choose the secondary disk after which click on +. When prompted, configure the dimensions you wish to use for the /house partition, choose /house from the Mount Level drop-down, after which click on OK.
After that, repeat the method, solely this time choose the first drive, click on +, and configure the mount level as /. Make certain to allocate the quantity of area you need for the partition (fairly probably all the drive), and click on OK after which Subsequent.
At this level, end the set up as you’d usually.
Now that you’ve got configured your /house partition to be on a separate disk, you’ll be able to hop distributions everytime you need, ensuring to put in the OS on the first drive.
Backups
The opposite methodology for saving your information is through backups. That is proper, the outdated backup routine.
As for backing up /house, you do not wish to again up all the listing. As an alternative, again up your person listing inside /house (akin to /house/jack) to an exterior drive (even a USB flash drive). You may both again up every thing in that listing, or solely the folders containing the info/information you wish to save.
Do have in mind, nonetheless, that there are hidden folders that comprise app configurations, caches, and different bits. Due to that, I’d advocate backing up every thing in your house listing.
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In case you’re unsure which backup software to make use of, I like to recommend Déjà Dup, TimeShift, or Fortunate Backup (every of which could be put in from the usual repositories).
After you have that taken care of, ensure to again up some other vital information, though a very powerful information on a desktop machine might be in your house listing.
Now you can set up the brand new OS. I’d ensure to create your property listing on a secondary drive, so you do not have to undergo this the following time you hop.
After the set up completes, reboot, join the drive housing the info, open your file supervisor, and begin copying issues over.
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Don’t merely copy your person listing from the secondary drive to the /house listing on the first drive, as you could possibly run into permissions or possession points.
A hybrid
There’s an alternative choice that is a kind of hybrid. For instance you’ve got copied your vital directories out of your /house to an exterior (or secondary inner) drive.
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As an alternative of copying these directories, you’ll be able to merely hyperlink them. For instance you’ve got copied every thing in ~/Paperwork to a secondary drive that’s mounted at /media/jack/drive1/, and also you wish to hyperlink your ~/Paperwork listing with it.
First, delete the ~/Paperwork listing (assuming it is empty) with the command:
rm -rf ~/Paperwork
Subsequent, concern the next command out of your unique house listing:
ln -s /media/jack/drive1/Paperwork /house/jack/drive1/Paperwork
You must now see a brand new ~/Paperwork listing, containing every thing in /media/jack/drive1/Paperwork.
And there you could have it.
My final suggestion is that you simply take a look at these strategies on a spare machine. On high of that, regardless of which route you’re taking, at all times again up your information.
