How do you lot upgrade?

[NoaHall]

How many people do a fresh install, how many just upgrade, how many upgrade and then find problems so they downgrade/fresh install.

Sigh, added the poll, but forgot to add a "does it normally work" option(multi-choice).

[Tipped OuT]

Update the current version(try) and if it goes wrong, fresh install.

[ninjapirate89]

I always do a fresh install.

[qamelian]

I alway update and only do a fresh install if there are new features that I want that can only easily be had by doing a fresh install. Ironically, there have been two releases of Ubuntu that refused to work as fresh installs on one of my test boxes and I could only get the then current realease by updating. :)

[whoop]

I only do a fresh install in the following cases:
* When I need to replace the primary hard disk (because it broke)
* When I switch to another operating system, or another machine
* When the system was compromised/hacked/cracked

So, I basically never do a fresh install, unless there's no way out...

[speedwell68]

Fresh install every time. I upgraded from Edgy to Fiesty, it screwed up. I then tried to upgrade from Fiesty to Gutsy and that screwed up too. So now I backup all my stuff and do a full fresh install each time. I can have a fresh install fully configured in under two hours, so it makes little difference.

[autonomy]

I haven't used Ubuntu since 2005, so this year was my first upgrade. The only problem I remember was my hostname changing. That was a big problem, but it's water under the bridge now.

[Psumi]

I always do a fresh install.

[HappyFeet]

I always fresh install. I don't want to have to sort out problems after upgrading. By the time you get your system fixed after an upgrade, you could have fresh installed 10 times over.

[ZankerH]

I've had this ubuntu install since 7.04. Always upgrade around the beta release.

[RabbitWho]

I haven't upgraded yet, but when lynx comes out I -will- fresh install.

Spring cleaning, yanno?

Hopefully someone will give me a loan of an external hard drive for back-ups or it's going to take bloody ages - 4 gig at a time on and off my moms computer.

I especially want a fresh install because I know have so many damn partitions due to failed installs when I was trying to get ubuntu and kubuntu working for the first time.

And because i want to upgrade the other little bit of the computer from vista to 7

So it makes sense to just nuke everything. There's next to nothing on the vista side anyway.

[hoppipolla]

I upgrade... normally :)

I may do a fresh install for Lucid though!

[Wiebelhaus]

Upgrading any operating system besides a rolling release is setting yourself up for failure.

[adeypoop]

i did a fresh install for karmic so i could change my file system to ext4 more easily, though I'd have probably done a fresh install anyway. not usually too bad as most of my data is in a separate data partition.

[whoop]

I've had this ubuntu install since 7.04. Always upgrade around the beta release.

Cool, good one, I would've beaten you if it weren't for that pesky hard disk failure of mine :D

It really feels nice to have a fast and stable operating system that you installed years and years ago...

[RandomJoe]

Always a fresh install - but not just because I want to!

I have tried upgrading Ubuntu a number of times over the years, and for whatever reason the attempts all failed miserably. Most commonly the upgrade would die somewhere in the middle, leaving me with an unbootable system.

The last time (9.04 -> 9.10), though, it *appeared* to go smoothly. The system booted normally. But I had a three disk RAID5 for data storage that was flat GONE. Absolutely nothing I tried would bring it back to life, the system refused to see it. So a full wipe-then-fresh-install and hey, it all came up working just fine!

I sure do like the idea of upgrading though, I tend to forget all the little things that I've done over time to make the system the way I want it. On the other hand, fresh installs are a built-in opportunity to "clean out the cruft" that tends to collect over time...

[autonomy]

I tend to forget all the little things that I've done over time to make the system the way I want it.I write down things like that in a notebook that I keep beside my computer.

[Tipped OuT]

I write down things like that in a notebook that I keep beside my computer.

That's actually not a bad idea. I'll try that. Thanks.

[quantum8]

I haven't needed to do a fresh install since 7.04 :D

[hoppipolla]

Upgrading any operating system besides a rolling release is setting yourself up for failure.

lol I don't think that's true, I've always upgraded my Linux distros and I've had way more successes than failures (in fact, I can't remember ANY failures off-hand!)

But everyone seems to have different experiences :)

[Digital Magi]

Always a fresh install but keeping my /home partition. I have had bad luck with upgrades, now I just start clean.

Just before upgrading, I go through my app menu and jot down a list of everything I have installed and actually am using, then after the fresh install I do a quick apt-get session and put them all back clean. This also helps me keep down the bloat, as I tend to install stuff and forget to uninstall the ones I don't use. I get a bit cluttered between installs :(

[T.R.]

I have way too much music (over 24 GB of it) on this machine to do a fresh install every time. I haven't done a fresh reinstall since Intrepid, and the upgrades usually go with little to no hitches.

[Skripka]

I have way too much music (over 24 GB of it) on this machine to do a fresh install every time. I haven't done a fresh reinstall since Intrepid, and the upgrades usually go with little to no hitches.

That is exactly why you put / and /home on separate partitions...

[Thirtysixway]

I usually just do an update, but I think next release I'll try a fresh install. Not only did compiz break, I also didn't get all the new karmic themes and I lost my screensaver.

Next time, I'll be doing a fresh install. :s