Manolicious
December 25th, 2009, 04:02 PM
I have an HDD that's getting suspiciously old, so I'm planning on making a new HDD my primary HDD, while relegating the old one to a subordinate position of backups and data storage. First I want to know how can I copy my system settings and installed programs so I can reuse them on a updated version of ubuntu (also is it possible to use these same settings and installed programs in other distros, say outside of Debian?), without having to go into synaptic and reinstall them all again (is there a way to view all my installed programs and manage them and clean them up, especially just those different from default? Is there a way to use Computer Janitor w/out fear of breaking something?)
I heard you can do this by just copying the entire partition, but it's tricky and can mess up stuff. Other people I've read said you should copy your entire /home folder (with hidden . files) or your entire /usr folder, reinstall, then replace the default version of those folders with the ones you copied (by having to go in as sudo root
http://www.uluga.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1358446,
http://www.technosamrat.com/linux/ubuntu-linux-installation-tips/).
Are any of these ways right or dangerous? Know a better way?
I don't use traditional backup programs and file sync software as I 1) haven't tried them, 2) I have only ever backed normal files (word, pics, videos, etc.) and never full programs or operating systems, as I've never known how to do it, 3) tend to be picky about what I want to backup, so I just do it the traditional way of dragging and dropping (or w/ the cp and rm command). Am I missing out on anything?
I also heard you can try out other distros while keeping ubuntu on your computer. Is this true? Does it work like a Windows dual boot setup, where the distros exist independently of each other on your HDD, or as linux distros they all work with the same root files? Can it be arranged so they exist independently of each other, say on even different HDDs so I can choose which distro I want to boot from, especially if one of my HDDs crashes? Do you switch between distros only in your BIOs menu? When installing a new distro, do you have to worry about it wiping out the old one, or can they be installed side by side? Do you have the option to wipe out or replace the old distro when installing, and is this done by simply deleting the old distro or upgrading it?
9.04
I heard you can do this by just copying the entire partition, but it's tricky and can mess up stuff. Other people I've read said you should copy your entire /home folder (with hidden . files) or your entire /usr folder, reinstall, then replace the default version of those folders with the ones you copied (by having to go in as sudo root
http://www.uluga.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1358446,
http://www.technosamrat.com/linux/ubuntu-linux-installation-tips/).
Are any of these ways right or dangerous? Know a better way?
I don't use traditional backup programs and file sync software as I 1) haven't tried them, 2) I have only ever backed normal files (word, pics, videos, etc.) and never full programs or operating systems, as I've never known how to do it, 3) tend to be picky about what I want to backup, so I just do it the traditional way of dragging and dropping (or w/ the cp and rm command). Am I missing out on anything?
I also heard you can try out other distros while keeping ubuntu on your computer. Is this true? Does it work like a Windows dual boot setup, where the distros exist independently of each other on your HDD, or as linux distros they all work with the same root files? Can it be arranged so they exist independently of each other, say on even different HDDs so I can choose which distro I want to boot from, especially if one of my HDDs crashes? Do you switch between distros only in your BIOs menu? When installing a new distro, do you have to worry about it wiping out the old one, or can they be installed side by side? Do you have the option to wipe out or replace the old distro when installing, and is this done by simply deleting the old distro or upgrading it?
9.04