Upgrading to 64 Bit version of Ubuntu

[kelvinator]

Currently I am running 13.04 32-Bit format on a fairly new (less than 2 years old) dell laptop. On the blessed day when 13.10 rolls around for upgrading, can I upgrade from 32-bit 13.04 to the
64-bit 13.10 without incurring any stress and strain? Or will I need to do this as a brand new installation (and thereby hosing all of my configurations not to mention needing to restore many gigabytes of data files).

Failing that, does anyone know if the upgrade mechanism will just stick to the 32-bit format during the next upgrade. I am asking this because I read in another forum that going forward Ubuntu would default to 64-bit for downloads and installations.

[mörgæs]

Switching to 64 bit can only be done with a fresh install.

No matter what you choose it's best to wait some weeks after the official release date.

[cybrsaylr]

Been using 64 bit versions of Ubuntu for years with never any issues or problems with drivers.
You just have to make your PC supports 64 bit architecture.

[oldfred]

You can stay with 32bit. It just is that so many new systems really are 64 bit and should use the 64 bit verison that finally Ubuntu will recommend the 64 bit version as the standard download and comment that older or computer with less than 2GB of RAM use the 32 bit version.

I upgraded my 2006 laptop & home built systems from 32 bit to 64 bit when going from 9.04 to 9.10. But you either need to backup /home or have a separate /home partition. All your user settings are in /home. You also want to export a list of installed applications to make it easier to reinstall all of them. A few other issues are in this link. As I backup everything I need to just do a new install anyway.

Oldfred's list of stuff to backup May 2011:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1748541

Some files to exclude from /home backup - post by Paddy Landau
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1883834

More detail on /etc files to backup - post #3:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1500559

[sanderj]

I read in another forum that going forward Ubuntu would default to 64-bit for downloads and installations.

That has been posted before in the past years, but until now it has not happened.