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View Full Version : Steps to wipe 13.04 encrypted drive, install 13.10, and restore config and apps?



tehhund2
January 2nd, 2014, 02:41 PM
Short version: if I'm migrating to 13.10 from 13.04 by doing a wipe and clean install, what do I need to back up, how do I restore it, and how do I get a list of apps to consider reinstalling after the upgrade?

Details: I'm currently running Ubuntu 13.04 and want to upgrade to 13.10. I have the entire hard disk encrypted with LUKS, but I've decided that encrypting my home folder will be enough in the future. I don't think there's any way to just undo the encryption in-place, so I plan to save off the critical files, do a fresh format / install of 13.10, and restore my settings/apps/customizations.

My plan was to back up my entire /home folder and my entire /etc folder to an external hard drive. But I'm not sure what to do after I do a fresh install of 13.10 to get my computer more or less back to where it was. Do I just overwrite /home and /etc with the backed up versions? Do I need to carefully restore my customizations file-by-file? The latter mees more foolproof but will also require some real effort.

I'm also not sure how to make sure I install the apps that I had installed before. I realize that if I don't remember an app, then maybe I don't need to reinstall it because I'm not using it, but I might want a list of apps so I don't forget something that I set up to run in the background.