Upgrading to Ubuntu 20, *how* to back up?

[Peter Teuben]

this is a good question, and perhaps somewhat of a black art, where many
ways achieve the same result, with different amounts of frustration. It's
risky to overlay the new ubuntu as this can lead to frustrations because
some apps use the .config/ file in a different way. And you can't go back,
so a backup is preferred.

In my opinion the best way is to install it on a fresh partition. Will cost
you some time.

I set up two / partitions, so you always have the other "at hand"
this does have the disadvantage that you have to reconnect all your app.
Some are user related (e.g. the .config tree, the .thunderbird tree (in my
case that's 20GB)etc.     Then there are the root files, for me most
importantly the /etc/ssh and /etc/cups, maybe /etc/hosts , but there could
be a number

If you don't have the space, then an external drive will have to be used.
If you have kept your / partition separate from /home, then your / should
be smallish (20-30gb these days), so something like

     rsync -avx  /   /media/mydisk/myroot

where myroot is a new directory you have made in the mydisk,  this should
be a pretty quick operation. 10 mins or so for 30GB.

I started writing up my notes on the upgrade, these are not finished yet,
but perhaps there are some useful pieces of info in there for you:

https://github.com/teuben/teunix/blob/master/Install/Linux_U20.04.md

I hope to have this wrapped up in the next few days. I have been running
the beta and upgraded that to the official one, but it's running off an
external fast M.2, but once we can leave our homes again, I will need the
2nd partition trick. Running arojund with that external drive will be
cumbersome.

peter



On Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 9:11 AM Bo Berglund <bo.berglund at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have seen this disclaimer on so many pages describing the upgrade to
> a new Ubuntu version:
>
> For example on this page:
>
> https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/tutorial-upgrading-ubuntu-desktop#1-before-you-start
>
> they write:
>
> "We recommend that you backup your existing Ubuntu installation before
> you update your computer."
>
> But nowhere do they mention *HOW* to do the backup!
>
> It drives me nuts when they all assume that the general user knows how
> to back up his entire system.
> Why can you not at least put a link on the page targeting a webpage
> describing how to accomplish the backup?
>
> As it is now I believe the majority (like me) do not know how to go
> about this and just skip the backup step.
>
> So please:
> Where is a sensible easy-to-follow description on *how* to back up
> prior to a system upgrade?
>
>
> --
> Bo Berglund
> Developer in Sweden
>
>
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