Re: Debian 5

[Lisi Reisz <lisi.reisz@gmail.com>]

On Monday 19 May 2014 20:40:05 Jim Harris wrote:
> I ran into a situation whereby a server was not well maintained and
> contains some critical scientific information for someone I know.

Updating and upgrading only matters if the machine is in contact with the 
outside world.  Otherwise, if it is running fine there is no problem. 

 You could certainly upgrade form 5-> 6-> 7, but be sure to ask for advice and 
follow the release notes for each version on Debian's website.
https://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze/amd64/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html
https://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze/i386/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html

But above all, if this data is critical, before doing anything else, BACKUP, 
BACKUP and BACKUP again.  Then store the backups in completely diferent 
places.

Lisi