Re: Upgrade Problem

[deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com>]

Joe wrote:

> Reinstalling looks good until you've done it, the old installation is
> history, and over the next few weeks you realise how much time you had
> spent over the last few years tweaking your computer to get it the way
> you like it.
> 
> And no, you cannot at the same time a) clear out the cruft, choose
> different and better software and do the partitioning better and b) just
> backup the old /etc and restore it.
> 
> Been there, done all that...
> 
> Apart from the fact that reinstalling becomes attractive only after
> you've really broken it badly, beyond the point where you can do dpkg
> --get-selections and suchlike. Nobody ever reinstalls before they
> desperately need to.

Might be true for linux ... for the MS crap it is a must, so I learned doing
backups (linux usb stick) and when I have to refresh my wife's or sister's
PC, I would restore the last backup I took right after refreshing the PC
the last time - you need some time to catch up with all the updates, but it
is less if you start from 10y ago.
It means this OS was not meant to be operated more than 3-5y even if you do
not do much on it it gets slower and slower as if a counter is running
somewhere.

I personally do not reinstall - PCs and servers are up to date - they were
installed some 10-15y ago. Migrated a lot of things though - bigger disks,
new motherboards etc. As times go by and things get more and more complex a
proper planning is required even for doing small things like adding
additional disks, but ... this falls into category sysadmin - a role I
avoid to play unless required.

regards