ext4 to aptik to btrfs

[oldgeek]

I'm getting ready to wipe out my hard disk and install Kubunty 18.04 using btrfs. I have backed up my settings and my home folder in an external HD using Aptik. My question is, can I restore the home folder, which was previously part of ext4, into the new btrfs configuration just by pressing restore? Or is there some incompatibility which will make that impossible?

[vinnywright]

what file system the home folder was in will not mater , what will may/maynot be is what version of what the home folders "." files came from (the settings) .

I think you were running a Neon/Kubuntu mix from the neon /dev/stabel so you may be ok as the plasma versions wont be so fare off that the settings will be incompatible hopefully.

what may cause a glitch is if , in your settings some look and feel or theme that is no longer installed is referenced.

VINNY

[GreyGeek]

Like VINNY says, if you restore everything BUT the hidden ".config", etc., files you shouldn't have any problems.
I just mounted my Btrfs /backup HD and used mc to copy Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, etc.., and any directories I created from a Btrfs @home_YYYYMMDD snapshot over to the new installation, using "Keep attributes" but replacing existing target destinations. 90Gb come flying back in. Your problems will probably be related to restoring Kmail, Thunderbird (whatever) emails after you install those apps. I never had any success getting the new KMail to read the copied over emails because aconadi always got in the way. So, I switched to Thunderbird and imported the emails. Minecraft came over without problems. So did Steam's Universe Sandbox^2. If you have any WinX apps installed under WINE you will have to be careful to bring over the hidden WINE directories that mimic the C: drive, and its subdirectories.

All in all, a clean install followed by installing apps from the repository or PPA and data from the backups always produces the best upgrade with the least problems.

However, I generally prefer a new install over an do-upgrade to a new version.

[oldgeek]

Fine, that explains it, and thank you. Now one more question: I've backed up my repos, but I'm beginning to think I should definitely not restore these as I'm going back to Kubuntu and my repositories include the Neon-dev repos. Should I just delete that particular folder from my backup before I restore?

[vinnywright]

Fine, that explains it, and thank you. Now one more question: I've backed up my repos, but I'm beginning to think I should definitely not restore these as I'm going back to Kubuntu and my repositories include the Neon-dev repos. Should I just delete that particular folder from my backup before I restore?

yes ,,,,leave the new system as default as possible for a wile at first .

I would ONLY restore personal files to begin with , if you can

VINNY

[GreyGeek]

Ditto to what VINNY wrote!

[oldgeek]

Thanks. The home folder will take long enough to restore. I've put the backups on a separate HD, so it will be easy to restore them when I'm ready. Why Kubuntu instead of Neon? No special reason, I like both. But Kubuntu seems more stable at this point. I can use Neon on a VM.

[oldgeek]

By personal files I assume you meant the home folder. Did I assume correctly?

[GreyGeek]

My KDE Neon User Edition has been stable as a rock. So has Btrfs. Best distro I've ever used since I started using Linux in May of 1998.

[oldgeek]

Yes, I know you are happy with Neon. Really, so am I, but recently there have been a couple of problems due to the switch to Plasma 5.13, and I've been wondering. There are a couple of caveats, though. I upgraded from 14.04 (my best KDE distro so far) to 16.04 w/o a new install--I read the warnings after it was already done. Then I added the Neon repositories to my Kubuntu, which was working all right, and got Neon. But there might be some problem tucked away under all that code since I did the upgrade instead of a new install, as recommended. The other caveat is that I use the developer edition instead of the user edition, so you may not have had the teething problems I have had. Third, apart from Plasma, I don't use all that many KDE programs--Ksudoku and Kstars are the most common. Kubuntu is not so tied to KDE as Neon is, so I figure the former will suit me better. But your praises of btrfs have convinced me to try it out, and so I will be installing btrfs as my file system once I get the courage to wipe out my hard disk (with Windows 10) and turn my beloved PC clone tower computer into a total Kubuntu 18.04 machine, with the option of turning it into a Neon machine depending on my experience and the Neon experience of others.

I have always found your comments interesting and your advice helpful, and it was on your advice that I first switched to Neon. The experience has been positive, but I want to try Kubuntu again.

[vinnywright]

By personal files I assume you meant the home folder. Did I assume correctly?

NO ,,,not the hole home folder just your files , any office documents you work with , music , videos , notes ,,,,that kind of stuff .

the hole /home/you/folder will contain settings specific to the system that you were running ,,,,,,it MAY not hurt , BUT it could cause glitches.

VINNY

[oldgeek]

Thanks for clearing that up. I had backed up my home folder, and assumed I could just restore that as is, but now I see I should be more specific on what I want to restore. One keeps learning.

[GreyGeek]

Either way, Neon or Kubuntu, the best experience is always obtained from a fresh install, not an upgrade. IMO.

[oldgeek]

Which is why I'm doing precisely that. I got lucky last time.

[GreyGeek]

After reading lots of horror stories about upgrading to a new release instead of doing a fresh install I've always done the fresh install. With KDE Neon User Edition's upgrade to 18.04 I am going to experiment with the upgrade, because I can 1) always roll back using my archival btrfs snapshot, 2) replace the upgrade with a fresh install and copy my home data back over.