How the heck to get old .kde into the current .kde

[urdrwho5]

Thanks.

After making the back-up can I then use Dolphin to copy and paste over to the external drive?

You can use "man cp" to learn up on the copy command.

As YOU, not root,
cp -rp ~/.kde ~/.kde_bkup

"-r" copies it recursively, which includes all subdirectories and their files.
-p" preserves the ownership, permissions and timestamp.

[GreyGeek]

Yes, if you run it as you, and not root. When you use the "Copy to" option on the right-mouse gui popup and choose /home/youraccountname. You will be presented with the following dialog:

At this point you should edit ".kde" to be .kde_bkup" (for example). That will activate the "Continue" button. Click it. The directory /.kde_bkup should immediately appear below ~/.kde.

[urdrwho5]

The bkup is complete.

Then I went to Dolphin / copy.

Then I went to My Book (external drive) and told Dolphin to copy but I get a message ---

Could not create symlink /media/me/my book/.kde_bkup/cache-urdrwho.  Please check parameters

I then have choices to autoskip / skip / cancel.

I'll go with autoskip but I am worried that looses the permissions.

Wonder why Kubuntu just have a move to option?

Yes, if you run it as you, and not root. When you use the "Copy to" option on the right-mouse gui popup and choose /home/youraccountname. You will be presented with the following dialog:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6833[/ATTACH]
At this point you should edit ".kde" to be .kde_bkup" (for example). That will activate the "Continue" button. Click it. The directory /.kde_bkup should immediately appear below ~/.kde.

[urdrwho5]

Oddly after this exercise my system seems to be running more efficient. Dolphin loads faster, the same with other applications.

Not sure if it is truth or just my imagination?