thoughts on upgrading from fc7

gfd622 · #1 30th August 2008, 12:45 PM

Hi all,

About 1 1/2 years ago, I built a dual-boot XP/Linux AMD_64 box and really I've been very pleased. It's been awesome, and oddly enough (though it doesn't surprise me), I find myself logged into linux almost exclusively, and never on the awful windows side.

Since this is my home computer, I have of course built up a ton of files, all over the place, that I don't really want to try to mess with and locate. I want to leave everything as is (which is convenient really).

Now, I'm thinking of upgrading from FC7 to whatever (FC8/FC9). I don't really need to, so maybe I should leave well alone, but is it that easy to upgrade without losing any information? Is it best to do with Yum or ?? I don't really know the things used now (I can burn a DVD and do it that way - select upgrade, and see what happens). I just wondered what others have found works best (or more importantly, what doesn't work at all).

I want to maintain the dual boot status, for now anyway.

Thanks

Dave

***Hlingler*** · #2 30th August 2008, 12:58 PM

You can do a "live" upgrade (as opposed to a clean/fresh (re)install), either via CD/DVD, or truly live via YUM: Tools/yum/YumUpgradeFaq - FedoraProject. However, as noted on that linked page, such upgrades are not officially supported (yet).

Having said all that, I've successfully done several, although not without some issues.... One thing is certain: you should not skip a release (e.g., from F7=>F9) - that is simply asking for problems. So, you're faced with upgrading from F7=>F8, but F8 goes end-of-life one month after F10 releases (~late November). At which point you might have to repeat the process....

If you choose to upgrade, I would recommend a truly live upgrade via YUM, so you will get all the latest packages right away - with a CD/DVD, you'd end up updating everything all over again after the upgrade.

Follow the guide if you want to try, but be prepared for the worst, and do backup your important data first. There are no guarantees.

Good Luck,
V

***glennzo*** · #3 30th August 2008, 01:08 PM

Do a fresh install.

ppesci · #4 30th August 2008, 06:04 PM

F7 was one of the best fedora release I had. I am using F8 now, more advanced but not so stable as F7.

glennzo and hingler got right. Is better to do a fresh install because in less risky, but you have more choices I think. You can install another fedora release (F8 or F9) in some ways without delete your F7 and test how its work.

You can purchase another HD, or get some space in your HD shrinking your current windows/fedora partition using parted (note: parted can't manage LVM), or you can install F9 in a USB stick and install/upgrade with livecd-tools package. Performance with USB is not so amazing but is an option.

If you go for using parted, backup is desirable.

HTH

gfd622 · #5 30th August 2008, 06:30 PM

For some dumb reason, I never considered running either FC9 or FC7 just like running windows XP/FC7. Just make another OS on the disk (I think I have room for that one, I have to see). That may in fact be my safest option, create a FC9 partition from scratch (without removing any old files/areas) and just add it as an option in my grub bootup table.

What am I missing here? Does FC9 still use grub? The reason I never upgraded is that FC7 is so good, but I know eventually I need to worry about compatibility, and so if I stay on top of it as things grow, it's just a lot easier. My system is very stable, runs a lot of specialty programs that I use for crystallography, and also allows me to do whatever I need to do in terms of basic computing.

So perhaps keeping FC7, winXP (just because - that may actually go but it's not a big deal right now), and adding FC9 is the way to go. Any ideas on this?

Thanks for the input

Dave

marcrblevins · #6 30th August 2008, 06:48 PM

Just wondering, why not yum remove a bunch of library packages and the leftovers happens to be your data files. Get it? Never thought of that til now.

vallimar · #7 30th August 2008, 07:57 PM

Keep in mind that FC10 will be out in November and FC9 is.. well.. not pretty and has a couple issues yet. But if you want to keep FC7 while you test things out.. either get a new drive to install onto, so you don't contaminate things, or if you have the free space, juggle your partitions a bit so you can free up enough room to reformat or create a new one that you can install into and play with, without sacrificing FC7.

If you decide you want to switch for real.. and you aren't sure what is where that you want to keep, just copy it all somewhere, reformat the rest and move things back over time as you remember and/or find them. Get one of those external usb drives and take a system backup.

ppesci · #8 31st August 2008, 07:27 AM

F9 uses grup. No problem there.

I think if you have some space available on drive, is the best option. You can buy a new drive to test F9. As vallimar says, F9 has a bunch of new things but is not so stable. You have a chance to wait and see what happens with F10.

HTH

madmattman · #9 4th September 2008, 09:36 PM

Don't do it, I've run all Fedora's since 3 except 6 and 8.....and 7 has been by far, the best OS in my books and in my rack. 9 is turning out to be a bit of a hunk-a-junk thus far. I hope 10 is mostly fixes because 9 surely wasn't ready....riddled with constant problems, bugs, and minimal support for the bleeding edgers. Stay with 7, in my opinion.

my_linux · #10 12th September 2008, 09:20 AM

If your computer can boot from USB you could simply make a Live USB stick if not make a Live CD to try out 8 / 9 and 10 Alpha (or newer). This will not involve chaging what you currently have but should give you an idea of what things will be like.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraLiveCD/USBHowTo

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraLiveCD/LiveCDHowTo