I'm considering switching from Bazzite (btrfs) to cachyOS, and I'm wondering if it's possible to keep my /home folder intact. Is there a way to do this without wiping my entire drive? Ideally, I'd like to remove everything except for /home and then resize the partitions. I want to avoid downloading 300 GB of games again if possible. Also, I'm not sure if cachy will perform better than Bazzite on my MSI laptop, so I don't want to invest too much time and effort into this switch. Backing up isn't an option since my important files are already in the cloud; this is mainly about saving time.
5 Answers
It's definitely possible if you handle the partitioning correctly. Just make sure you set it all up right before you switch, and your /home should transfer over fine.
You can definitely set up a root and home partition when installing your new distro. Some distros like Kubuntu even offer this option during installation. If /home is on the same partition as /, it gets wiped, so keep them separate to avoid losing any data.
For sure! A lot of Linux users do this. What I found helpful is to mount the /home folder on a separate disk. That way, when you want to switch distros, you can just wipe the SSD where the system is and install a new one, while keeping your /home data safe.
Yes, it's totally doable! Just ensure that your /home directory is on a separate partition. When you're installing the new distro, you just need to point to that existing /home partition. And as always, it's a good idea to have backups. Better safe than sorry!
Manual partitioning is your best bet! Most distros come with a GUI that makes it easy. Just select your existing /home partition during installation and don’t format it. This way, you keep all your data while switching systems.
This is probably the simplest way to do it!
Totally agree, having a separate partition for /home works like a charm!