I'm currently using Fedora and thinking about switching to Ubuntu. I have system snapshots saved on an external HDD from my Fedora setup, and I'm wondering if there's any way I can use those snapshots once I switch over. Specifically, I'd like to know:
- Can I restore personal files from them?
- Is it possible to reuse browser configurations or dotfiles?
- I'm not looking for a full system restore, just curious about what I could salvage from these snapshots.
4 Answers
That totally depends on which type of snapshots you’re referring to. If they’re system snapshots meant for rollback, they might not actually be useful for your data. Always good to have a solid backup strategy in place separate from snapshots!
You should be able to restore your entire /home directory without any issues, which means you'll keep all your documents and settings! Just be cautious—if any applications throw a fit because the Fedora version is newer than what's on Ubuntu, you might need to delete some folders in ~/.config or ~/.local/share and set those up again from scratch.
Before diving in, I'd advise against restoring everything from /home, particularly the hidden files. Some programs may include distro-specific files in those, which could cause issues. Just be careful with what you bring over!
When I switched from Fedora to Ubuntu, I essentially did a non-destructive reinstall of Ubuntu on top of my Fedora setup. I managed to keep all my personal configs, but the actual software didn’t transfer smoothly due to the different package formats. Just a heads up on that if you're using specialized software!
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