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Accepted
Mohd Arafat Hossain
Asked: 2012-05-03 22:33:39 +0800 CST

What can I backup to avoid re-downloading the updates I have installed if I am forced to erase & install Ubuntu?

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It's just been days since I started using Ubuntu on my PC and I'm doing my best to keep it updated at all times via 'Update Manager'. But what I've noticed is that if I update today the next day when I log in there is a new set of updates waiting for me.

I want to keep these updates as a backup so I don't have to download the updates all over again if I am forced to freshly install Ubuntu. So what do I Backup?

NOTE: I'm doing this following some random website I visited while surfing the net. This is what I'm doing (in Terminal) to backup files

sudo su
cd /
tar cvpjf backup.tar.bz2 --exclude=/proc --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=/backup.tar.bz2 --exclude=/mnt --exclude=/sys /

and to restore it I'm using this (after I put backup.taz.bz2 in the root location)

sudo su
cd /
tar xvpfj backup.tar.bz2 -C /

but I'm not sure if this backups the updates...does it?

updates upgrade backup

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    If want to backup your updates & installed packages. Just copy /var/cache/apt/archives to some another location and copy them back after fresh install. You will save many packages to be re downloaded.

    Doing the above would be easy using AptonCD

    Also you can use remastersys to create image of your current system and install from it with updated package and installed files. Probably it also keeps track of your settings. I'm not sure about the last feature.

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