Is it better to install Ubuntu completely new or is the upgrade process just as good? In other words, will my computer run just as problem-free and efficiently when I upgrade as opposed to a fresh install?
Typically, upgrades are just fine in Ubuntu. It's not like Windows where you have a huge registry to carry over from your last system. As long as you haven't had to follow many tutorials or done any workarounds to fix problems in a unique way (i.e. using a special application to enable your wireless card or made some major changes to your kernel for whatever reason) you'll be fine.
In fact, I'd say about 90% of people who are asking this question will be fine with the upgrade.
If you want to stay absolutely safe, you can always wait for the vetted point release upgrade, or even maybe wait for the next LTS release in a few years. It's your choice. You'll still be supported for the next three years with updates if you're on 10.04 right now.
If your installation is only a toy or an appliance (e.g. just for web browsing) and you haven't customized it, reinstall. Make sure you save any personal data (typically you'll want to back up your home directory and restore selected parts).
If the only customizations you've done on your installation are to install additional drivers or make other tweaks because your hardware was poorly supported under the old version, it may be better to do a clean reinstall.
If you've customized your installation in any other way (configured system settings, installed more than a couple of additional programs, etc.), upgrade. If you've used Ubuntu actively, this case probably applies (if nothing else, you're likely to have installed a bunch of packages).
At the system level, Ubuntu is very good at smooth upgrades. Upgrades are tested before each release. This is a supported mode of operation, and it's more likely to leave you with the system you want than reinstalling and trying to remember all your customizations.
At the user level, Ubuntu's default interface is Gnome, which is not so good at importing settings from one version to another. Thus the choice is between
starting from a fresh home directory and restoring all documents and selected settings from a backup; and
keeping your home directory across the upgrade, and looking into the problem if something goes wrong.
In either case, you might as well do a system upgrade.
Generally a fresh install is preferred for the reason I have seen a lot of issues with the upgrading process. Upgrading process generally ends up going in some crappy graphic driver problem or a GPU one. I even got weird problems, like non availability of shared folders and data loss.
Well its all up to you, as problem also persists when you are going for a clean install. But clean install problems are generally easily understood and recoverable.
Well enjoy installing Ubuntu :)
You can have crashes in a fresh install or in an upgrade. Most people will not experience a crash. If you are in that unlucky minority it is best to:
have a backup you can restore or,
test the install/upgrade on a separate partition.
Clean install advantages and disadvantages
For a clean install all that old garbage you've installed over two years between LTS versions is gone. This however can be a disadvantage as you often forget the good stuff you've added in /usr and /etc subdirectories.
Upgrade advantages and disadvantages
In the process of upgrading you are told for each configuration file what each new package version will be changing. You can select to keep the old or take the new version. For example during Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to 18.04 LTS upgrade these changed on my system:
Sound override to keep HDMI TV active - /etc/pulse/default.pa
Grub override to hide menu at boot unless Escape pressed - /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober
Cron(you would loose all on fresh install!) - /etc/cron.d/anacron
Total network traffic monitoring utility - /etc/vnstat.conf
Running the upgrade on May 6, 2018 I was told that 203 packages will be removed. Over time support for more packages will be added so fewer will be dropped during upgrade. It is best to ensure all your critical needs packages are there or you have alternatives from other developers to use.
Backup first or run upgrade on cloned partition
Backing up and restoring is a pain. It's time consuming and often times your restore doesn't proceed as planned. An alternative is to clone your 16.04 LTS (or whichever version) to a new test partition and upgrade to 18.04 LTS (or whichever version) there.
Use rsync to ensure mirror image from real partition to test partition
Update test partition /boot/grub/grub.cfg with proper UUID's for booting
Update test partition /etc/fstab with proper UUID's for booting
Run sudo update-grub to add test partition to boot menu
Allow you now reboot and run upgrade on test partition
After upgrade on test partition you can take your time exploring all the new features and checking for bugs. You still have your original Ubuntu installation for day to day work. If you find bugs in the new version, you can rerun the cloning and upgrade a week or two later after they have been fixed. You would also re-clone and re-upgrade if packages critical to your work were not supported but now support has been added.
Best of all I had TWO systems to upgrade so I could compare by doing each.
In summary, as others have noted, if you can do a fresh install, that's the best option. It will clear out things that miht otherwise be issues going forward. It'll make you ensure that all your important data and personal programs are not fixed to that machine (obviously you'll be backing them up in this case).
My 'production' machine was the one I upgraded because I was using that for key work stuff.
One thing I would recommend though, as I know hard nerve-wrecking this process can be: Get another machine (you can get a bar bones machine for < $300 now. Set THAT up with your key stuff and then when it's really working ok, do your core machine. That way if something goes wrong, which with an OS install/upgrade can be pretty scary, you can use your other machine while you resolve it. You'll also end up with a physical backup of your data plus a 'go-to' machine if yours fails in the future. Its basically insurance.
For an inexperienced Ubuntu user a clean installation of Ubuntu is probably safer than a distribution upgrade assuming that you have the self-discipline to backup all your personal data before upgrading, the same way you would backup all your personal data before completely reinstalling Ubuntu.
If you are prompted for an upgrade, that means it's a supported upgrade, but how do you know that a supported upgrade will be successful? Even upgrading a brand new installation of Ubuntu can go wrong. I've seen this happen, but the error that was caused by this upgrade was petty and easy to fix.
Sometimes the upgraded system will contain many unnecessary files, config files which aren't working with the new system, etc. Config files which aren't working are identified by the Ubuntu installer when upgrading. When I upgraded from Ubuntu 18.04 to Ubuntu 20.04 it took about an hour and I received one notification about a config file that needed to be edited. I copy/pasted the suggested edit into a text file and edited the config file after the upgrade was completed. It should be noted that if I hadn't watched the terminal output for the entire hour that it took to upgrade to 20.04 I would have missed the suggested edit which worked perfectly.
For removing unnecessary files from the upgraded system I use the following commands:
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt clean
deborphan - Install this package management tool with sudo apt install deborphan.
Running these commands after upgrading takes me about 5 minutes. My workstation has a lot of installed software. If I had done a fresh install instead of an upgrade configuring all the installed applications on my workstation would have taken me 2-3 days.
A successful upgrade is almost entirely dependent of your level of understanding of the Ubuntu operating system. Problems caused by an upgrade can almost always be solved if you have the level of skill necessary to solve them. When I am upgrading Ubuntu I keep a second laptop running alongside the computer being upgraded, so that I can immediately search Ask Ubuntu for the solution as soon as something goes wrong. I rely on my own experience and the experience of others to help me to solve problems that are caused by an upgrade. Otherwise you're gambling on any distribution upgrade – especially if you're an inexperienced Linux user.
Sometimes new features (e.g. the update from ext3 to ext4) are only enabled on fresh installs. I'd recommend you check release notes or changelogs for that, but otherwise there is no real difference.
A clean install is the best way to insure you're getting the experience the developers intended for the release, whereas upgrading can use old data, configurations, packages, etc. or create scenarios developers didn't anticipate or failed to tolerate correctly.
If you're asking - fresh install. Just copy your home directory to the base and change the name to something not used by the system, then during the installation select that partition as "/" and make sure not to select "format" This will install the operating system, but you'll have access to your data without a re-format or anything.
The AptOnCD software is used to create an offline repository of your downloaded packages in a cd. You can use your AptOnCD (created by you, with all your downloaded packages) as a repository source. It is a useful tool for those with less bandwidth. (I have used this before). You can also have a metapackage which install all the installed packages.
Actually you can restore(install) all the packages in a single AptOnCD compilation with a metapackage, if you choose the 'create a metapackage' option. From the metapackage description: "Auto generated meta-package that contains as dependencies all packages in APTonCD media, previously generated by APTonCD".
But you can backup the list of packages by entering command dpkg --get-selections > packages_list, where packages_list is the filename. You can later use this list to install all your packages with the program synaptic or dpkg. this may help you. But make sure your newly installed system also has the repository sources which was in your previous installed system. otherwise, it will not work.
To install all the packages using 'Synaptic Package Manager', follow these
Install synaptic with sudo apt-get install synaptic
Open synaptic by typing synaptic in the dash
Select 'File' from menu, Click 'Read markings'.
In 'Open Changes' window, select the file which you created using dpkg --get-selections command. In this context it is packages_list file.
Typically, upgrades are just fine in Ubuntu. It's not like Windows where you have a huge registry to carry over from your last system. As long as you haven't had to follow many tutorials or done any workarounds to fix problems in a unique way (i.e. using a special application to enable your wireless card or made some major changes to your kernel for whatever reason) you'll be fine.
In fact, I'd say about 90% of people who are asking this question will be fine with the upgrade.
If you want to stay absolutely safe, you can always wait for the vetted point release upgrade, or even maybe wait for the next LTS release in a few years. It's your choice. You'll still be supported for the next three years with updates if you're on 10.04 right now.
That depends what you use Ubuntu for.
At the system level, Ubuntu is very good at smooth upgrades. Upgrades are tested before each release. This is a supported mode of operation, and it's more likely to leave you with the system you want than reinstalling and trying to remember all your customizations.
At the user level, Ubuntu's default interface is Gnome, which is not so good at importing settings from one version to another. Thus the choice is between
In either case, you might as well do a system upgrade.
Generally a fresh install is preferred for the reason I have seen a lot of issues with the upgrading process. Upgrading process generally ends up going in some crappy graphic driver problem or a GPU one. I even got weird problems, like non availability of shared folders and data loss.
Well its all up to you, as problem also persists when you are going for a clean install. But clean install problems are generally easily understood and recoverable.
Well enjoy installing Ubuntu :)
There are no guarantees in life
You can have crashes in a fresh install or in an upgrade. Most people will not experience a crash. If you are in that unlucky minority it is best to:
Clean install advantages and disadvantages
For a clean install all that old garbage you've installed over two years between LTS versions is gone. This however can be a disadvantage as you often forget the good stuff you've added in
/usrand/etcsubdirectories.Upgrade advantages and disadvantages
In the process of upgrading you are told for each configuration file what each new package version will be changing. You can select to keep the old or take the new version. For example during Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to 18.04 LTS upgrade these changed on my system:
/etc/sane.d/dll.conf/etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf/etc/pulse/default.pa/etc/grub.d/30_os-prober/etc/cron.d/anacron/etc/vnstat.confRunning the upgrade on May 6, 2018 I was told that 203 packages will be removed. Over time support for more packages will be added so fewer will be dropped during upgrade. It is best to ensure all your critical needs packages are there or you have alternatives from other developers to use.
Backup first or run upgrade on cloned partition
Backing up and restoring is a pain. It's time consuming and often times your restore doesn't proceed as planned. An alternative is to clone your 16.04 LTS (or whichever version) to a new test partition and upgrade to 18.04 LTS (or whichever version) there.
I use a script to clone Ubuntu to a test partition for upgrading: Bash script to clone Ubuntu to new partition for testing 18.04 LTS upgrade
The script will:
rsyncto ensure mirror image from real partition to test partition/boot/grub/grub.cfgwith proper UUID's for booting/etc/fstabwith proper UUID's for bootingsudo update-grubto add test partition to boot menuAfter upgrade on test partition you can take your time exploring all the new features and checking for bugs. You still have your original Ubuntu installation for day to day work. If you find bugs in the new version, you can rerun the cloning and upgrade a week or two later after they have been fixed. You would also re-clone and re-upgrade if packages critical to your work were not supported but now support has been added.
For me upgrading always led to problems, sometimes big sometimes small. And most of them was in old config files in home folder.
So my usual flow is like this -
I was presented with this choice last year.
Best of all I had TWO systems to upgrade so I could compare by doing each.
In summary, as others have noted, if you can do a fresh install, that's the best option. It will clear out things that miht otherwise be issues going forward. It'll make you ensure that all your important data and personal programs are not fixed to that machine (obviously you'll be backing them up in this case).
My 'production' machine was the one I upgraded because I was using that for key work stuff.
One thing I would recommend though, as I know hard nerve-wrecking this process can be: Get another machine (you can get a bar bones machine for < $300 now. Set THAT up with your key stuff and then when it's really working ok, do your core machine. That way if something goes wrong, which with an OS install/upgrade can be pretty scary, you can use your other machine while you resolve it. You'll also end up with a physical backup of your data plus a 'go-to' machine if yours fails in the future. Its basically insurance.
For an inexperienced Ubuntu user a clean installation of Ubuntu is probably safer than a distribution upgrade assuming that you have the self-discipline to backup all your personal data before upgrading, the same way you would backup all your personal data before completely reinstalling Ubuntu.
If you are prompted for an upgrade, that means it's a supported upgrade, but how do you know that a supported upgrade will be successful? Even upgrading a brand new installation of Ubuntu can go wrong. I've seen this happen, but the error that was caused by this upgrade was petty and easy to fix.
Sometimes the upgraded system will contain many unnecessary files, config files which aren't working with the new system, etc. Config files which aren't working are identified by the Ubuntu installer when upgrading. When I upgraded from Ubuntu 18.04 to Ubuntu 20.04 it took about an hour and I received one notification about a config file that needed to be edited. I copy/pasted the suggested edit into a text file and edited the config file after the upgrade was completed. It should be noted that if I hadn't watched the terminal output for the entire hour that it took to upgrade to 20.04 I would have missed the suggested edit which worked perfectly.
For removing unnecessary files from the upgraded system I use the following commands:
sudo apt autoremovesudo apt cleandeborphan- Install this package management tool withsudo apt install deborphan.Running these commands after upgrading takes me about 5 minutes. My workstation has a lot of installed software. If I had done a fresh install instead of an upgrade configuring all the installed applications on my workstation would have taken me 2-3 days.
A successful upgrade is almost entirely dependent of your level of understanding of the Ubuntu operating system. Problems caused by an upgrade can almost always be solved if you have the level of skill necessary to solve them. When I am upgrading Ubuntu I keep a second laptop running alongside the computer being upgraded, so that I can immediately search Ask Ubuntu for the solution as soon as something goes wrong. I rely on my own experience and the experience of others to help me to solve problems that are caused by an upgrade. Otherwise you're gambling on any distribution upgrade – especially if you're an inexperienced Linux user.
Sometimes new features (e.g. the update from ext3 to ext4) are only enabled on fresh installs. I'd recommend you check release notes or changelogs for that, but otherwise there is no real difference.
A clean install is the best way to insure you're getting the experience the developers intended for the release, whereas upgrading can use old data, configurations, packages, etc. or create scenarios developers didn't anticipate or failed to tolerate correctly.
If you're asking - fresh install. Just copy your home directory to the base and change the name to something not used by the system, then during the installation select that partition as "/" and make sure not to select "format" This will install the operating system, but you'll have access to your data without a re-format or anything.
The AptOnCD software is used to create an offline repository of your downloaded packages in a cd. You can use your AptOnCD (created by you, with all your downloaded packages) as a repository source. It is a useful tool for those with less bandwidth. (I have used this before). You can also have a metapackage which install all the installed packages.
you can get more information about AptOnCD here.
Actually you can restore(install) all the packages in a single AptOnCD compilation with a metapackage, if you choose the 'create a metapackage' option. From the metapackage description: "Auto generated meta-package that contains as dependencies all packages in APTonCD media, previously generated by APTonCD".
But you can backup the list of packages by entering command
dpkg --get-selections > packages_list, wherepackages_listis the filename. You can later use this list to install all your packages with the programsynapticordpkg. this may help you. But make sure your newly installed system also has the repository sources which was in your previous installed system. otherwise, it will not work.To install all the packages using 'Synaptic Package Manager', follow these
sudo apt-get install synapticsynapticin the dashdpkg --get-selectionscommand. In this context it ispackages_listfile.