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I've recently Upgrade my UBUNTU(18.10) to 19.04(For some reasons I had to install the OS from the first and not just using upgrade tool in OS) and before I migrated to 19.04,I backed up some directories as mentioned here , but when I restored my back up my UBUNTU exploded so I had to reinstall the UBUNTU and gave up about the backup

My question is , if I want to migrate to new version of UBUNTU in future , what directories should I backup so I don't have to install all of packages and all their configurations and all services that I installed before and most importantly ,no compatibility issues appear ?? Which directories do you suggest to backup if someone wants to upgrade his OS and doesn't want to do all of things from the beginning of installing an OS again ??

Afshin
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    What you wish to backup depends on what is important to you. I primarily worry about $HOME (your user directory) as anything is generally generic. I also install with 'something else' & select no-format, so only system directories are erased, and programs that were installed from Ubuntu repositories are re-installed post-install automatically. I do make certain other alterations to my installs which mean a few files in /etc/ also may be saved; but I have a script that re-creates these anyway. The type of backup also makes a difference (does your chosen method allow selective restore?) – guiverc Apr 21 '19 at 04:44
  • I use backup tools that installed by default in UBUNTU and as far as I know it doesn't have selective restore. About your answer , so if I choose something else in installing and then don't format the partition no configurations and packages in UBUNTU repository would erased, right ??@guiverc – Afshin Apr 21 '19 at 05:34
  • I use rsync for backup, which is installed by default, and does allow for partial restore, but that may not be what you use. I was providing a suggestion based on what I do, which may or may not suit how you use your machine. Use 'something else' as I describe erases system directories, so global settings will likely be erased, but user configs which are usually found in $HOME won't be erased, however this can be overwritten by changing configs, or a program that was for a different OS that stored files differently (ie. it'll cover 99%). All packages are wiped, but re-installed if possible. – guiverc Apr 21 '19 at 06:40

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