Update with USB?

[Karl Auer]

On Sun, 2016-03-20 at 06:55 +0000, David G. wrote:
> IIRC you can boot to the Live USB and it offers to upgrade during the
> installation process.

Yes - you can upgrade to the version on the stick, install the version
on the stick alongside existing installed operating systems, or wipe
everything to install the version on the stick.

While your mileage may vary, I have had uniformly bad experiences with
upgrading, ever since Ubuntu 5.mumble. I now make sure I have a good
backup or two, and always install a new version from scratch.

I have a long list of packages to install afterwards, a few notes on
the one or two where there are tricks (like installing the oracle
instant client and the relevant Python libraries), plus a shortish list
of tweaks to make. It turns out that there are only about five things
where it is worth keeping the configuration (and only very few things
that it is worth backing up out of /etc).

As you say there is also a "something else" option that lets you
stipulate exactly how the disk(s) should be partitioned and what should
be installed/mounted where, but unless you are pretty sure of yourself
or are following instructions you trust, I don't recommend that path.

> There was also a "repair installation" type of deal.

I didn't see this last time I installed (15.10 a few weeks ago).

Regards, K.

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