<html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <div class="moz-cite-prefix">Agree, it's worth while keeping the preferences files. I am not sure, though, this applies to the original question: if I understood the original request correctly, the user didn't want to upgrade but move his current system onto a different PC. Maybe I was wrong. <div class="moz-signature">Lutz Andersohn <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:lutz.andersohn@gmail.com">lutz.andersohn@gmail.com</a> (925) 784 1565 D-19318, AFF-I <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/b65/2b6">http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/b65/2b6</a> Public key ID: 0x9620D1A6</div> On 05/12/2014 05:53 PM, Patrice ARNAL wrote: </div> <blockquote cite="mid:537150D2.5050108@gmx.fr" type="cite"> Le 13/05/2014 00:19, James Freer a écrit : <blockquote type="cite">On Mon, 12 May 2014, Peter Flynn wrote: <blockquote type="cite"> Like Patrice, I keep my /home directory on a separate partition, so I do exactly as he describes. My /home/user contents is all on svn ... ///Peter </blockquote> When I tried that I found that the hidden files were then retained which with a new release may not be what one wants (as I see it not being that IT savvy). I was wondering if having /home was better left on a 'system partition' and all the work files etc put on another (e.g. on my 500 gb disk, system partition 100gb and the rest 400gb). It means mounting that partition but does mean the system and config files are all in one place. No one else has mentioned this so I am assuming I am wrong but I'd be grateful if someone could suggest the best two partition setup. I used to have two hard drives on my old machine - one system and the other files. james </blockquote> I encountered the same problem : in my home directory there is a lot of hidden files and directories that handles the user's preferences for applications. These preferences are on a per-user basis and not system-wide. Hence they should NOT be put on the system partition. Even on my laptop, I have several accounts : me, my wife, and some "demo" accounts, with different settings. When upgrading to new version, some side effect may occur. BUT you have to take in account the pros/cons balance of keeping these preferences : Mozilla Thunderbird/Firefox for instance check rather nicely these differences and you can start the new system keeping all your settings, favorites, mailboxes etc... Same thing for RapidPhoto Downloader and shotwell : a database of more than 3000 photos is worth to be kept. The only bug I encountered was Stellarium that has an odd behavior due to the upgrade. Removing the .stellarium directory and re-creating it solved the issue. My opinion is that these hidden files ARE worth to be kept hence keeping the /home folder on a separate disk/partition seems a good choice. From time to time, when doing MAJOR upgrades (Jumping from an old 11.4 to 14.04 for instance) I renamed the user's home directory (patrice to patrice.old) from the live cd before installation. After installation, I moved visible documents/folders to the new home folder created by the installation, and I checked application by application which hidden folders/files I should keep or re-build. Patrice </blockquote> </body> </html>