{"id":60188,"date":"2026-02-17T18:18:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/a8ea2762-4177-43dd-af5a-d065dd355c8a"},"modified":"2026-02-17T18:18:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:18:00","slug":"3-ways-to-switch-linux-distros-without-losing-all-your-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/3-ways-to-switch-linux-distros-without-losing-all-your-data\/","title":{"rendered":"3 ways to switch Linux distros without losing all your data"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"c-shortcodeImage u-clearfix c-shortcodeImage-large\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_imageContainer\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_image\"><picture class=\"c-cmsImage c-cmsImage_loaded\"><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/a\/img\/resize\/0b431e5ff89f1f13d4e46b9334d3658316fbf8d9\/2026\/02\/17\/6d3ab49c-2612-4495-b9f9-095d959844b0\/gettyimages-1695460374.jpg?auto=webp&amp;precrop=6000,3341,x0,y604&amp;width=768\" alt=\"gettyimages-1695460374\"><source media=\"(max-width: 1023px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/a\/img\/resize\/0086232f2d1c83118ec3a718d9b23e197888da3c\/2026\/02\/17\/6d3ab49c-2612-4495-b9f9-095d959844b0\/gettyimages-1695460374.jpg?auto=webp&amp;precrop=6000,3341,x0,y604&amp;width=1024\" alt=\"gettyimages-1695460374\"><source media=\"(max-width: 1440px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/a\/img\/resize\/47eecb74251f24aa67046215bb7db41e79cb8071\/2026\/02\/17\/6d3ab49c-2612-4495-b9f9-095d959844b0\/gettyimages-1695460374.jpg?auto=webp&amp;precrop=6000,3341,x0,y604&amp;width=1280\" alt=\"gettyimages-1695460374\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/a\/img\/resize\/47eecb74251f24aa67046215bb7db41e79cb8071\/2026\/02\/17\/6d3ab49c-2612-4495-b9f9-095d959844b0\/gettyimages-1695460374.jpg?auto=webp&amp;precrop=6000,3341,x0,y604&amp;width=1280\" alt=\"gettyimages-1695460374\" width=\"1280\" height=\"712.7466666666667\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/picture><\/div>\n<p> <!----><\/div><figcaption> <span class=\"c-shortcodeImage_credit g-outer-spacing-top-xsmall u-block\">porcorex\/iStock \/ Getty Images Plus<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>Follow ZDNET:&nbsp;<\/em><span class=\"c-commerceLink\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cc.zdnet.com\/v1\/otc\/00hQi47eqnEWQ6T9d4QLBUc?element=BODY&amp;element_label=Add+us+as+a+preferred+Google+source&amp;module=LINK&amp;object_type=text-link&amp;object_uuid=5e5d2e64-4b30-43e6-8555-26eac7e449f3&amp;position=1&amp;template=article&amp;track_code=__COM_CLICK_ID__&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fpreferences%2Fsource%3Fq%3Dzdnet.com&amp;view_instance_uuid=379e95d2-6b56-476b-a90b-043a8dd63bd3\" rel=\"noopener nofollow sponsored\" target=\"_blank\"><span>Add us as a preferred source<\/span><!----><\/a><\/span><em>&nbsp;on Google.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<h3>ZDNET key takeaways<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Hopping to a different distro doesn&#8217;t mean you have to lose data.<\/li>\n<li>There are three options you can try.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure to test these before you do it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p>Are you feeling that eternal pull to jump to a different Linux distribution? It happens. I&#8217;ve gone through that experience so many times that I&#8217;ve lost count.<\/p>\n<p>Migrating from one distribution to another isn&#8217;t all that hard\u2026 Unless you want to retain all of the data within your home directory (or any directory, for that matter). If you don&#8217;t do something to save that data, you will lose out and have to start all over.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/how-to-replace-windows-with-linux\/\">I replaced Windows with Linux, and there&#8217;s only one feature I miss<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You don&#8217;t want that (unless you have nothing of importance in your home directory).<\/p>\n<p>What you can do depends on your setup and needs.<\/p>\n<p>Let me explain.<\/p>\n<h2>The best way to switch distributions and keep your data<\/h2>\n<p>Linux is so well designed that you can install the operating system in such a way that your home directory can be easily migrated from one distribution to another.<\/p>\n<p>How you do this is to partition the distribution so that your home directory is on a separate partition from the OS.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/elementaryos-linux-review\/\">This is my favorite Linux distro of all time &#8211; and I&#8217;ve tried them all<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sounds difficult, right? It&#8217;s really not.<\/p>\n<p>Let me show you the basics of how this is done, demonstrating on the latest release of Ubuntu. Before you even start the installation, you should either make sure there&#8217;s a second disk in your machine or connect an external SSD (with a cable fast enough to handle data transmission). To do this, walk through the installation as you normally would until you reach the Disk Setup section.<\/p>\n<p>When you&#8217;re presented with the two routes of setting up your disk, select &#8220;Manual installation.&#8221; In the resulting window, you should see your drive listed. If you have a secondary drive, it should be listed as well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/5-favorite-linux-distros-easy-setup\/\">My 5 favorite Linux distros that are ready to use out of the box (no setup required)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Select the secondary disk and then click +. When prompted, configure the size you want to use for the \/home partition, select \/home from the Mount Point drop-down, and then click OK.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After that, repeat the process, only this time select the primary drive, click +, and configure the mount point as \/. Make sure to allocate the amount of space you want for the partition (quite possibly the entire drive), and click OK and then Next.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, finish the installation as you would normally.<\/p>\n<p>Now that you&#8217;ve configured your \/home partition to be on a separate disk, you can hop distributions whenever you want, making sure to install the OS on the primary drive.<\/p>\n<h2>The &#8216;other&#8217; method<\/h2>\n<p>The other method for saving your data is via backups. That&#8217;s right, the old backup routine.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As for backing up \/home, you don&#8217;t want to back up the entire directory. Instead, back up your user directory within \/home (such as \/home\/jack) to an external drive (even a USB flash drive). You can either back up everything in that directory, or only the folders containing the data\/files you want to save.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Do keep in mind, however, that there are hidden folders that contain app configurations, caches, and other bits. Because of that, I would recommend backing up everything in your home directory.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/im-a-command-line-pro-and-this-is-the-best-terminal-app-ive-ever-used-thanks-to-ai\/\"><strong>I&#8217;m a command-line pro and this is the best terminal app I&#8217;ve ever used, thanks to AI<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re not sure which backup tool to use, I recommend D\u00e9j\u00e0 Dup, TimeShift, or Lucky Backup (each of which can be installed from the standard repositories).<\/p>\n<p>Once you have that taken care of, make sure to back up any other important data, although the most important data on a desktop machine will be in your home directory.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You can now install the new OS. I would make sure to create your home directory on a secondary drive, so you don&#8217;t have to go through this the next time you hop.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After the installation completes, reboot, connect the drive housing the data, open your file manager, and start copying things over.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also:<\/strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/my-top-5-user-friendly-gui-backup-tools-for-the-linux-desktop\/\"><strong>My top 5 user-friendly GUI backup tools for the Linux desktop (and why you need one)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Do not simply copy your user directory from the secondary drive to the \/home directory on the primary drive, as you could run into permissions or ownership issues.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>A third option<\/h2>\n<p>There&#8217;s another option that&#8217;s a sort of hybrid. Let&#8217;s say you&#8217;ve copied your important directories from your \/home to an external (or secondary internal) drive.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/want-to-save-your-aging-computer-try-these-5-linux-distributions\/\"><strong>Want to save your aging computer? Try these 5 Linux distributions<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Instead of copying those directories, you can simply link them. Let&#8217;s say you&#8217;ve copied everything in ~\/Documents to a secondary drive that is mounted at \/media\/jack\/drive1\/, and you want to link your ~\/Documents directory with it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>First, delete the ~\/Documents directory (assuming it&#8217;s empty) with the command:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>rm -rf ~\/Documents<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Next, issue the following command from your original home directory:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"5\">\n<p><em>ln -s \/media\/jack\/drive1\/Documents \/home\/jack\/drive1\/Documents<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>You should now see a new ~\/Documents directory, containing everything in \/media\/jack\/drive1\/Documents.<\/p>\n<p>And there you have it.<\/p>\n<p>My last suggestion is that you test these methods on a spare machine. On top of that, no matter which route you take, always back up your data.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/how-to-switch-linux-distros-and-retain-all-of-your-data\/\">HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;re thinking about distro-hopping, and you&#8217;re wanting to retain your data, here&#8217;s how you can do it.READ MORE HERE&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zdnet-security"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>3 ways to switch Linux distros without losing all your data 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity 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