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This is not about not being able to upgrade from 12.10 to 13.04, its about whether upgrading will wipe hard drive or mess up other personal settings.

I've been thinking about upgrading my computer from 12.10 to 13.04 (mostly because of my shutdown issues) but been a little bit skeptical. Does upgrading wipe your hard drive? If it doesn't, does it mess up your personal settings?

If anyone has anything to help me, please do so ASAP. I want to know whether or not I should/have to back up my computer on an external hard drive first.

Thanks in advance.

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It could wipe hard drive data depending on the selected install option (this does NOT mean an in-place upgrade). Or, if the upgrade fails during an in-place upgrade, your data can be lost. –  Thomas W. Apr 22 '13 at 5:38
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up vote 1 down vote accepted

if you are doing the upgrade via the software manager then no it just upgrades ethe os and does not touch anything else

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Yet, it doesn't hurt to make a backup first, in case something goes wrong. It is anyhow always a good idea to have an up to date backup. –  soulsource Apr 22 '13 at 19:32
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No, an in-place upgrade will not wipe anything. Even if the upgrade fails, it's unlikely to destroy any data, although you may have to use a live CD to recover the data in this case. So it is always advisable to take a full backup prior to upgrading.

Some people refer to upgrades as a fresh install that doesn't format the partition - which leaves your /home directory in place. This may remove some pre-existing settings or data if it's stored outside of the /home directory.

If you are upgrading to fix an existing problem, it's advisable to confirm that the problem is in fact fixed, either by checking the bug report or by running a live CD. Otherwise you might upgrade only to find you have the same problem, and maybe some other new problems. With this in mind, it's advisable to review the Release notes prior to upgrading.

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