[mythtv-users] how to reinstall from scratch without losing existing recordings?

[Stephen Worthington]

On Sun, 17 Mar 2013 19:07:41 -0400, you wrote:

>On 03/17/2013 08:42 AM, UB40D wrote:
>> I seem to be having no luck in bringing mysql back to life (see thread 
>> "How to repair mysql?"), which has made me myth-less for a couple of 
>> weeks now.
>>
>> The prospect of reinstalling the whole of mythbuntu from zero on an 
>> empty partition is becoming increasingly likely.
>>
>> The database backups I have in /var/lib/mythtv/db_backups are not as 
>> up to date as I'd like but on the other hand I do have a 
>> right-up-to-date copy of the whole of /var, thus including the 
>> database itself. The actual recordings are on other partitions or 
>> physical drives.
>>
>> If I make myself a new / and a new /var and reinstall mythbuntu there, 
>> and then mount the recordings partitions somewhere accessible, can I 
>> just overwrite /var/lib/mysql/mythconverg with the equivalent from my 
>> backup or do I have to do something more elaborate?
>
>Doing an upgrade of MySQL without a SQL-based backup (i.e. using the 
>binary data files) requires some extra work.  Therefore, don't upgrade 
>MySQL--use the exact same version that you had previously, even if it 
>means installing an old version of Mythbuntu, then put the binary data 
>files in place, then start up MySQL, then do a proper SQL-based backup ( 
>http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Database_Backup_and_Restore ).
>
>Alternatively, take your chances on a binary-data-file upgrade of MySQL, 
>and go read up in the MySQL documentation for instructions on the 
>additional steps required to do it.
>
>Mike

You could do a boot from a Mythbuntu live CD on a USB stick, with
persistent files stored to the USB stick.  If it did not have the
correct version of MySQL installed, you could then install the correct
package and be able to make a proper backup before trying the
reinstall.