Upgrading from FreeBSD 4.10 to 8.1?

[krad]

On 6 January 2011 16:40, Mike Tancsa <mike at sentex.net> wrote:

> On 1/6/2011 11:27 AM, Robert Huff wrote:
> >
> > patrick writes:
> >
> >>  I know this is a bit crazy, but is there any opinion as to
> >>  whether a binary upgrade using an 8.1 CD would work to upgrade a
> >>  system running 4.10? Normally I would want to do a fresh install,
> >>  but it's at a remote client site where it's not going to be easy
> >>  to do it that way, and I'm going to need to guide someone less
> >>  experienced through the install/upgrade process.
> >
> >       While this may not be an option, my preference would be to
> > 1) build a new machine, 2) install 8.1, 3) install the apps and
> > data, 4) test thoroughly, then 5) ship the result to the remote
> > location.  Anything else is likely to be too painful for words.
>
> How old is the hardware as well?  If its running 4.x, something is going
> to die on it sooner than later. I agree with the above. Send a new box
> or at the very least a new disk with 8.2 on it. Then, just mount the old
> 4.x disk and copy over the user data.
>
>        ---Mike
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I have done such upgrades in the past but they are very high risk, so the
chances are you will incur some prolonged downtime, and probably have to go
to site anyway. It would be much easier to build a new system disk, install
whatever ports you need and copy across anything else from the live system,
then install the new disk to the box (or an entire new box)