Backing up/restoring all ROMs, metadata, and configurations before updating to latest image

[ScOULaris]

So I went to update my lbr-snes9x-next emulator from source the other night to check out the reductions in input lag that were being reported in the forums, and after updating my Retropie script it informed me that Raspbian Wheezy was no longer supported and that I would have to flash the latest Retropie image in order to update emulators moving forward.

I've been putting off updating my Retropie setup for a while for fear of losing all of the configurations and metadata that I spent time setting up months ago when I first got my Pi. Now I feel like I should update to the latest build, but I want to be sure of the best/easiest way to transfer over all of my ROMs, metadata, and configs to the new image after I flash it.

Can I just back up my Samba share directories, flash the new image, and the paste the backed-up folders back in and call it a day? That seems to be the case when I read the wiki page for backup/restore before and after and update, but I want to be extra sure before I attempt it.

Also, is there any downside to turning off the "update metadata on EmulationStation close" setting that was introduced in more recent versions of Retropie? I've heard that it can make shutdowns/restarts take forever if you have a ton of ROMs, which I do.

[PaulCheffus]

Hi

You should just be able to do

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

to update the OS.

Don't forget to backup your SD card first using something like Win32SDImager just in case it goes wrong.

Cheers

Paul

[herb_fargus]

@PaulCheffus that won't put him on jessie, see: http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/27858/upgrade-to-raspbian-jessie

Anyways a fresh image is the best way to go. Make a backup of your sd as described here: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Updating-RetroPie#making-a-backup-option-1 that way you have a fallback if you missed something on the update.

[ScOULaris]

@herb_fargus said in Backing up/restoring all ROMs, metadata, and configurations before updating to latest image:

@PaulCheffus that won't put him on jessie, see: http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/27858/upgrade-to-raspbian-jessie

Anyways a fresh image is the best way to go. Make a backup of your sd as described here: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Updating-RetroPie#making-a-backup-option-1 that way you have a fallback if you missed something on the update.

Yeah I plan on going with a fresh image to be safe, but the only problem with Backup Option 1 in the link you posted is that it simply makes an image of my current SD card. While that is fine in case something goes wrong and I want to go back to my previous setup, it won't allow me to copy over all of my ROMs, metadata, and configs to the newly flashed Jessie-based Retropie image.

Would copying the Samba share directories from my current image to the new one accomplish this task cleanly?

If there was some way to just update to Jessie via command line and then update Retropie from binaries in the setup script, I'd like to try that. That way I could just make a backup image of my MicroSD to be safe, and then if all goes well all of my ROMs and files are still there without needing to transfer them back over to the new setup.

[RoyBear]

1st of all: I know, this thread is old - but maybe still an issue

Well Option number 2 doesn't cover the scrapped artwork, since the artwok is stored in a hidden subfolder named .emulationstation

Actually I don't have any solution, just stick to this thread :>

edit: allright. found some info that scraped data is also accessable via smb at \retropie\configs\all\emulationstation
doing a backup via smb seems to be an Option :D