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Mint11 is now out of service and it's time to upgrade to a newer version. Mint14 is now already available but I want to upgrade to Mint13 lts which will give me a longer service period. Upgrading is a quite difficult because I have customize my system quite a lot and that's why I try to minimize the upgrades as much as possible. I have a 1TB disk which owns multiple LVM partitions and want to install Mint13 on a new LVM partition. That way I don't have to repartition my disk and create a new physical partion on my disk and I can switch between both Mint versions in the transition phase easily.  If somebody is interested in the advantages of an LVM just read this article.
 
Actually I followed this description. Ther is one minor difference: There you create a PV and LVs and don't use an existing LV. The differences are minor - you only have to skip all steps related to the creation of a PV and LV.
 
It's important to install lvm after booting the live system and to activate the existing LVs. Now the new Mint version has to be installed on the LV by selecting manual partitioning and selecting the LV as the root partition. At the end of the installation don't reboot but install lvm on the new partiion. Just execute the following steps to get this done:
 
0) Create a new  LV for the new version  (Use command line or LVM GUI)
1) Start Live Version
2) Install lvm on the Live System
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install lvm2
3) Detect and activate the existing LVs
sudo vgscan --mknodes
sudo vgchange -ay
4) Start the Mint installation. Select manual configuration and use the new LV as the root partition. Write your boot to  /dev/sdx  (x = a,b,c ... depending on your local configuration)
5) Don't reboot at the end of the installation and continue the live test
6) Now the new installation has to 'understand' lvm: Change to the new installed system with
sudo mount /dev/mintvg/root /target
sudo mount /dev/mintvg/home /target/home
sudo mount --bind /dev /target/dev
sudo mount --bind /dev/pts /target/dev/pts
sudo mount --bind /proc /target/proc
sudo chroot /target
7)  Now install lvm in the new partition and create a new boot image which 'knows' lvm
apt-get update
apt-get install lvm2
Now reboot and you now can select which Mint version you want to boot in the boot menu and copy config information form the old Mint to the new Mint step by step.
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