As I mentioned in some other post, at the beginning the vast majority of Linux users have versionitis, or districtitis (moving from one distro to another).
I do minimal installation of Ubuntu, hence only what I need.
I share what I have done the last times I reinstall:
1. I make a backup of the archives folder including the partial / var / cache / apt / archives directory.
2. I backup (obviously) all my information
3. Then in the console I use this command
dpkg --get-selections | grep -v deinstall > paquetes-de-ubuntu
What this command does is create a txt file with all my installed programs
I reinstall the base system, enable the Universe and Multiverse repositories and install the medibuntu repository for that of the codecs and update
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude full-upgrade
4. Then I copy the archives folder back to its original location in / var / cache / apt / archives
5. The txt file that I created at the beginning I have it in a partition for backups, so I enter and tell the system what to install
dpkg --set-selections < paquetes-de-ubuntu
6. After use dselect (previously installed) and with the option «i»The installation begins.
This way of installing prevents me from installing one thing at a time, in addition to the fact that the installation is extremely fast and all the programs are in the latest version installed, since all the packages are no longer downloaded from the internet, but are already in the archive / Var / cache / apt / archives that we endorse, so everything is going to be very, very fast. I have only done it in Ubuntu and Debian, I do not know in which other distros can be installed in the same way. The last time I backed up the .kde file and in the end I replaced it, and my desktop was the same as it had before reinstalling.
I hope it is useful to someone.