updating

[eeeprom]

This may sound crazy but is there a way to update a fedora 12 system without loosing anything?

[secipolla]

That ain't crazy, with the power of mind you can de-materialize it and materialize F17 in its place :-D
(just kidding, wait for some fedora expert to answer)

[PabloTwo]

PablowTwo != "fedora expert" ("!=" equals "does not equal")

Realistically, no. Also depends on what your definition of "anything" is in this context.

Backup all of your personal data that you want to "keep", including things like folder ~/.mozilla, ~/.thunderbird (so you can restore your firefox and mail settings later). Take your time in determining what you don't want to lose, because if you didn't back it up, it'll be gone forever.

Wipe out your F12 install and do a clean new install of F16 or F17. Then restore your backed up data to the new OS. In my opinion, any other path attempting to "upgrade" F12 > F16/17 will only end in disaster.

[lightman47]

also "!=" as Pablo stated

I've done upgrades of my different machines several times and 'dodged the bullet'. Ultimately, the Sunday afternoon arrived when I realized I was fooling myself trying to work around "issues". I'd almost always wind up doing a back-up and fresh install then starting over and importing my data from the backup (some programs are real 'trolls' to get running with the backed up data and take research and forum questions).

I guess I can say that the upgrade allowed me to keep my data, and buy me some time, albeit not a lot of it.