Hello everyone!
I have installed /e/ in April on a Galaxy S9 with the easy installer on fedora. Now I only have Android 8. Is it easy to upgrade to Android 10 without loosing all my data, like Signal-messages etc.? I don’t want to do another “clean” install, without having any data anymore. Or is it possible to easily get the data back? If you need more information, just give me a hint.
Cheers, sandroid
AFAIK for now you have to do a clean install to change OS versions. You may have to first install the vendors new version before installing the corresponding /e/ version. (I’m not sure if this will change, I think maybe /e/ devs are working on it)
As for losing data, that depends on which apps you have installed. If you’re using e cloud then your email, contacts and photos should be restored from there (check online first to ensure that what you expect is there). For other apps, I think each needs manual backup and restore.
I don’t use signal, so can’t advise you on that. For regular SMS I recommend “SMS backup and restore”.
I think “dirty flash” is not an option in that case.
But this is an important question coming up these days in order to keep phones from becoming obsolete… Has anyone found a working method??
Seedvault is on the way…
? …interesting…
How does seedvault help?
I’m still reading, as I receive mails about new posts now… So, I still have an Android 8. Is SeedVault running on such an “old” system?
no, Seedvault got integrated (in its hidden form) into Pie. Seedvault is not yet fully helpful: until Android12 (if there are no backports to R) it will respect App backup preference, and some Apps opt out, so a user is unable to backup that App. From A12 and on App preference will be ignored for device2device backup.
Hello again!
I just saw this site (behind the end of this text) of updating an /e/ to a newer version. Can’t I just download the newest Q-edition of e-os for my Galaxy S9 and update it the way anonyme says? Or is then everything I have installed on the phone deleted?
Thank you again,
sandroid
We talk about /e/ version updates, as that article, and OS upgrades.
I think your intention is to upgrade OS. This is similar to a fresh install, but has to include flashing the manufacture’s ROM on the way. The data partition is deleted in the process, so you loose a lot of “data”. Much of " your own work" is actually still preserved, however we are often advised to ensure that is backed up in case of human error. 
Edit, I do not know Signal, but it is always good to understand backup, so that you can do it at will without fear, my first search result: https://www.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/g2phyd/where_does_signal_store_messages/
Thank you for your answer. If I want to update, I actually only have to backup the Signal, Whatsapp and SMS-data, right? Well, I think better it would be to make a complete backup, but is there any software that can do it for me?
If you want to update you mean upgrade OS 
Those three have different backup methods. I don’t think you will find an easy way to automate it atm. So you must divide and rule!
What’s App has it’s own slightly dubious methods, I believe. I cannot help on that, maybe a lot of stuff stays on their servers?
For SMS messages I use SMS Backup & Restore. I recommend you start to use it straight away and get used to what it can do, then you will start to loose the fear of backup the day you decide to upgrade! … and search … Search results for 'sms backup order:latest' - /e/ community
Yeah, you’re right, I meant upgrade… It seems like it’s a bit more work, I just made a backup in twrp. I’ll go on with an SMS-backup. Let’s see, if I will end up in an upgraded system 