I've never had a single issue with the in place upgrades, and no putting home on another partition is not sufficient. Lots of stuff in /etc has been customized

I've never had a single issue with the in place upgrades, and no putting home on another partition is not sufficient. Lots of stuff in /etc has been customized and that would need restored as well. I've been through half a dozen or so and they've always worked fine for me.