I have a 32-bit Ubuntu installation which I would like to migrate to 64-bit. To minimize risk and to ensure that the installation is working I would like to first do the install on a virtualbox VM.

I intend to install a fresh copy of 64-bit Ubuntu on virtualbox. Get a list of packages on the 32-bit system. Install them on the 64-bit. Merge my /etc using some kind of interactive merge. Then mount my home directory, make sure everything is working. Backup my old root and then copy my new root from VM to host.

Does this plan look okay? Is there something easier?