1. You have multiple computers running Mint which are not connected to the same network (e.g. one at work and one at home) and you want to make the packages you download on one computer available to the other without having to manually copy and paste the files. You can make, for example, your USB stick or hard drive serve as a mobile apt cache medium.
2. Your system (root) partition is getting cramped and you can not or do not want to go through the hassle of resizing partitions. You can free up quite a significant amount of disk space by moving the cached (downloaded) packages to another partition.
3. Anything else you can think of.
This method is very simple and does not require any additional programs be installed yet also quite fool-proof. Here is how you do it:
1. In Nautilus, navigate to the partition to which you would like to move the cached packages. Create a new folder (SHIFT+CTRL+N) and use only lower-case characters (no capitals) for the folder name.
Please note: In this example, I want to move the packages to the folder 'apt_cache' in a FAT32 partition titled 'backup'.
2. Still in Nautilus, navigate to File System > var > cache > apt > archives. Press CTRL+S on your keyboard and enter "*.deb" (without quotes) to select all the DEB package files. Press CTRL+C on your keyboard.
3. Navigate back to the folder you created in step no. 1 (apt_cache). Now press CTRL+V on your keyboard to paste the packages to that folder.
4. Stil in the same folder (apt_cache), create a sub-folder and name it "partial" (without quotes, all lowercase). Then create a new blank file (File > Create Document > Empty File) and name it "lock" (without quotes, all lowercase). Please note that the file "lock" should be placed in "apt_cache", not in "partial".
5. Go to File System > var > cache > apt. Right-click on an empty area, and select 'Open in Terminal'.
6. In the Terminal, enter the following commands:
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sudo mv archives archives.old
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sudo ln -s /media/backup/apt_cache/ archives
Hint: To learn about what a command actually does, you can always type man commandname in a Terminal window. Typing man ln will get you to a manual page describing what the command ln does and how to use it.
7. Perform some tests to check if everything is working properly.
8. If you think everything is working well, then you may delete the files in the original archives folder (renamed to archives.old in step no. 6). To do this, enter the following command in the terminal:
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gksu xfe /var/cache/apt
10. Still in the same XFE window, hit CTRL+DEL on your keyboard to permanently wipe out all the files you deleted in step no. 9.
That's it. Easy, ain't it?