Solaris Boot Environment And Lost Changes

Maybe you have similarly been perplexed like me when you are missing a file after a new boot environment(BE) was activated.

In my example I know I created a file in my /root/Desktop folder and after pkg update and the resulting new BE was automatically activated and I rebooted I noticed my file was missing.

This can be quite nasty if you have made system changes and not noticed they all were lost. For example updating /etc/hosts etc…

Sequence that is faulty

After OS initial installation and before updates (pkg update)
Save a text file /root/Desktop/20181206-pkg-update
Current BE is openindiana

Do updates and reboot
Current BE is openindiana-1
File is gone

Sequence that works

Save a text file /root/Desktop/20181206-pkg-update
beadm create new BE and activate
reboot immediately
pkg update

Question:

Is there an easier way to update to avoid this problem? Maybe passing parms? 

Read here also....
https://blog.teodeh.com/2013/02/25/solaris_11_patching_and_updates/

Tip: If just restoring a file you can just use beadm mount to find a specific file for retrieval or comparison with existing files.