Exactly -- there are a number of ways to get there; changing partitions on
the only drive holding your data should be done very *carefully*.

You didn't mention how much data you have, which is a moving target of
course.  If you have enough free space, consider making an archive (using
tar + gzip/bzip, or zip, etc) to see how well it compressed, and to give you
one file to work with.  I usually keep the working copy unbundled as well,
but if you date an archive then you'll begin to have a history available in
case any files need to be reverted or compared to in the future.  Also, if
you have access to a modern internet connection, you can consider uploading
a (scrambled, if need be) backup there.
The measures taken should be proportional to the value and replacability of
your data.  I agree that a thumb drive or external hard drive would be the
easiest & most common approach, but in terms of learning linux, a
partition/data shuffle for a single-drive update is a good exercise.  You
can probably just use a bootable CD of your new favorite linux distribution,
to perform the partition change, data migration, and re-install; be sure to
use the nice GUI tools for the partitioning changes if you're not versed
with the command line fdisk or equivalent.

Did you want off-list help, do you need someone on-site?

Best regards,

Ben



On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 9:45 AM, larry price <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi Robert.
>
> It should not be too hard to preserve your data across Operating
> System versions.
>
> The right way to do this is to have your home  directory on a separate
> partition from your OS, this means that you can potentially boot into
> one OS access some specialised software and write a document and then
> reboot into a different os and load the same document.
>
> To get their from having one big partition, you will need to create a
> new partition, copy data to it and then do your OS upgrades.
>
> You will want to read http://tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/Partition/
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Robert Douglass <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> > I need to talk to someone about linux, I have PCOS on my computer and I
> want
> > to change to another distribution, but not loose all my data on hard
> drive.
> > My number is 541-272-1138 Bob call anytime
> > I am into EMC-2 and mini-itx form factor boards, and wifi solutions, I
> live
> > on the coast in Newport.
> > Thank You
> > _______________________________________________
> > EUGLUG mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
> >
> _______________________________________________
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