[CentOS] upgrade from Fedora Core 5

[Peter Horst]

Garrick Staples wrote:
> I guess this implies that you don't currently have a regular backup system in
> place?
>
> When you say "load", you mean a giant 'cp'?  That technically works, but is not
> the ideal.  When you mount it in the new install, you'll find a bunch of broken
> uid/gids.  Best is an archive format that preserves user and group names (say,
> tar).
>
> Tar up your existing OS (or the parts that you care about) leaving the tarball
> on the external drive.  After the reinstall, untar on the external drive.
> Finally, work out a legit backup system in the new OS.
>   

Fantastic.  Thanks.