Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 12:01:10 +0000 From: Sean Hammond <sean.hammond@xxx.xxx.xxx> To: "edlug@xxx.xxx.xxx" <edlug@xxx.xxx.xxx> Subject: [edlug] Install day - backing up peoples files
From talking to People and Planet folk (some of them have heard andintend to come to our install days) it looks like we may come across non-expert computer users with laptops afflicted with a damaged install of Windows, who want Linux installed, but do not want to lose all of their files.
Do we have some convenient system in place for backing up a users files, installing Linux, then recovering the files?
Duall boot is always an option. Otherwise, Knoppix and those USB drives are pretty handy for this, if the system is new enough for USB...
Also you can just knock together a Windows batch file or other script (WSH) to copy the relevant files to a network drive (e.g. the entire contents of Documents and Settings plus all the hugely important files they leave in their temp folder(s) ).
Best thing is to search the entire system for .bmp, .jpg, and other image files, as well as the more obvious .doc, .pst, .dbx .xls, .ppt etc. and copy them across with their paths. You might also need a converter to convert their email to mbox or maildir format, depending on what they are going to use on their Linux system. Oh, and make sure they know all their passwords for dial-up etc. in case they are saved on the Windows system.
No doubt the people intimately involved with the last Install Day will have had procedures for all this.
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