Really simple recovery

Hi I am a Linux newbie struggling a bit. I find it is easy to break the system then have to reinstall. What I would like to do is backup all the files I need once I have the machine working, then if things go wrong I can reinstall from the recovery usb then simply copy over all the system files that I have backed up. Is this feasible? Can anyone advise me on what files I need to back up? And how to re-install them? I have a Linux model with 120Gb hd.

Many thanks

 

If you have a spare USB drive Use Gparted Live CD to copy the Linpus partition and therefore give you a full backup of your current setup.
That's what I did using a 120GB USB drive.

 

I don't know how you have your disk partitioned, but there are many other options; all of which require booting from a live USB stick or CD. Here are 2-1/2:
1. You could set up a second partition equal in size to your first and copy your Linpus to it With a bit of tweaking, you could even dual-boot.
2. Create a compressed backup of your Linpus partition using partimage. Store it
a) on an external device
b) in another partition on your hard drive

I've got the 120GB WinXP version, but also have 6 different Linux installations, each in its own partition (guess that means I septuple-boot); six are 8GB each; Linpus gets only a 4GB partition. I've got a separate boot partition that I update manually. I keep a compressed backup of one working Linux install on yet another partition.

 

I am new to Linux,too. I also look for the same kind of backup. Ghost and True Image are very useful for Windows PC.
Looks like there is a way to make a similar type of backup for Linpus AspireOne,too. I'm very much interested in that.
Will you please tell me the name of the backup utility you like and where to find it ??
Thank you.

 

See TrophyJem's post above.