1. On a related topic, what advice would you all give a newbie about which files to backup before doing an update? I guess on my simple (single-user desktop) system, just going from 8.0 to 8.1 is not going to be a major problem.
But in general, what should I back up? My /home directory obviously. The 8.1 Admin Guide (page 30) also suggest /etc (all of it?), and that I should 'review' files in /var/lib. Review how?
If you can't take a tape backup of the whole lot, the key would be avoiding loosing anything which might not be recreated properly in the event of a disasterous experience which results in needing a complete reinstall from scratch. Copy /home, plus all of /etc, plus anything you might have changed since 8.0 installed its defaults. (/etc/hosts files, security .allow files, etc.). If you've got the capacity somewhere, copy all of /var. Basically, if you youself, SuSE and Yast from 8.0 created or configured something for your system, you should be able to install, create or configure it again. Anything you might have trouble with or forget (ISP phone numbers and passwords, or your exact Samba shares for example), you should at least write down, if not take a copy of. Disclaimers apply. I can't tell you what's important on your box. I did the above for mine, and never had to test my backup plan.
2. I want to backup to CD, not just before upgrading, but on a regular basis. Any ideas on good programs for doing 'since saves' (i.e. save selected files which have changed since the last save)?
A great article on that sort of thing is here: http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/ -- 12:37pm up 1 day, 5:13, 1 user, load average: 0.03, 0.01, 0.00