Is this a complete way to back up a Linux installation?

Is this a complete way to back up a Linux installation? Back when I first made the switch to Linux, I didn't know nearly as much about it as I do now. As a result, there are several fundamental things about how my partitions and operating systems are set up (not using 64bit, only have one root partition, etc). I want to wipe the drive completely and start over.
Asked by: Guest \| Views: 190

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Guest [Entry]

"Generally when backing up anything I take a ""back up everything unless you know you don't need it"" approach. After /home the rest of the file system shouldn't be more than 5-8gb on an average desktop system. Unless you're really stuck for space don't take any chances and just copy everything.

If you can't afford the space of copying everything then do copy /etc/, and take a look around /var to see if there's anything important to you in there.

Taking a list of packages is a good idea, will make it much easier to re-install."