Saving files when switching to Ubuntu.

I am planning on switching from another Linux OS to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. The only problem I have is that I've been using another OS for so long and have so many files on the current OS that I don't want to lose those files when switching to Ubuntu. Is there any way to backup files from another OS and put them in Ubuntu. Thanks All.

The surest way is to back up the files to a USB stick or an external drive and restore them once Ubuntu is installed. Or, if the space is there, to something like Ubuntu One or Dropbox.

Another option: Create a new partition on your machine. Copy the files to the new partition. When you install Ubuntu, handle the partitioning yourself (the "Something Else..." option), select the partition with the files *but do not* tell the installer to format it. The partition will not be formatted and it and its content will be available to the new Ubuntu installation.

This is a variation of the widely used technique of carrying over a separate /home partition between releases or new distros.

I've never created a separate /home partition - though I've always wanted to (lazy, I guess). T'would certainly make the process easy if such already existed...

Which files do you wanna backup, data or configs?

You could always just use grsync to backup and restore stuff.

I have two HDs in my box; my first drive is a dual-boot Windows and Linux, and my second drive is my /home folder. When I install a new system, I select "Something Else" from the installer, format the Linux partition and mount the second drive (without checking the "Format" box!) as /home. It works beautifully for me. If you have a single drive, backup your entire /home folder, and make a ~128GB system partition, and use the rest of the space for making a separate /home partition. Then you'll never need to do a restore to /home again.

DO keep a backup, of course!