Take the tour ×  I want to reinstall Linux OS, and before that,
I think I will partition my hard disk again. (I just use a
simple one partition / for root, and make Linux automatically
put all other directories there).  I often save software
installations in /usr/local. So, my question is: suppose I
create a new partition, /usr/local, and save data there; if I
reinstall Linux again, can I continue to use this software and
not need to install again?  I'm new to Linux World, so I'm not
sure of these things.  share|improve this question add comment
3 Answers  up vote 1 down vote accepted  My suggestion on this
was, make a backup of whole root fs (including /usr/local), then
re-partition, mount all partition, and extract everything.
After that all your files would stand, and your disk got re-
partitioned.  If you simply backup /usr/local, there's a risk
that once your system libraries get updated, those software
(non-static ones) might need re-linking.  share|improve this
answer add comment  You use both the phr