creating mount points and is the data safe if i change system
 

Just wondering if i can make nount points on my 30 gig hdd and would the data be there if i was to change to mandrake 9 as im using redhat 9 and like to chop and change but i always make the error of forgeting to save my data :)

any tips would be great

thanks :D

As long as you dont format or delete a partition, it will stay there as long as you like. When you do an install, you are presented with a choice ( if you use a graphic installer such as present in Mandrake ) as to whether you want to use the whole disk or existing partitions. By chosing to use existing partitions, you can fiddle with how you want your install to go.

For example, if you had a partition scheme as follows already on your drive:

/dev/hda1 /boot
/dev/hda2 /swap
/dev/hda3 /root
/dev/hda4 extended
/dev/hda5 /home
/dev/hda6 /usr
/dev/hda7 <windows installation>

you could unmount the the /home and /usr partitions and do a format of the /root partition, install another distro ( like Mandrake 9 ) into this partition and then mount /home and /usr on /root if you like without losing the /home and /usr partitions.

Thats the nice things about using partitions like this.
You can play around with mounting and installation options all you like as long as you keep your partitions straight.

Keep in mind that you can also chose which partitions will be modified or added using fdisk at a bash prompt too. You dont have to use a graphical installation program.

so by unmounting /home and /usr on redhat 9 i can install mandrake 9 and it will work ?

If you set up your system with /home and /usr as independant partitions you should be able to install Mandrake on the other partitions without affecting the data on /home and /usr.

Keep in mind that your Mandrake install will create /home and /usr directories of its own.
You could have these created under /root or make additional partitions for these as well.

Iv messed up some where i tried to mount /j wich is were all my things are and i didnt give the correct permissions for a normal user to read the /j directory any help there ?