My FC3 Linux system consists of an old SCSI drive which is failing. I've got another larger replacement available, but don't want to lose all the work invested in tweaking, tuning gnome, installing xine, etc., in switching to the new disk. The current failing disk is set up with a /boot and / partition and boots from grub on the mbr:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 14 1116 8859847+ 8e Linux LVM

I also have a big external USB drive that I use for backing up to (/dev/sdb mounts at /media/usbdisk). I'm thinking the easiest way to restore what I have to the new SCSI drive and eliminate the old one would be to:

1. Run tar as
# tar cf /media/usbdisk/archive.tar /etc /boot /root /home /usr/local
2. Remove the old drive.
3. Boot from FC3 setup CDs, allow Fedora to set up things as it did when I first installed the system (workstation, autopartition, etc.). This time, install all packages.
4. Assuming the USB drive appears at the same mount point as before, run
# cd /
# tar xf /media/usbdisk/archive.tar
5. Power down, remove the old drive, install the new one (should become /dev/sda) and reboot.
Does anyone see any problems with this approach, or is there an easier way? Should I include /var in the tar? Thanks for any advice --

Assuming you have space for 2 drives it would be quicker just to power up with the 2 drives attached and boot with a recovery cd. Once booted you can partition the new drive and copy the files with:
cp -ar /src /dest

Then put the bootloader on the mbr of the new drive and reboot.