I have been using Ubuntu 7.10, but was unable ti get backup/restore working. I tried backing up to a CD and also usb drive to no avail? I am currently running Mint Linux and loaded Evolution and would like to either fat finger in the commands in terminal mode if the are simple enough for a new user.

Mine is Debian Lenny, probably similar. I suggest don't worry about inbox etc, most of that is either rubbish or saved as something else if essential. Email settings, pop.whatever.com & so on, is easy to set up on any system, just make a note of the settings in you need to, they all windows included work much the same. Contacts: save as vcard file, I find that the most "portable" and that after all is what you don't want to lose. Welcome 2 opensource & keep at it! Regards.

I have saved the contacts, but I lose the folders that contain important information. I would like to be able too save the contacts and folders either on CD or usb drive.
Thank you for the suggestion

You probably have it sorted by now but I have now had to back up due to problems. Outlook has a .pst file but as far as I know there is no evolution equivalent, so I highlighted then forwarded all the emails I wanted to keep. They come up as a single email with all others as attachments, you can change the name of the new email if you want, maybe by forwarding it (again!) but this time with new name (SAVED EMAILS <DATE>, SENT EMAILS, etc. Calendar entries- best I can offer is a sync with eg wammu (for phone) then reverse it when you have your new system running. Regards-

Evolution keeps it's mail in a hidden folder in your home directory
On this FreeBSD box it is
/usr/home/<username>/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox

Linux would be somewhere like
/home/<username>/.evolution/mail/local/inbox

The dot before evolution means hidden. Set your file browser to show hidden files or look at the man page for ls
http://linuxcommand.org/man_pages/ls.html