I'm want to try the following command, but I'm not certain if it will do what I want.

cp / /raidback/LinuxBoxBack/ -R -p -x -v --reply=yes

If I run that as root on my Linux box will it copy the entire contents of my Linux box to the backup directory, automatically overwrite any files with the same
names, and avoid recursing into the /raidback/ shared directory?

Are there any potential gotchas to watch out for?

If there is a better way to do what I want what is it?

I need the backup to be uncompressed and browseable (ie not in a tar file) as I will be wiping my entire linux box and installing Suse 9.0 (Mandrake 8.2 was
getting just a little bit old.) on it.

Manually copying my home directory and any other files it turns out
that I need is my normal procedure when I'm upgrading the OS or moving my data from box to box. (I'm sure that there's a better way to do that also, but I don't need that answer right now.)

Thanks!

i think the easiest way to do this would be to make a seperate partition and move the items onto that partition, then tell the installation not to delete/format that partition

not sure about that command though

And moving the items was the problem here.

I think I've answered my question though, www.linux.com has a hard disk upgrade HowTo that has something that might work.

Thanks!