Thanks again for all the replies. I now have Linux Mint installed on my primary hard drive on my older laptop. How would I go about backing up all my programs and settings and doing a fresh install of any future versions without breaking the system?

Mint includes a wonderful Mint Backup tool, that allows you to backup both your software selection, and your data. Settings are a different matter, but hopefully you can reconfigure the programs on the new installation. Some software also offers you the ability to export saved settings to a file, which you can backup and restore to a fresh install.
What edition are you using? KDE?

Thanks, Sythe! I'm using the gnome edition. I could change to KDE if necessary.

Since I installed VMWare Player a few years ago I haven't used a live CD/DVD since. You can run VM Player and install a virtual machine of any version of Linux you want to any storage area your PC views as a drive - keep in mind some solutions may work better than others - i.e. external USB drives may not perform as well as an internal SATA or external eSATA connected drive.

Ubuntu and other flavors of Linux also have pre-configured "virtual appliances" available either on their site or through the VMWare virtual appliance market. I haven't personally used any of these but I know people who have and they seem to think it worked fine. Personally I like going through the install process inside the VM Player so I can go through the steps just like I was installing it on my existing system.

Thanks, Sythe! I'm using the gnome edition. I could change to KDE if necessary.

If you love eyecandy, the KDE edition is a must!
KDE feels a step ahead of everyone else in the UI/gfx department.
If appearance doesn't really matter to you, you can just stick with GNOME.

I've installed a number of Linux distributions alongside various Versions of windows and only once experienced an issue where the bootloader wasn't found, or couldn't find all the OSes. I've got Ubuntu running alongside Win7 ultimate at home right now, an all is well. The install process is usually pretty clear-cut, and the guides are generally well-written. If you can, install to an internal drive.

Hello again,

A few weeks ago I asked if it would be a good idea to install Ubuntu on an external hard drive, and after several unsuccessful attempts I did in fact do that. But I would like to warn anyone with a nice new primary PC not to install it alongside their current operating system. Every time I have tried to upgrade Ubuntu from my external hard drive installation I get an "error: no such device" and am taken to the grub rescue screen. Luckily I didn't install Ubuntu alongside my new Windows 7 laptop or I would have to use the system recovery DVD.

Another problem I have is this: if I use any of the package installers and use my Ubuntu installation CD as the sole repository for software, I get a warning that it can not find every one of the packages that it needs, even when it supposedly looks in the correct place. I have a newer laptop and I had to download my wireless network adapter and compile its makefile and install from source, but the only way I could do this was to copy g++ and its one needed dependency file to my desktop, and run dpgk then apt-get install afterwards to get them to work.

One more problem I have had with ubuntu is this: every time i update and my kernel is changed, I go to the grub rescue screen because grub can't find what it's looking for.

Does anyone know of some permanent solutions to the preceding problems? I have tried ubuntuforums.org but have gotten only a tiny bit of support. One of my threads even got no replies at all. Would it help if I bought one of the most up-to-date and comprehensive books on Ubuntu? What concerns me is that the official Ubuntu help pages have step-by-step instructions on how to resolve these problems and assume that you will not have any problems afterwards. And what's worse, the instructions don't work in my case! So I'm leery of buying an expensive Ubuntu book (and technology books are notoriously expensive) if it doesn't correctly address these common problems. I know the problems are common because I have seen Web sites all over the place with people asking questions just like mine.

Thanks for any help,

Lee

P.S.: I really enjoy running the command line and messing around with another operating system. But I want the underlying technology to be reliable and understandable even to beginners.

Try installing Windows on an external drive and see what happens

This is what Microsoft says about it

Q. Can a USB storage device be the primary (and only) means of storage?
No. USB-based mass storage devices cannot be the primary hard disk storage solution on a regular system (Microsoft Windows Logo Program System and Device Requirements, B10.1.5.6). However, these devices might be expected to be a replacement for booting to load an operating system (for example using a CD-ROM drive over USB) on the primary boot drive or as a replacement for legacy floppy disk drives. Booting from an external USB CD-ROM or USB floppy disk drive requires BIOS support.[/quote]

(It is however technically possible to install and run Windows on an USB drive, its just not easy).

For Ubuntu (and other Linux distributions) its far easier, what you need to do if you intend to run from a USB drive is to make a live usb installation (using the Ubuntu Live USB creator tool (included in Ubuntu 9.04 or later)) and then configure your bios to boot directly from usb.

Also, remember that USB is slow so loadtimes will be far worse than what you'd get by installing on a proper internal harddrive. (USB3 makes things alot better though)

In order for my fresh install of Ubuntu natty i must boot up to bios then go to save and exit so the power is sustained to the USB other wise it wont register that it there is a bootloader. I can also achieve this by booting up windows and then clicking restart and the boot loader works fine.

Using Natty at this point, given the reviews it's had is.... adventurous...

I tend to stick with the LTS versions TBH.