Reinstalling ubuntu 8.10 without loosing data

[mgumu]

Hello all,
Iam newbie here and to ubuntu.I have recently installed ubuntu 8.10 on my laptop hp pavilion dv5000.
While trying to install python 3, I removed python 2.5 accidentally with other packages.I cant access genome and even backing up my data. It just work on command mode only no genome desktop.Please,can help how I can backup my data and reinstall the system again?

[kpkeerthi]

Boot with the Live CD. From the Places menu on the top panel, click on the partition where all your data is. It should automount and you should be able to copy the data to an external media or burn it to a DVD or wherever you want.