[ubuntu] Need an Ubuntu backup walkthrough

Ok, my situation may not be unique, but I couldnt find exactly what I need to know.

I have a dual boot system. XP on harddrive one. And Ubuntu on harddrive two. I recently 'upgraded' my Ubuntu and ofcourse now its a trainwreck.
Ive managed to be able to log in to it, and find all my files are still there. Just the useability of the Ubuntu is crap. No menus, no dock, like basically part of ubuntu itself is missing.

Anyways, I managed to get into it and create a backup disc. And located it onto my XP harddrive. I will probably go ahead and make another backup and dump it onto a USB just for safety. (I dont know what im doing (obviously) but I looked through the 'backup' file, and it appears to be a crap load of .tar files, which I believe is correct.)

So thats what I got, and heres what I want to do. I want to now, install Ultimate Edition on the hd I used for Ubuntu.

And then I want to restore my ubuntu backup (that is now on the XP harddrive) into ultimate edition so I basically get all my files, photos, music, etc etc back.

Is this doable? If so, is there a walkthrough around here?

Can I install UE without erasing/overwriting the crippled Ubuntu (thats on hd2)?

Thanks in advance,