Normally, to upgrade to 5.1 -> 6.0, you would run the upgrade script.

However, I need to reformat and install a newer OS on the machine
while upgrading to 6.0.

Typically when you re-install the the OS, you would just re-install
5.1 and then copy back the mediaDB file*, I suppose I could do that as
well and then upgrade to 6.0, but is there an easier  or more
effective way of doing this?

* the mediaDB file is what tapes each individual media server knows about

Thanks,

Justin.