I'm not sure if there is an equivalent to the rpm command myself.
deborphan comes to mind as a possiblity. Backing up just your data
should be fairly easy.

Have you compiled/installed any software that wasn't in deb form? If
you have, did you at least install it to /usr/local? If not, you
should! I also recommend using stow to manage your compiled software.
(apt-get install stow) Stow "manages" your /usr/local software by
creating symlinks from it's repository (usually /usr/local/stow) to
the proper places in /usr/local. So your configure/make/make install
would look like:

# ./configure
# make
# sudo make install prefix=/usr/local/stow/package_version
# cd /usr/local/stow
# sudo stow package_version


Sorry for the side track. Here's what I would recommend backing up on
a Debian/Ubuntu system:

- /etc/
- /home/
- /opt/
- /root/
- /srv/
- /usr/local
- /var/www (If you have changed the default web site)
- mysqldump file if you have MySQL databases.
- dpgk selections file.

The dpgk selections file is a file that has a list of all the software
you have installed via Debian's package manager. You can export this
list with the following command:

# dpkg --get-selections > dpgk_selections

On a clean (or any) install of Debian/Ubuntu, you can then restore the
selections list:
# dpkg --set-selections < dpgk_selections

And then tell apt to install your selected software:
# apt-get dist-upgrade

And all the packages you had installed will download and install.

-- 
Andrew S. Zbikowski | http://andy.zibnet.us
IT Outhouse Blog Thing | http://www.itouthouse.com