Will I lose my iPhone data when syncing to new computer?

Hello --
I've dug through the archives here a little, and saw many issues with syncing an iPhone to a new computer. However, I was never able to find the answer I was looking for to my particular question.
I've had my iPhone for a good number of months now. I had to reformat my computer, and re-install iTunes last week (so it's not really a new computer, but for all intents and purposes, it might as well be.) I have yet to try to sync my iPhone to the computer out of fear I will lose all my data.
I'm not worried about the mp3s or ringtones, those are backed up in my library. However, my contacts, calendar data, photos I've taken -- I've got the sinking feeling that as soon as I hook up this phone to that computer, they will all get removed.
What can I do to ensure that my data won't be lost? Can I backup my phone somehow before syncing it to the computer?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks, all.

You're welcome.
So I am safe to continue to transfer music and movies to my phone, without harming my contacts so long as I keep those check boxes in the info tab unchecked? Correct?
Correct. Whatever you select to be synced or transferred from your computer to the iPhone via your iPhone sync preferences is synced or transferred and whatever is not selected is not synced or transferred. Some data is synced and some if just a transfer process from your computer to the iPhone.
Also, what do I do if I want to start syncing contacts now (to prevent this worry of mine in the future)? If I want to create a backup of my contacts right now, is that something I'd need to do manually? I can't just "download" my list of contacts from my phone to my computer, right?
Select the supported application on your computer for syncing contact information and calendar events with your iPhone. If this application or applications are void of any data, enter at least one contact in the supported address book application and one calendar event in the supported calendar application before syncing.
There is no way to backup this data on the iPhone.

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