Drag and Drop to a blank db, assuming there is a way to isolate the people that you want to add to the new db. Sources, Citations, and media links will be maintained. While not everything transfers, you can import things like Color Code sets or custom reports from the old db into the new db. Check out this thread for details - DnD - what gets carried over and what does not.
Then, you might want to do a backup with media of the new db. That way the media associated with your new partial db will be copied and separated from the media of your source db.
Finally, take care if you want to restore the new db to check things out. You’ll want to make sure you don’t wipe out your existing db or accidentally add media into your existing folder structure. Probably best to review those kind of steps as a follow-on if you have any concerns.