Question Which user directories do I need to back up?

[jhsachs]

Is there a way to determine which files and subdirectories in C:\Users\<name>\ contain user data that I need to save in case my system needs to be rebuilt?

Background: I tried to back up the entirety of C:\Users\<myaccount>\ using SyncBackFree, a utility I have used for years and trust. I got 41 critical errors (files that could not be copied). I need to know which of these files contain system data (Microsoft Windows or otherwise) that would be restored in the course of rebuilding the system, and which contain user data that I need to back up and restore myself. I can eliminate errors for system data files by excluding them from the copy operation; I need to find out why any user data files aren't being copied, and fix it.

Remember that not all user data files are in C:\Users\<name>\Documents\. Many other directories in C:\Users\<name> contain configuration files for Windows and applications.

The majority of the 41 uncopyable files appear to concern localization in the Intel graphics driver. Those seem likely to be system data, but I can't find information about them, so I can't be sure. I looked at one subdirectory and found that it contains files with current timestamps, which increases my concern. Some of the other files pose similar problems.

Here's a summary of the 41 files:

31 belong to Intel graphics driver localization.
4 belong to Microsoft Teams (not running).
1 belongs to Firefox (running).
1 belongs to Slack (running).
1 is an EXE file containing a font installer (not running, but marked Hidden).
1 is Win-10.iso (presumably not in use, and not marked hidden).
3 appear to be system data files owned by Windows, e.g. NTUSER.DAT, and are probably in use.

 

[USAFRet]

SyncBackFree is not good for a whole drive backup of the OS drive. It can't work with OS files.
It is good for individual user files.

For full drive backups, I use Macrium Reflect.
A full drive Image, followed by a series of Incremental or Differential Images.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[hotaru.hino]

Everything that isn't a hidden folder or a dot folder (one prepended with a period) likely contains user-generated data. And by user-generated data, this includes data programs generated that the user ran, such as save files for games. So go ahead and back up all of those.

The only one that requires scrutinizing is what's in AppData. A lot of programs also generate data in that directory. Usually the contents are helpfully labeled so you know what you're touching. Of note though, you can ignore the Microsoft and Temp folders. There's a few others that you can likely ignore if they don't have any obvious connection to some application you use. Also if you restore the data in those folders, do it before you launch the application for the first time.

As an example of what I do, I back up the Mozilla folder (for Firefox) in AppData/Local and AppData/Roaming. When I do a refresh of the OS, I install Firefox, then put those folders back in before I launch Firefox for the first time. That way, when I do launch Firefox, it's as if nothing happened.

 

[jhsachs]

I appreciate the efforts to respond, but so far they haven't addressed my question.

First, I'm not trying to do a whole drive backup. I'm trying to back up my computer's user generated data files. My question is about how to distinguish those files and directories from others.

(If my computer suffered a catastrophic failure, my employer's IT services group would want to restore a current generic system image, and then let me reinstall my applications and restore my data. I'm not sure the system is set up so I could create and restore a whole drive backup. I am sure that the services group would be upset with me if I tried. )

hotaru.hino, your description of the directories is what I need, but it isn't entirely accurate. Right off, I know that some dot directories do contain user generated data. On my disk, three of them contain configuration data for source control systems and its GUI client. Another contain my SSH keys. I'd have to work hard to rebuild those if I lost them.

My intention (subject to change based on what I learn here) is to back up everything except files that I know don't contain user generated data. If I run into problems restoring them all, I can restore more selectively, but I'll have everything I need.

 

[hotaru.hino]

My intention (subject to change based on what I learn here) is to back up everything except files that I know don't contain user generated data. If I run into problems restoring them all, I can restore more selectively, but I'll have everything I need.

Short of actually inspecting every folder and seeing if it contains something that's worthwhile in backing up, I don't know what else to tell you. We can't figure out what to back up on your side, you're just going to have to do that manual labor yourself. Otherwise you can just copy and paste the entire user folder and ignore whenever Explorer (or whatever app you use) complains it can't copy some file because it's likely not important.

The only folder I know you with 100% certainty that you shouldn't bother backing up is C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp.