You should backup any information that you wouldn’t be able to easily replace, if you had to change your computer.
There’s no point in backing up your “C:\Windows” directory for example – this data will be available on a new machine. However, if you bought a new PC, then your “My Pictures”, or “My Music” folders would no longer have your files in them.
We recommend that you backup your “home” directory.
- In Windows XP, this directory is called “C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>”
- In Vista or Windows 7, you should choose the “C:\Users\<your username>” folder
- In MacOS X, choose “/Users/<your username>”
- Under Linux, your home directory depends on the version of Linux you run. It’s usually “/home/<your username>”. Open a terminal window, and type “pwd” to find out which directory is your home directory.
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