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d GNOME Documentation Project gnome-doc-list@gnome.org How to Backup

You can just copy your files to a local location such as one mentioned above.

Alternatively, you can use an app that can back your files up for you.

One such app is Déjà Dup. It hides the complexity of doing backups the right way, meaning regularly, off-site and encrypted.

Your personal files and settings are usually in your home directory.

If there is room on the backup media, it is best to backup the entire home directory with the following exceptions:

Files that you have copied from a CD, DVD, or other removable media, since it would be faster to copy them again than to restore them from backup.

Files that you can generate easily. For example, PDF's that can be generated from TeX files, or object files that can be made with make. Just make sure the source is backed up.

Your trashed files, which can be found in ~/.local/share/Trash

The amount of data you can backup is limited by the size of the storage device.

Deciding what to backup and then finding it all is the most difficult step in starting the backup. Let's look at where the above mentioned files and settings are stored in your computer, so you can easily find them and copy them to your backup media.

Your Personal Files and Settings

These are usually stored in your home directory such as /home/your_name. They could be in a variety of subdirectories such as Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos and/or .evolution. If your backup medium has sufficient space, consider backing up the entire /home directory.

If you are not able to backup all of /home, see below for a list of some subdirectories of the /home directory to check for important files.

~/ represents your home directory /home/your_name

any file or folder name that starts with a period is by default hidden. To view these select View from the main menu, then select Show Hidden Files or press CtrlH.

Your personal files	~/, ~/Desktop, ~/Documents, ~/Pictures, ~/Music, Videos, ~/bin, and others	Contain files you actively created.
Your personal settings	~/.config, ~/gconf, ~/.gnome3, ~/.local	Contain settings you set for your desktop and some programs.
System settings	/etc located in the File System outside of your home	Your system settings. In general, you don't need to go outside of your home directory.