What files should i back up

Most common backup tools will back up a list of files and folders you specify. This allows you to back up just the files and folders you need. These will back up everything, from your Windows system directory and installed program files to your personal data.

These backups will be much larger and take much longer to create. For most people, we recommend you stick with just backing up your files and folders.

System image backups sound nice, but there are some big catches. The most important thing is to back up your personal files. These include the Documents folder where your documents are saved to by default, the Pictures folder that likely contains any family photos you have, the Downloads folder where files are downloaded, the Music folder where your music files are probably stored, and the Videos folder where videos are stored.

If you use iTunes for your music, iTunes stores its music library in your music folder by default. It even includes your Desktop folder, where many people store files. It also includes other important folders, like OneDrive, Dropbox, and Google Drive, where offline copies of your cloud files are stored if you use these services.

This is where programs store the settings and data specific to your user account. With that in mind, we recommend you back up your entire user account directory, including the hidden AppData folder. But, if those virtual machines are important and it would take you a good amount of time to configure them again, you probably want to back them up.

If you moved them, only you know where all your files are stored. These files may be stored on another drive, for example. This will save you from having to dig through your AppData folder. If you use a desktop email client, you may also want to back up your emails.

PC games in particular have files all over the place. The PCGamingWiki website has a good database of games with information about whether they synchronize their save games or not and exactly where their save files are located on your PC.

Leave these folders alone. The Program Files folder contains files for your installed applications. A handful of programs can be simply moved between PCs.

For example, you can back up your Steam or Battle. Back up your files daily, if possible. Cybercriminals have become increasingly bold when it comes to infecting computers with a type of malicious software called ransomware. Ransomware blocks end-users from accessing files and software applications on their computers. Hackers demand individuals or organizations pay a ransom to restore access to their files. The previously mentioned NHS attack — as well as thousands of other attacks around the world — was a ransomware attack.

The incident forced clinics to shut down and halted surgeries throughout the UK. To make matters worse, in many instances, those who pay the ransom still don't regain control of their machines. The hackers must provide users with encrypted keys to unlock the files, and they don't always comply.

Some ransomware deletes all the data on a computer even after the ransom is paid. Computer backups stored in secondary locations ensure ransomware attacks do not disrupt the work of organizations and individuals for long. The most common way to backup computer files is to use the software that comes with the operating system on personal computers. Apple iOS and Microsoft Windows provide built-in utilities that offer backup and restore capabilities for computers.

You can either back up files on separate partitions on local drives or back up to external storage devices.

For example, Overwatch stores log data, settings, and saved video clips here. Because of this, you may want to take a look through your Documents folder and exclude app-related folders if you don't care about them. In general, though, everything in Documents is important to have backed up.

The Downloads folder is where downloaded files go by default. Most web browsers default to this folder for downloads, as do many tools for downloading media. While you might want to first clean out huge downloads that you don't need anymore, backing up this folder makes sense.

You never know when you might need a program installer or PDF you downloaded months ago. Many people store files on their desktop, at least temporarily. It's easy to forget about backing this folder up, but you should do so. That way, you won't lose anything that you accidentally left sitting on the desktop. As with the Documents and Downloads folders, Windows provides these three locations for storing personal media files.

Anything you have here is likely important, so you should definitely back it all up. Some media apps use these folders for storing local files such as iTunes keeping library files in the iTunes subfolder. While these aren't essential to back up, doing so may be desirable if you don't want to re-download everything.

Many games on Steam use Steam Cloud to synchronize game data and settings so you can have a consistent experience across machines. Unfortunately, Steam's latest interface doesn't let you easily see all of your games that support Steam Cloud. To check them individually, select a game in your library and click the Details icon which looks like an "i" inside a circle on the right side. There, you'll see the Cloud Saves entry in the list of details if it supports the feature.

You can back up any installed Steam game by right-clicking it in your library and choosing Properties , switching to the Local Files tab, and hitting Backup game files. Since you can always reinstall games, though, it's most important to make sure you have your saved data backed up.

For all other games, you'll need to find their saved data individually. Here are several common locations where games may store data:. Rather than trying to track all these files down manually, we recommend using an automated tool like GameSave Manager.

This will scan your system for hundreds of games and back up the saved data to a location of your choice.

If you do creative work such as programming, photography, video editing, or writing , then you should absolutely back up these filesespecially any works-in-progress! Only you know where you keep all of your creative projects. Make sure you remember to back up all of them.

If you have any question related to MiniTool ShadowMaker, you can also choose to send an email to [email protected]. Download Shadowmaker. What Files Should I Back up? Get Answers! What to Back up on PC? Facebook Twitter Linkedin Reddit Summary : Some of you may ask these two questions: what do I need to back up my computer?

Tip: Have already lost some important files? Tip: If you want to have all your personal files and settings, you can choose to back up the entire user account directory, which will let you not spend much time thinking about it. Of course, you can exclude some certain folders when there is a need. Tip: In the above paragraphs, we show you what files to back up and what files not to back up. As to MiniTool ShadowMaker, you can use it to back up personal files including documents, music files, pictures, videos and more, AppData, important data on other data partitions, etc.

It cannot help to back up emails. Tip: How to sync files? Tip: If you have many files to back up, you can save them to a specific partition and then go to Disk and Partitions to only choose this partition to back up. Tip: As you know, files may change at any time. To keep your data safe, you can back up files on a regular basis by using the feature Schedule in the Backup page or going to the Manage page and using Edit Schedule.