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<title>Where can I find the files I want to back up?</title>
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Deciding what files to backup and finding where they all are is the most difficult step when attempting to perform a backup. Below is a list of where most of your important files should be, so you can find them more easily.
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<title>Your personal files and settings</title>
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<p>These are usually stored in your Home folder (<cmd>/home/your_name</cmd>). They could be in subfolders such as Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos and/or .evolution (for email). If your backup medium has sufficient space, consider backing up the entire <cmd>/home</cmd> folder. This is the simplest way.</p>
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If you are not able to backup all of <cmd>/home</cmd>, see below for a list of some subfolders of the <cmd>/home</cmd> folder to check for important files.
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Deciding which files to back up, and locating them, is the most difficult step when attempting to perform a backup.
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Listed below are the most common locations of important files and settings that you may want to back up.
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<item><p><cmd>~/</cmd> represents your home folder <cmd>/home/your_name</cmd> </p></item>
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<item><p>Any file or folder name that starts with a period is hidden by default. To view hidden files, click <guiseq><gui>View</gui><gui>Show Hidden Files</gui></guiseq> or press <keyseq><key>Ctrl</key><key>H</key></keyseq>.
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<p>Personal files (documents, music, photos and videos)</p>
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<p>These are usually stored in your <file>Home</file> folder (<cmd>/home/your_name</cmd>).
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They could be in subfolders such as <file>Desktop</file>, <file>Documents</file>,
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<file>Pictures</file>, <file>Music</file> and <file>Videos</file>.</p>
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<p>If your backup medium has sufficient space (if it's an external hard disk, for example), consider backing up the entire Home folder. You can find out how much disk space your Home folder takes up by using the <app>Disk Usage Analyzer</app>.</p>
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<p>Any file or folder name that starts with a period (.) is hidden by default.
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To view hidden files, click <guiseq><gui>View</gui><gui>Show Hidden Files</gui></guiseq> or
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press <keyseq><key>Ctrl</key><key>H</key></keyseq>. You can copy these to a backup location like any other file.</p>
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<p>Personal settings (desktop preferences, themes, and software settings)</p>
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<p>Most applications store their settings in hidden folders inside your Home folder (see above for information on hidden files).</p>
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<p>Most of your application settings will be stored in the hidden folders <cmd>.config</cmd>, <cmd>.gconf</cmd>, <cmd>.gnome3</cmd>, and <cmd>.local</cmd> in your Home folder.</p>
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<p>System-wide settings</p>
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<p>Settings for important parts of the system aren't stored in your Home folder. There are a number of locations that they could be stored, but most are stored in the <file>/etc</file> folder. In general, you won't need to back-up these files on a home computer. If you are running a server, however, you should back up the files for the services that it is running.</p>
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<td><p>Your personal files</p></td><td><p><cmd>~/</cmd>, <cmd>~/Desktop</cmd>, <cmd>~/Documents</cmd>, <cmd>~/Pictures</cmd>, <cmd>~/Music</cmd>, <cmd>Videos</cmd>, <cmd>~/bin</cmd>, and others</p></td> <td><p>Contain files you actively created.</p></td>
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<td><p>Your personal settings</p></td> <td><p><cmd>~/.config</cmd>, <cmd>~/.gconf</cmd>, <cmd>~/.gnome3</cmd>, <cmd>~/.local</cmd></p></td>
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<td><p>Contain settings you set for your desktop and some applications.</p></td>
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<td><p>System settings</p></td> <td><p><cmd>/etc</cmd> located in the File System outside of your Home folder.</p></td>
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<td><p>Your system settings. In general, you don't need to go outside of your Home folder.</p></td>
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