I’m going to switch from Windows 11 to Linux soon but first I wish to backup every every data and config files I can in my current Windows installation, even those that wouldn’t natively work in Linux. I know the \Users folder is important to back up, but I don’t know what other directories I am missing.
IT guy here.
The best thing to do is first to verify that bitlocker is turned off, then remove the drive from the computer, replace it with a new drive, and install Linux on that.
Then take the old drive, get a USB enclousure, install the drive and plug it in to your Likux machine, you should now be able to access the Windows files
I have two physical drives so I can dual boot. I’ve already disabled Bitlocker so I can directly copy the Windows files and folders to the Linux drive. The backup is temporarily kept in an external drive for redundancy in case I screw up the transfer process.
Am I covered in a setup like this?
As a general rule when it comes reinstalling a computer while preserving data, I will always recommend removing all drives but the boot drive during install.
Especially since Linux and Windows identifies hard drives in a very different manner.
This is done to prevent any mistake and make it easier to understand what drive contains what data.
Please, please, please do not skip past this warning like you would on a windows box. This is not a maybe troublesome message. This is a “There is a good chance all that data would be gone.” kind of warning.
If this is your first time doing this, your chance of misinterpreting bad instructions or clicking the wrong thing is high. I still do this occasionally, and I found a home-burned Ubuntu 2008 iso when clearing out my old CDs.
It’s always worth being sure. Your install may not be quick. Your install may not be settled the first time. Your install may still be going at 3am with no caffeine in your system. By this point, you may be focused more on figuring out dkms wireless driver installation and how the heck grub rescue works.
When you’re tired, annoyed and rushing through steps you’ve completed 20 times already, it’s easy to chose the wrong thing with full confidence.
Remove the other disk and you can wipe/reinstall/whatever to your hearts content. Don’t try to save 2 minutes of effort on this one, it’s so not worth it.
You are technically covered, assuming your backup has been recently tested, and you have practiced accessing it from Linux.
Users is enough. You won’t be able to restore anything else on Linux.
I wouldn’t even backup users, just your documents or any folders the user has created.
\Username\Appdata\Roaming includes the Firefox profile and Thunderbird E-Mails, which you can restore on Linux AFAIK.
Not sure if your Steam folder can be copied over, as well.You can, but you really don’t want to except for troubleshooting purposes.
There’s lots like this you technically can do, but man can it get ugly fast.
Mind I say this as having been an app packager since the 90’s - nobody sees and wrestles with the ugly underbelly of Windows DLL Hell and other weirdness like app packagers.
You can’t pay me to do those kinds of data restores or copying today, except for troubleshooting.
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Ideally I would have arranged a spare drive. Sadly it won’t be possible right now given the SSD shortage.
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Just whatever documents you created as a user.
Nothing is of value in another Windows install, let alone on Linux.
These are all the docs you should already be backing up anyway.
Configurations, save files and the likes are typically saved in AppData. But be careful because some programs and videogames save data in their installation folder.