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.
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.