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Which directories should I back up in Windows before moving to Linux? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 1 month ago by enchantedgoldapple@sopuli.xyz to c/windows11@lemmy.world

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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.

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[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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

[–] enchantedgoldapple@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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?

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago

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.