Recommendations for Backup Content for PCs Run Under Linux and macOS

If you are using macOS or Linux as an operating system on your computer and you not familiar with the OS structure, you may be curious about what is needed to be backed up beside your data files.

This article is a short guideline explaining the locations of system components that are likely to be backed up.

Basic Recommendations

It is recommended to back up the contents of the following directories:

Location	Description	Applies To
/home	User files	macOS and Linux
/etc	Daemon configuration files	macOS and Linux
/var	Only the subdirectories that contain user data are needed, e.g. /var/mail, /var/mysql, /var/www	macOS and Linux

In some cases, you may need need to back up the following data:

Location	Description	Applies To
/media or /mnt	In case there is a mount point containing some valuable data	macOS and Linux
/root	In case there is any important information or settings in the home directory for the root user	macOS and Linux

It is not recommended to include in a backup plan the following directories:

Location	Description	Applies To
/boot	Boot loader files, e.g., kernels, initrd	macOS and Linux
/dev	Device files, e.g., /dev/null, /dev/disk0, /dev/sda1, /dev/tty, /dev/random	macOS and Linux
/var/run	Run-time variable data. This directory contains system information data describing the system since it was booted	macOS and Linux
/tmp	Temporary files (see also /var/tmp)	macOS and Linux
/sys	Contains information about devices, drivers, and some kernel features	macOS and Linux
/Applications	Application files	macOS only
/Library	Program libraries	macOS only