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 |
To learn more about file system hierarchy, refer to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard Wikipedia article