Backing Up? Make Sure You Get All The Files

When using a offline backup system like Mozy or Carbonite, you are often given the option to choose which folder you’d like to backup. Most of the time, the folder “My Documents” is selected by default. That’s because most modern software will create a folder inside that folder and store the data there. But older software and even some of the newer ones don’t.

For example, Firefox stores it’s user data – that’s your preferences and favorites – in the folder

C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

So make sure you get the Application Data folder too. In Mozy, you can do this by selecting the File System tab and select the C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data folder.

Here’s another thing I like to do to make sure you get all your files in one place. Many applications allow you to select where it should store the data. For example, Evernote defaults to C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Application Data\Evernote. What I do is create an Evernote in the My Documents folder and tell Evernote to store the data in there instead. That way, when Mozy does the My Documents backup, it’ll get Evernote too.