Which folders should I copy to backup my laptop?

Hi All - I'm setting up a simple backup using Second Copy (SC). I can set the SC software to automatically "sync" specified subdirs on my laptop's hard drive to a 1.5 TB NAS (Drobo FS).

My question is which folders do I want to keep safely copied. I know I want to safeguard "My Documents" (a/k/a: "C:\Users\ShepJim\Documents") -- that's where all my stuff is. And, while not as important, I'll have to make arrangements for "My Pictures" and "My Music."

My head starts to spin when I look at other data repositories. I know that all Eudora's email mailboxes are in "C:\Users\ShepJim\Application Data\Qualcomm\Eudora",

But, then there's also the "\AppData" folder whose "\Roaming\" subdirectory seems have a backdoor entrance to the same email data in "C:\Users\ShepJim\AppData\Roaming\Qualcomm\Eudora"

Question 1)
Are
"C:\Users\ShepJim\Application Data\Qualcomm\Eudora" and
"C:\Users\ShepJim\AppData\Roaming\Qualcomm\Eudora" the same but with different names?

Question 2)
Do I have to play it safe and copy/sync the entire "\Users\ShepJim\" and all the sub-folders? That appears to contain a bunch of junk that I would not really need to get going again in the event of a disk crash or whatever.

I'm sure there is a reason that Microsoft has the files directory structure turned back inside itself like a Moebius strip?

With a data backup program it only makes sense to backup your user folders and maybe the mail. Backing up system folders that way makes no sense. For the system you should use imaging. E.g. this one: Imaging with free Macrium

My point of view:

I would keep a copy of all the user files on a separate hard disk, especially an external one.

I also make a full system image of the computer on an external drive using the Windows 7 backup. It is important to make the recovery start-up DVD. To recover the original full image this recovery start-up DVD is essential.

On some of our computers I've had to use this image backup to fully restore the system. This saved a lot of time and grief.

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Shepherd Jim said:

Hi All - I'm setting up a simple backup using Second Copy (SC). I can set the SC software to automatically "sync" specified subdirs on my laptop's hard drive to a 1.5 TB NAS (Drobo FS).

My question is which folders do I want to keep safely copied. I know I want to safeguard "My Documents" (a/k/a: "C:\Users\ShepJim\Documents") -- that's where all my stuff is. And, while not as important, I'll have to make arrangements for "My Pictures" and "My Music."

My head starts to spin when I look at other data repositories. I know that all Eudora's email mailboxes are in "C:\Users\ShepJim\Application Data\Qualcomm\Eudora",

But, then there's also the "\AppData" folder whose "\Roaming\" subdirectory seems have a backdoor entrance to the same email data in "C:\Users\ShepJim\AppData\Roaming\Qualcomm\Eudora"

Question 1)
Are
"C:\Users\ShepJim\Application Data\Qualcomm\Eudora" and
"C:\Users\ShepJim\AppData\Roaming\Qualcomm\Eudora" the same but with different names?

Question 2)
Do I have to play it safe and copy/sync the entire "\Users\ShepJim\" and all the sub-folders? That appears to contain a bunch of junk that I would not really need to get going again in the event of a disk crash or whatever.

I'm sure there is a reason that Microsoft has the files directory structure turned back inside itself like a Moebius strip?