Does Windows 7 store user-specific data anywhere outside of the Users directory?

[Altus7]

I'm about to do a full-wipe OS reinstall. In order to not lose any user data that I'm not aware of, but might need in the future, I'm gonna backup the entire "Users" directory.

Is there any other user-specific data on a Windows system though?

Does for example the hugely bloated "Windows" directory contain any logs or other user-specific files, or does it only hold user-irrelevant system-files?

 

[corkyg]

The question is about the OS - so I moved it to the OS Forum.

 

[Elixer]

I'm about to do a full-wipe OS reinstall. In order to not lose any user data that I'm not aware of, but might need in the future, I'm gonna backup the entire "Users" directory.

Is there any other user-specific data on a Windows system though?

Does for example the hugely bloated "Windows" directory contain any logs or other user-specific files, or does it only hold user-irrelevant system-files?

Yes, the registry for starters...

I suggest you perform a full clone of the current system, and save that to a file that you can later use.
If you are using a OS partition, then good, much easier this way. If not.. well, live & learn. 🙂

 

[Altus7]

Yes, the registry for starters...

I suggest you perform a full clone of the current system, and save that to a file that you can later use.
If you are using a OS partition, then good, much easier this way. If not.. well, live & learn. 🙂

Forgot about the registry. Thanks for mentioning.

The Windows folder is 20GB though. Feels like a waste to backup system-files.

 

[Ketchup]

I have done backups for others (for new computers, reinstall, etc) and haven't really lost anything outside of the user folder. But I always go through the installed programs and see if there any of them are saving data outside of that location. My work computer (and my personal computer), for example, has important data that is outside these folders, so it is always a good practice to double check.