I’ve got an RMA on my Deck over a sticky button issue, so I ordered a 1TB external drive online to back it up before wiping and sending it off.

What’s the bare minimum you would recommend I back up if I just want to preserve my desktop settings, apps, and some non-steam game content (since much of that is already tied to my account)?

  1. Is it just a matter of copying folders over in desktop mode or is there an official (or recommended) backup tool I should use?
  2. Would Syncthing, which I use to transfer files normally, be a reliable method to use my Mac as a potential backup location?

Thank you for any advice.

  • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
    3·
    10 months ago

    By and large, I don’t. The vast majority of the data on there is already backed up to the Steam servers.

    As for stuff like emulator saves: I set up a nextcloud on my NAS that will synchronize the saves between my deck and my desktop.

    But if you are just doing bulk backup? rsync is your friend. Works on every modern OS and is rather trivial overhead wise.

  • PlasticExistence@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I would setup the external drive with Clonezilla and take a drive image of the internal Steam Deck drive. That will preserve everything and it will restore everything once you get the Deck back from Valve. I did a Clonezilla image when I upgraded my internal drive, and it worked out great.