Instructions for data back up to microSD

[haylsh]

I am returning my steam deck for repair and Steam have recommended I back up my data onto a hard drive or micro SD before sending it away. I want to back it up to a micro SD, but am struggling to find clear instructions on how to do this (I am autistic and things that are obvious to others often aren’t to me).

Steam Support have said they can’t provide instructions or support with doing this, so I’m hoping someone here could?

I don’t know what data it is that I should back up either.

[WarnerCK]

If your SD card is big enough, you can just copy your Home directory (/home/deck/) to an SD card. That'll be everything. Then copy it back later if you need to.

It takes a while, though. Copying my Home folder off my LCD Deck took a couple of hours, and then copying it onto my OLED Deck took about an hour.

Otherwise you can just copy select directories onto an SD card, or over a network using something like KDE Connect. It depends on what you want to keep and how much time you want to spend.

[Prezidentas]

You can choose different options:
a) backing up only specific files to a sd-card or a USB device
b) creating an image of the entire SSD to a sd-card or a USB device
c) don't backup anything and start fresh

b) lets you restore the deck to identical condition before you sent it. I used clonezilla, default options are fine, all you need is to select the type of operation (entire device to another device) and direction of transfer (backup or restore), everything else can stay default.

[haylsh]

Originally posted by WarnerCK:

If your SD card is big enough, you can just copy your Home directory (/home/deck/) to an SD card. That'll be everything. Then copy it back later if you need to.

It takes a while, though. Copying my Home folder off my LCD Deck took a couple of hours, and then copying it onto my OLED Deck took about an hour.

Otherwise you can just copy select directories onto an SD card, or over a network using something like KDE Connect. It depends on what you want to keep and how much time you want to spend.

This might sound like a silly question, but how do I actually get my home to copy onto the card? I have my SD card in and configured but am not sure how to copy it over.

[Mahjik]

Just like you would in Windows.

Go into Desktop mode. Use the GUI file browser. Copy the Home folder to your SD card. Make sure you enable it to see all hidden files.

[WarnerCK]

Originally posted by haylsh:

This might sound like a silly question, but how do I actually get my home to copy onto the card? I have my SD card in and configured but am not sure how to copy it over.

Open up Dolphin (the file manager). It will open by default in your Home directory. Your SD card's mount point should also be listed in the tree view on the left hand side. Open that as a new window with the right click menu so you've got one window for Home and one window for your SD card. In the Home window, show hidden files so you can make sure you get those too (your configurations are stored in those) and select everything, or alternatively select the parent "deck" directory; then drag that selection to the other window. You'll probably get a popup menu asking whether you want to move or copy; select copy. Then wait for a long time.

[haylsh]

Is what you’re explaining done on the steam deck or does it require me connecting the steam deck to a computer?

[WarnerCK]

Originally posted by haylsh:

Is what you’re explaining done on the steam deck or does it require me connecting the steam deck to a computer?

All on the Deck. But in desktop mode.