OS

Folder or Location

File or Folder Name

Remark

All

Root folder of each volume

CAVolTrc.dat

Used by the Arcserve UDP tracking Driver.

cavoltrcsnapshot.dat

System Volume Information\*

Used to save files/folders by a Windows system, for example, volume shadow copy files.

RECYCLER\*

Used only on NTFS partitions. It contains a Recycle Bin for each user that logs on to the computer, sorted by their security identifier (SID).

$Recycle.Bin\*

When you delete a file in Windows NT Explorer or My Computer, the file is stored in the Recycle Bin until you empty the Recycle Bin or restore the file.

Any folder contain picture files

Thumbs.db

Stores thumbnail images for Windows Explorer thumbnail view.

Root folder of volume

PageFile.Sys

Windows virtual memory swap file.

Hiberfil.sys

Hibernate file, used to save the system data when a computer goes into hibernate mode.

The following files and folders are skipped only when you restore to the original location.

All

Folder specified in value record under:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\SfcDllCache

All files/folders(recursively)

Folder contains a cached dll file which is used for System File Checker (SFC) and contents of the system dll cache directory are rebuilt by using SFC.

%SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32\dllCache

Root folder of quorum_device

MSCS\*

Used for Microsoft Cluster Server.

%SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32\

perf?00?.dat

Performance data used by the Windows performance counter.

perf?00?.bak

CATROOT\*

Used for Windows File Protection (WFP) records digital signatures of the operating system installs (such as DLL, EXE, SYS, OCX, and so on) to protect them from deletion or from replacement by older versions.

%SystemRoot%\inetsrv\

metabase.bin

Metabase binary file of earlier IIS versions before 6.0.

File or folder specified in value except "SIS Common Store" under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToBackup

All files/folders(recursively)

Files and folders should not be backed up and restored. For more information, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb891959(v=vs.85).aspx#filesnottobackup

XP W2003

System volume

NTLDR

The main boot loader.

BOOT.INI

Contains boot configuration (if missing, NTLDR will default to \Windows on the first partition of the first hard drive).

NTDETECT.COM

Required for booting an NT-based OS. Detects basic hardware information needed for a successful boot.

Vista and later

Root folder of system volume

boot\*

Boot folder for Windows.

bootmgr

Windows boot manager file.

EFI\Microsoft\Boot\*

Used for EFI boot.

%SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32\

LogFiles\WMI\RTBackup\*

Stores ETW trace files (extension .etl) for real time event trace sessions.

config\RegBack\*

Backup of current registry table.

Win8 and later

System volume

swapfile.sys

System controller file, normally around 256 MB. It is used by Metro style applications that do not fit the traditional paging characteristics (such as usage pattern, growth, space reservation) of pagefile.sys.

BOOTNXT

Used to boot from OS, other than Windows 8. Created when enabling the startup options, and updated by Windows.