# Backing up your files

Some people have asked for a list of all of the files you'd need to copy if you wanted to manually back up your full PinballY setup, including all of the media files and table information databases. Here's what you should save:

- Settings.txt in the main PinballY folder (stores all of your program option settings). The location of this file can be explicitly changed by a command line option, /Settings, when launching PinballY.
- GameStats.csv in the main PinballY folder (stores portions of the game metadata). The location of this file can be explicitly changed by a command line option, /GameStats, when launching PinballY.
- Your entire Media folder tree
- Your entire Databases folder tree
- Registry settings: None (PinballY doesn't store any settings in the registry)

The Media and Databases folder locations depend on your option settings. You might want to read Files & Folders for full details, but here's the quick summary:

- If you're using the "Share with PinballX" option, both folders will be in your PinballX install folder
- If you're not sharing with PinballX, both folders will be in your PinballY install folder by default
- However, you can override the default locations in the settings - if you're not sure, the Folders page in the options dialog will show you the current settings

You don't need to back up the PinballY program files themselves, since you can always just do a fresh install to re-create those. But if you're not on a tight space budget for your backup media, the simplest thing is to just make a copy of your entire PinballY folder tree (plus your complete PinballX folder tree, if you're sharing media with PinballX).

## More on backing up your system in general

For some recommendations about backing up your overall system, see Windows Setup in my pin cab build guide.