Ubuntu Unleashed 2013 Edition: Covering 12.10 and 13.04, Eighth Edition

User Directories: /home

The most important data on a non-server Linux system often resides in the user’s directories, found under the /home directory. User directories are named by default according to account usernames, so on a computer where I have an account named matthew, my home directory would generally be found in /home/matthew. This can be changed, and if you’re curious you can read more about it in Chapter 10, “Command-Line Master Class.”

Segregating the system and user data can be helpful in preventing data loss and making the process of backing up easier. For example, having user data reside on a separate file system or mounted from a remote computer on the network might help shield users from data loss in the event of a system hardware ...