backing up your Launchbox files

[alvarinho]

Hi,

I´m play a lot of retro games and recently i decided to go the emulator route after my dear N64 decided it was time to go.

Been dumping cartrigdes, cds, dvds the works. But configuring emulators and lauchbox was exausting (you can figure out why).

So simple question: how do i back it up? My idea is to zip the final the folder and use it on 2 other mini pcs that i have. 

Right now i have a backup that is my Launchbox folder minus the games and video and images folder - but it´s 30 gb so i´m thinking i can make it smaller.

thanks in advance

 

[AstroBob]

Hi @alvarinho 

Thanks for the great question! It’s awesome to hear you’ve been archiving your physical media. I’ve done the same with a few consoles, though I still need to get my hands on a cartridge dumper for my N64.

As for backing up your LaunchBox build, the software is designed to be portable. If your media, images, and emulators are contained within your LaunchBox directory, the easiest way to back up everything is simply to copy that folder.

We also have a guide on moving LaunchBox to a new PC, which might be helpful. It outlines key considerations in case you’re not using the default portable directory setup.

 

If you’re looking to reduce the size of your build, here are a few tips:

• Limit the number of images per type: For instance, you can configure LaunchBox to grab only one image for each type, such as clear logos, screenshots, or box art.

• Remove videos: If you don’t use them, removing videos can free up significant space.

• Use .zip archives for certain systems: LaunchBox allows you to set emulators to extract ROMs on launch for systems that don’t support playing zipped files directly.

• Compress CD-based systems: I highly recommend checking out the excellent compression guide from RetroGame Corps for more details on this.

• Check your Updates folder: LaunchBox keeps a history of previous version installers in your LaunchBox / Updates folder, incase you ever need to revert. If you don't need these, you can safely delete them, as each one is around 300mb

Hope that helps, let me know how you get on.