These are the most important concepts to understand:

• Your backed up files are saved to the Mozy cloud in exactly the same folder structure as on the computer, including the drive letter and user profile folder name.
• To some extent, the folder structure for your files is determined by your computer's operating system.
• When you download or restore files, you receive them in exactly this same folder structure.
• When you restore or download from Mozy, regardless of how you do it, you can choose where the files are saved on your computer. You may specify a folder, or you may be able to use the original or default location.

When You Save to the Original Location

Let's say you are backing up files and folders under your user profile's default documents folder on your Windows 7 computer. Your files are backed up to the cloud in a folder structure like this:

C:\Users\your user name\My Documents

The computer you are restoring files to is Windows 7 and your user name on that computer is exactly the same. The key point is that the folder structures are identical, including your user profile folder named your user name.

In this case, restoring to the C drive and preserving the original location of the files is best since the folder structures are the same. This makes finding your restored files simple.

Now, let's say the computer you download or restore files to is not identical for any of these reasons:

• Your user profile name is different.
• The destination computer uses a different version of Windows.
• The destination computer has a second drive or partition for your files, reserving the C:\ drive or partition only for the operating system and installed programs.
• The destination computer is a Mac.

If you choose to preserve the original location, that location either doesn't exist on the destination computer, or in the case of a system file partition may not be appropriate. However, the original folder structure for the files is created on the destination computer when you restore or download. This means you will have to move files into more appropriate locations after they are saved.

In the case of differing user profile names, you can move the saved folders and files into the correct user profile folder for the destination computer. So let's say that the name of your user profile on the destination computer is new user name instead of old user name. You would move files from

C:\Users\old user name\My Documents

to

C:\Users\new user name\My Documents.

In the case of different versions of the operating system, such as Windows XP to Windows 7, you might have to move files from

C:\Documents and Settings\your user name\My Documents

to

C:\Users\your user name\My Documents.

In the case of a dedicated data drive or partition, you might move files saved into

C:\Users\your user name\My Documents

to

D:\.

In the case of files from a Windows computer being restored or downloaded to a Mac, you might move files saved from the newly-created \My Documents folder to the existing Mac \Documents folder for your user profile.

When You Specify a Location

If you specify a location to restore or download to, your folders and files are saved to that location inside their original folder structure. The result is that you may have to look a little harder to find your files, even if the computers have identical folder structures.

Let's say that when you restored or downloaded all your files, you specified that they be saved into the \My Documents folder. This means that your restored files could be inside a folder structure like this:

C:\Users\your new user name\My Documents\C\Users\your old user name\My Documents

You would then need to move all the files from the deepest My Documents folder up into the default My Documents folder for your new user profile.

To summarize, it is very helpful to know exactly what your user profile is, and to be familiar with your computer's folder structure. This makes it easier to find files you download or restore from Mozy.