[alligator]

I might do a clean install today. What do I need to backup to save my music and photos, etc.? I'm new to Macs, so is backing up my "home" sufficient?

[GDoering]

Backing up your home is usually sufficient since most people save all of their pictures/documents/music etc. there. This doesn't mean everything is guaranteed to be in your home folder. I would definitely back up the home folder and then scan your hard drive to make sure you didn't save random data in other locations.

[cpac]

Originally posted by GDoering:
Backing up your home is usually sufficient since most people save all of their pictures/documents/music etc. there. This doesn't mean everything is guaranteed to be in your home folder. I would definitely back up the home folder and then scan your hard drive to make sure you didn't save random data in other locations.

ditto.

Your iPhoto library is in ~/Pictures/
Your iTunes music is in ~/Music/
Your preferences/bookmarks/emails etc. are in ~/Library/

It's worth looking around elsewhere (maybe there's an application you downloaded you're not certain you can download again?)

but for the most part, backing up your home folder should be sufficient.