Keep a copy of the current wallet.dat
Yes..of course, that's really all you need wallet.dat everything else can be deleted (bitcoin.conf optional if you even have it).
I meant an additional copy, not just keeping .bitcoin/wallet.dat
I get it...I should be more clear next time so that you won't have to

I'm starting to think the wallet.dat may be corrupt - hope he has a good backup somewhere before the power went out with the coin in it already
