Simplest backup

Dusty · 2006-02-27 22:13:58

Hey guys,

I'm starting to worry about my inadvertant mistakes like rm * in my home directory (thank god it wasn't recursive). Traditionally, I don't keep backups, but I've got loads of free space on a second drive and i'd like to back up my entire home directory to it.

I've seen some backup scripts around here and such, but I'm not sure what I need. Something really simple, and something incremental. Basically, I want it to copy and compress the entire home directory the first time, after that, I want to run it, say, once a week to only copy the changes. I'd rather it kept a synchronized backup so I don't have to do incremental restore if I do something stupid, but that's only a secondary issue.

Originally tried tarring it up, but it took forever and then coughed and died on some filesize issue. Do I want to make something ilke an iso or something?

I'm using reiserfs; what's the simplest way to do this?

Dusty

pikass · 2006-02-27 22:47:46

I like rsnapshot very much. Designed for cron and that's where a backup script has to be. (working with rsync and hardlinks)

iphitus · 2006-02-27 23:01:56

I have a really simple bash script i leave in cron, that goes through a list of directories in a file and just rsyncs, them with the files on my backup partition. I used to have a script that copied them all, but rsync works better, doesnt copy the unchanged stuff since last time. I'll upload it tonight.

iphitus

whompus · 2006-02-27 23:15:46

I've been using Backup v3.0 by loop

http://foc.neoartis.org/progs/backup/

Dusty · 2006-02-28 02:16:43

I just found dirsync in extra... looks like just the thing, except no compression... so I'm thinking of putting a compressed filesystem on that partition... thoughts?

Dusty

viniosity · 2006-02-28 02:48:51

rsync?

codemac · 2006-02-28 02:58:13

Put your home directory in a subversion repos. Sounds like a lot, but it really is quite easy, and then you have distributed backups.

Plus every machine you touch, home is only a `svn co` away

Dusty · 2006-02-28 03:15:38

codemac wrote:

Put your home directory in a subversion repos. Sounds like a lot, but it really is quite easy, and then you have distributed backups.
Plus every machine you touch, home is only a `svn co` away

yeah, I've considered that too. only thing is I don't really feel like remembering to put svn in front of all my commands.

Dusty

dk · 2006-02-28 04:32:26

http://applications.linux.com/article.p … 240&tid=13

drakosha · 2006-02-28 06:41:25

I'd take a look at sbackup. Really nice and simple http://sbackup.sourceforge.net/HomePage

IceRAM · 2006-02-28 07:22:35

hdup is in extra - quite simple, stores monthly snapshot + weekly increments from monthly snapshot + daily increments from weekly snapshot // everything is compressed // very lite

However, I found out that it might just be easier for me to use something like rsync, because I can always have a look at the backup contents, without falling asleep while mc tries to open a >100MB archive.

Then I found rdiff-backup, which can be found in AUR (+a dependency, also in AUR), which does basically what rsync does + stores reversed increments (something like decrements - to my understanding, haven't tested yet) as diffs and compresses these.

To get an older version, the reversed increments are applied to the current version - that's what I've understood. This way I can always have a rsync-like backup + older versions (which don't take much space, since they're diffs & compressed). You can ask for a file at a given date/time and rdiff-backup does the job of applying increments to the current version to get the old version.

Besides, rdiff-backup has the possibility to erase the history (increments) older than how much time you want (something I couldn't find in hdup and I had to do manually, making sure I don't break increments).

I found this to be perfect for my needs since my concern is not actually the old versions, but the current version and a fast access to it. Besides, cost/MB is low and I don't think it is worth compressing everything.

Check this page to see how easy is to work with it.

P.S. I've written a wrapper (bash script) to handle some custom (a bit complex) include/exclude lists. For dir basic backup, a one liner is enough - no extra files.

Moo-Crumpus · 2006-02-28 12:46:40

drakosha wrote:

I'd take a look at sbackup. Really nice and simple http://sbackup.sourceforge.net/HomePage

Backup with gui. Hm, does it really run in archlinux?

drakosha · 2006-02-28 14:36:40

Moo-Crumpus wrote:

drakosha wrote:
I'd take a look at sbackup. Really nice and simple http://sbackup.sourceforge.net/HomePage
Backup with gui. Hm, does it really run in archlinux?

It has command line interface also, gui is for config. It does work... and present in aur:
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?d … s=0&SeB=nd

scrawler · 2006-03-06 11:25:09

I use back2cd.tcsh, which makes an iso of selected directories. Every file is compressed.

The script was featured in Sysadmin magazine several years ago, and can be found in this zip:

ftp://ftp.mfi.com/pub/sysadmin/2002/april2002.zip

mehldutt · 2007-04-05 11:38:43

This is seems to be the simplest backup:

http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Desktop- … 6440.shtml

Arch Linux

#1 2006-02-27 22:13:58

Simplest backup

#2 2006-02-27 22:47:46

Re: Simplest backup

#3 2006-02-27 23:01:56

Re: Simplest backup

#4 2006-02-27 23:15:46

Re: Simplest backup

#5 2006-02-28 02:16:43

Re: Simplest backup

#6 2006-02-28 02:48:51

Re: Simplest backup

#7 2006-02-28 02:58:13

Re: Simplest backup

#8 2006-02-28 03:15:38

Re: Simplest backup

#9 2006-02-28 04:32:26

Re: Simplest backup

#10 2006-02-28 06:41:25

Re: Simplest backup

#11 2006-02-28 07:22:35

Re: Simplest backup

#12 2006-02-28 12:46:40

Re: Simplest backup

#13 2006-02-28 14:36:40

Re: Simplest backup

#14 2006-03-06 11:25:09

Re: Simplest backup

#15 2007-04-05 11:38:43

Re: Simplest backup

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