How-to backup your machine?

K0tuk · 2009-05-05 07:09:02

Hi!

I came to the point when my i686 Arch is setup with OpenBox and all software i need runs without issues. Now, if i screw something up, i may lose everything, and it would be a pain in the rear to reinstall/reconfigure everything. So i thought about the thing i never did in the past: backing up my system. I`ve googled a bit and saw some utilities for it, but i would like to hear my fellow archers` opinions. So, what i want from the backup software is (don`t laugh if i ask something funny, i`ve never backup-ed anything before ):

-easy backup of all the data on my /, home and /var partitions ( which is 30Ggb + 50Ggb + 7Ggb ) to another partition. Is that possible?
-easy restore of this data.

Would love to hear your opinions and suggestions.

fukawi2 · 2009-05-05 07:32:07

GUI: backintime
CLI: rsync or tar

cb474 · 2009-05-05 08:57:41

I like to make images of my entire / partition to back it up for this purpose. I'm using partimage, running it off of the clonezilla boot usb environment: http://clonezilla.org/ You can also make a boot cd of clonezilla, but running it off of a usb key is pretty convenient.

Clonezilla is pretty cool. It will also work on NTFS partitions and compress you data so you don't have a huge image. I haven't really figured out what the advantage to partclone is, instead of partimage, both similar programs included with clonezilla.

I have to admit, though, I have not restored a partition yet from an image I've saved. So I'm just assuming it will work. On my old system, I committed sacrilege and just booted into Windows and used Acronis (commercial backup software) to make images of my ext3 partitions. Acronis always worked great. Although Clonezilla offers more different types of compression and can make smaller backup files. I have no desire to go back to Acronis. I'm just crossing my fingers that restoring an image will work if I need it.

Solid1986Snake · 2009-05-05 10:20:31

Not so powerful like backintime, but qt and very ease to use: luckybackup in aur

djnm · 2009-05-05 14:20:43

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Backup_programs

RTFW :-)

brisbin33 · 2009-05-05 15:25:12

i use my own backup script. it's very readable, just change the rsyncs and $dir variable to your liking.

i also have an untested (thankfully) and much much less readable restore script that could -- in theory -- use those backups in an automated restore.

what "backup" does:
uses rsync to backup /home (excluding some big / unimportant directories), /etc, /usr, and /var.
creates separate lists of installed pacman and non-pacman packages

what "restore" does (or might do...):
restores /var
installs from pacman list
restores /home
installs from non-pacman list (you did save those in ~/Packages right?)
restores /usr and /etc
restores a customized fstab (that parts pretty specific to my needs)

the likely scenario
backup in a nightly cron job
your system dies
do a fresh install
run restore
profit

it's worth a look, but i'd recommend just using it as a base to write your own solution. it's a great way to start learning bash.

utore · 2009-05-05 19:08:46

I have rsync setup to run various cronjobs backing up different directories of my system each night. These cronjobs and their directories are staggered throughout the week/month depending the on the directory. I backup my home directory about once a week and move the old copy into another directory (which is overwritten by the second oldest backup when there's a new backup) just in case. I have yet to actually try to restore my full system from one of these backups, so I'll eventually see how inefficient this is then. Until then, ignorance is power.

kyouens · 2009-05-05 19:39:18

I use rdiff to do a nightly backup to an external USB drive. It's easy to configure which directories to include and exclude based on a text file that the binary reads. I have a bash script set up as a cron job to run it in the middle of the night. It's pretty simple, but if you're interested, let me know and I'll post it here.

graysky · 2009-05-05 20:04:35

I have a dead simple script that I run to backup my system, it's not very elegant but gets the job done:

#!/bin/bash
# Arch backup

cd /home/backup
tar zcvfp arch-system-untar-to-newdir.tar.gz /etc /boot /root /var/lib/pacman/local
tar zcvfp arch-user1-untar-to-newdir.tar.gz /home/user1
tar zcvfp arch-user2-untar-to-newdir.tar.gz /home/user2
tar zcvfp backup-stuff-untar-to-new-dir.tar.gz /home/stuff

cp *.tar.gz '/media/Back/New_CD/Backups'

fukawi2 · 2009-05-05 22:33:39

I forgot about this script which is what I use on my servers:
http://repo.falconn.nl/any/filesystem-b … pkg.tar.gz

It's just a bash script that does tar, and it's not very space efficient, but it covers everything in rolling backups (Rolling 7 days, Rolling 4 x weeks and all monthly backups).

K0tuk · 2009-05-06 13:56:37

Thanks! I`ll try Clonezilla and flyback.

YoungGods · 2009-05-06 21:10:00

I use partimage from a live-cd or usb to backup my entire partition. I have restored from the backup with no problems.
I'll probably check a couple of suggestions from this thread

robmaloy · 2009-05-07 06:47:59

tar

<3

Wintervenom · 2009-05-07 07:03:37

#!/bin/sh

ROOTD=`mount | grep 'on / type' | awk '{print $1}'`
BOOTD=`mount | grep 'on /boot type' | awk '{print $1}'`
DATE=`date "+%Y.%m.%d - %H.%M.%S"`
EXCLUDE="/tmp/rsync-excludes.rc"
EXCLUDES=(
    'tmp/*'
    'tmp/.*'
    '.mozilla/firefox/*/Cache'
    'cookies.sqlite'
    'formhistory.sqlite'
    '.thumbnails'
    '.recently-used.xbel'
    '.ccache'
    'sessionstore.js'
)

umount /mnt/backup /dev/disk/by-label/backup
mkdir /mnt/backup &> /dev/null

echo -n "Mounting the backup disk... "
if mount -o noatime /dev/disk/by-label/backup /mnt/backup; then
    echo "[DONE]"
    echo -n "Backing up system... "

    echo > /tmp/rsync-excludes.rc
    for file in ${EXCLUDES[@]}; do
        echo "$file" >> "$EXCLUDE"
    done

    rsync -axPl --delete --delete-excluded --link-dest=/mnt/backup --exclude-from="$EXCLUDE" / "/mnt/backup/$(hostname) - $DATE"
    rm /mnt/backup/current
    ln -s "$(hostname) - $DATE" /mnt/backup/current
    sync
    rm "$EXCLUDE"

    echo "[DONE]"
    echo -n "Unmounting backup partition... "
    if umount /mnt/backup; then
        echo "[DONE]"
        rmdir /mnt/backup
    else
        echo "[FAIL]"
    fi
else
    echo "[FAIL]"
fi

fukawi2 · 2009-05-07 09:21:54

Nice... But what are BOOTD and ROOTD for...? :s

anrxc · 2009-05-07 15:32:54

K0tuk wrote:

Would love to hear your opinions and suggestions.

I use rybackup, as posted previously in the "self made command line utilities" thread - where you will find numerous other backup scripts and solutions.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-05-05 07:09:02

How-to backup your machine?

#2 2009-05-05 07:32:07

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#3 2009-05-05 08:57:41

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#4 2009-05-05 10:20:31

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#5 2009-05-05 14:20:43

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#6 2009-05-05 15:25:12

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#7 2009-05-05 19:08:46

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#8 2009-05-05 19:39:18

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#9 2009-05-05 20:04:35

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#10 2009-05-05 22:33:39

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#11 2009-05-06 13:56:37

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#12 2009-05-06 21:10:00

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#13 2009-05-07 06:47:59

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#14 2009-05-07 07:03:37

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#15 2009-05-07 09:21:54

Re: How-to backup your machine?

#16 2009-05-07 15:32:54

Re: How-to backup your machine?

Board footer