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thms

Member

Registered: 2010-02-01

Posts: 120

[solved] Backup / - what to exclude

Hey, I want to backup my root partition but need to save some space. My goal isn't to fall back to this backup but to have all important configs available after a crash (e.g. rc.conf). The packages can be installed easily and fast.

This is how my exclude file looks right now but I have the feeling that I can exclude much more. Any advice or should I just backup /etc ?

var/cache/pacman/pkg/*
tmp/*
var/tmp/*
var/run/*
opt/*

Last edited by thms (2012-02-05 18:33:29)

RetroX

Member

Registered: 2009-10-17

Posts: 106

Re: [solved] Backup / - what to exclude

In a case like this, you shouldn't be worrying as much about excluding as much as including.

I'd say to backup all of /var (with the exception of pacman's cache), /etc, and /home. Possibly /root, too, if you want to include that. There are probably other directories but I'm missing, but that's pretty much it.

Last edited by RetroX (2012-02-05 18:07:56)

KingX

Member

From: CA

Registered: 2010-03-24

Posts: 324

Re: [solved] Backup / - what to exclude

I think you should ask yourself the reverse question. What should I *include* in my backup? If your only concern is configs then just focus on what you want to save from /etc and /home, as that's where they are.

If you are installing fresh packages on a fresh system (after a crash per se) you don't need a lot of the directories, like /bin /dev /proc /lib /lib64 etc. as these will get populated as you install your system/packages. I don't know your current setup so you should scan /etc and see where did you make changes that you want to carry over to your new system. Usually you would backup xorg.conf and the like, rc.conf. Then the configs in $HOME would be .vimrc, .bashrc, and other files that you want to save.

Edit: Beaten to the punch.

Last edited by KingX (2012-02-05 18:15:34)

thms

Member

Registered: 2010-02-01

Posts: 120

Re: [solved] Backup / - what to exclude

Thanks...my $HOME is backed up completely anyway.

So I guess I'll focus on /etc for my root partition.