How do you back up your data?

[Michael Willis]

We have multiple desktop and laptop computers around our house (all running Linux), and it occurred to me that I don't have a good backup solution for any of them. What do other people around here do to back up their data? It can be either local backup or remote, or a hybrid of the two. I don't have a problem if it takes some effort to set up, but it would be best if I don't have to give much ongoing thought or effort for it to keep working. I'm also working to pay a nominal subscription fee to some reputable online service.

[LAM]

I use a daily systemd timer + service running Borg to backup my data.

[Largos]

I use btrfs so I make regular snapshots of my system in the background, which is useful if I ever have to restore it quickly to a previous state (If I ever do something I shouldn't and want to undo it) For complete backups to a separate drive, btrfs can also send a complete restorable copy, which can be incrementally updated but I use a non permanently plugged in external drive which make it a bit awkward so I use KDE's inbuilt back up, which uses rsync to incrementally update the important folders of data. rysnc is a command line utility but there is also grsync if you don't use kde. I don't know of any other GUI programs for it.

If you don't have btrfs then you would have to clean install your system, so I would imagine rsync would be preferable You can set both rsync and btrfs to do automated backups.

Personally, I don't see the point in paying online companies with the price of storage if your devices are all used around the one building.

[tavasti]

Having separate backup server running dirvish

[d.healey]

Duplicati

[TAERSH]

I'm simply copying to external USB hard drives. I don't need to make snapshots of my operating system.
It can't be destroyed except by defective installation hard drive.
If the internal hard drive would break, I'm simply installing a new one, formatting it, make it able to boot from and installing a boot loader.
Then I'm just copying everything back to internal hard drive and done. Only a few minutes and I'm back at work!

[sysrqer]

I'm always conflicted about backup approaches. Of course, if my hard drive were to die right now I want to be able to recall the data from yesterday. However, there have been more times when I have needed to restore something from an older backup (maybe I deleted a vst2 plugin when I got the vst3 but realised lots of projects rely on the vst2 or something like that). I am thinking that I might be best to set up a daily backup to an internal drive and manually rsync everything to an external drive every couple of months, perhaps that is best.

[sunrat]

Currently I use several external drives, 4TB or 2TB, and regularly back up the complete system with fsarchiver (~monthly) and user data with rsync (~weekly). Always have at least 2 backups especially for irreplaceable audio sessions and photos of my cat. Common advice says you should also have off-site backups in case your house burns down or is burgled.
I used to use rsnapshot for automatic data backup but it was overkill, and after that rsync with a systemd timer, and way way back used rsync with a cron job. Don't have auto backups now but mainly because I've been lazy and negligent and I should before that laziness bites me in the arse and I lose something important.

[bhilmers]

I regularly do simple backups to a server on my LAN with a cron job running rsync. The server is a mini-desktop my friend gave me years ago that sits next to (and isn't much larger than) my router/modem. The server has two main functions: a place to backup data and a network file share (samba). The file share let's me easily move files between my Linux desktop, Windows laptop (for work), and Android smartphone.

The cron job backs up everything in my "working" directory on a nightly basis, but I also have a script to run manually that calls rsync on several other directories. Here is what I use:

After setting up passwordless ssh access to my server I run the following...

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash

LOG="/home/user/full-backup-log.txt"

rsync -av --delete -e ssh /home/user/ user@192.168.0.101:/home/user/ 2> $LOG

less $LOG

I make sure to pipe errors to a log file that opens in a terminal after completion because years ago my backup drive began to fail and I lost some data before I realized it. Gotta remember to check SMART stats every few months!

This backup system is basic. If you want something that allows for snapshots I might recommend BackupPC. I use it at work to backup some 40-50 servers and workstations, although it has a bit of a learning curve. Also, offsite backups are not something I've done yet due to laziness. However, I have looked into iDrive and the prices seem reasonable. They allow you to basically manage your own backups using some Perl scripts. I have an account and the scripts, but I just haven't made time to set it up.

[milo]

I use rsnapshot on my network fileserver to backup to an external usb drive. Also once a month I do a backup to another drive that I keep in my office desk as an offsite backup.

My studio computer does not automatically backup, which has been nagging at me. The problem is poor wifi signal down in the basement. So I frequently backup to an external drive in the studio, and once a month or so I dump that into the network fileserver.

[Linuxmusician01]

I really need to study how to use rsync. I use Unison now: it has a nice graphical user interface. But it's meant to synchronize two directories, not per se for backup. It may be overkill and I think Unison is a layer over rsync. I need to make a settings file for rsync which excludes stuff I don't want to backup like browser cache etc. Need some sort of HowTo.

[d.healey]

For me a backup system must do a few things

Compress the data
Encrypt the data
Manage multiple versions
Work with remote and local storage
Backup incrementally

As far as I know rsync cannot do that. I have a USB HDD connected directly to my system, a Pine 64 RockPro64 based NAS connected to my LAN, and an old computer repurposed as a NAS that is set up at a relative's house for remote backup.

I use Duplicati to run my backups (Borg looks quite interesting though!)

[LAM]

For me a backup system must do a few things

Compress the data
Encrypt the data
Manage multiple versions
Work with remote and local storage
Backup incrementally
...

I use Duplicati to run my backups (Borg looks quite interesting though!)

Borg can do it!

[Dominique]

rsnapshot on external USB hard drives, one for the whole system, one for the most important files, so, as hard drives may crash, I have 2 copies of the result of the work I do.