What is you backup tool of choice?
I don't mean system files, but your personal and work files. I have been using Mint for a few years, I use Timeshift for system backups, but archived my personal files by hand. This got me curious to see what other people use. When you daily drive Linux what are your preferred tools to keep backups? I have thousands of pictures, family movies, documents, personal PDFs, etc. that I don't want to lose. Some are cloud backed but rather haphazardly. I would like to use a more systematic approach and use a tool that is user friendly and easy to setup and program.
like this
don't like this
Meow.tar.gz
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
Jo Miran, Marxine, holeydood3, LuckyJones, dustyData, Wizard, DJFart, Jocarnail, round_circle and mrh like this.
Jo Miran
in reply to Meow.tar.gz • • •dustyData likes this.
gensens doesn't like this.
Freeman
in reply to Meow.tar.gz • • •https://mutschler.dev/linux/pop-os-btrfs-22-04/
but thats not really a backup.
I have a backup box i use for files with rsync and the like. Need to figure out a full backup method to may backup location though.
Might just setup an ansible deployment and call it a day.
Pop!_OS 22.04: installation guide with btrfs, luks encryption and auto snapshots with timeshift | mutschler.dev
mutschler.devph0bia likes this.
Lemmyin
in reply to Freeman • • •Freeman
in reply to Lemmyin • • •Frankly I just moved some configs over before I did the wipe. My Linux desktops aren’t too customized.
I had to work around his how to a bit since I use nvme and a pre-partitioned disk that I had to pre-format lvm to (he used a default install run to pre-format the disks)
Lemmyin likes this.
kzhe
in reply to dustyData • • •dustyData likes this.
MyNameIsRichard
in reply to dustyData • • •dustyData likes this.
kholdstare
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
Makussu, dustyData, GermainRobitaille, sylphio and Salix like this.
Salix doesn't like this.
Makussu
in reply to kholdstare • • •gabriele97
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
dxv, garret, D_Air1, blue_struct, Jocarnail, Felix, pvq and fox like this.
Nomecks
in reply to dustyData • • •dustyData likes this.
RippleEffect
in reply to Nomecks • • •SymbolicLink
in reply to dustyData • • •I personally use Restic for my remote backups and rsync for my local.
Restic beats out borg for me because there are a lot more compatible storage options.
like this
dustyData, xvapx, whiny9130, blue_struct, Felix and fox like this.
ebits21
in reply to SymbolicLink • • •like this
dustyData, blue_struct and Zucca like this.
sneakyninjapants
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
dustyData, Zerophnx, Makussu, andiru, aksdb, sylphio and Salix like this.
dismalnow
in reply to sneakyninjapants • • •I feel like you should know about this if you don't already.
"Ask Me About My Ninja Disguise" T-Shirt
Vat19sneakyninjapants likes this.
redshift doesn't like this.
sneakyninjapants
in reply to dismalnow • • •dismalnow
in reply to sneakyninjapants • • •I may have one on now.
sneakyninjapants likes this.
lemminer
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
pnutzh4x0r, coffeeguy, jxk, clyne and mrh like this.
gensens doesn't like this.
GigglyBobble
in reply to dustyData • • •I never liked having to backup working machines. If it breaks I'm fine with having to install again. I won't lose data though.
MangoPenguin
in reply to dustyData • • •Veeam system image daily; this is a fully bootable image of every drive on my system, kept for things like hardware failure or "oops" moments. It just goes to my NAS for fast local storage.
Online backup of important files daily; this has changed a few times, I was using Restic to B2, then Duplicati to Wasabi S3, now I'm using iDrive to see how that is.
My favorite tools are definitely Veeam and Duplicati, because they both have a good UI and are easy to use, both automatically run in the background and handle scheduling entirely on their own. Browsing snapshots is easy and finding the files you want at a specific date/time is quick.
Restic and Kopia I've used as well, they're much harder to use especially for restores, finding files is a nightmare via CLI. Scheduling is a pretty involved step, and you have to figure out how to run them in the background yourself. Both also performed really slowly for me on my ~3TB backup set of about 50k files, compared to Veeam and Duplicati which are very fast.
like this
WASTECH and Tolstoshev like this.
ebits21
in reply to MangoPenguin • • •Yes making a script and service isn’t for everyone.
Finding files in the backup is easy… you just mount the backup and search any way you want, just like any other directory. Not sure why that’s hard?
blue_struct likes this.
WASTECH
in reply to MangoPenguin • • •Just remember, you don’t have a backup unless you have tested it.
like this
MangoPenguin and dustyData like this.
Anime Lover
in reply to dustyData • • •dustyData likes this.
ebits21
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
mik, 𝓢𝓮𝓮𝓙𝓪𝔂𝓔𝓶𝓶, whiny9130, Felix, pvq, fox and Zucca like this.
baseless_discourse
in reply to dustyData • • •On phone, I use syncthing to backup to home server (I never knew syncthing can backup over WAN), then synced to MegaSync. I also keep all the files on MegaSync on my server just in case megasync suddenly goes down one day.
kindenough
in reply to dustyData • • •dustyData likes this.
RoboRay
in reply to dustyData • • •I don't worry about backing up my operating system, though important configuration file locations are also mapped into Dropbox for easily setting things up again. Complete portable apps are also located in Dropbox.
dustyData likes this.
OptimisticPrime
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
dustyData, ono, philipstorry and badaiotak like this.
average650
in reply to OptimisticPrime • • •I use it to backup a 30 TB array and it completes in like 20 minutes if there are no changes.
like this
OptimisticPrime and philipstorry like this.
OptimisticPrime
in reply to average650 • • •average650 likes this.
ono
in reply to OptimisticPrime • • •OptimisticPrime doesn't like this.
philipstorry
in reply to OptimisticPrime • • •Backups are no use if you can't access them, and people really under-rate ease of access when evaluating their backup strategy.
OptimisticPrime likes this.
rodneyck
in reply to dustyData • • •For redundancy, I back up my main sync folder on the desktop to my laptop using Syncthing over my WiFi/network.
like this
§ɦṛɛɗɗịɛ ßịⱺ𝔩ⱺɠịᵴŧ and Murdoc like this.
CerineArkweaver
in reply to dustyData • • •My phone and tablet are both Samsung, which uses OneDrive for backups
IDrive Cloud Backup
www.idrive.comdustyData likes this.
qwesx
in reply to dustyData • • •zfs snapshot+zfs send -i.It's not pretty, but it's reliable.
dustyData likes this.
gobbling871
in reply to dustyData • • •dustyData likes this.
firrann doesn't like this.
gzrrt
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
dustyData, Libertus, ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρє and whiny9130 like this.
redshift doesn't like this.
PriorProject
in reply to dustyData • • •- Managing ZFS snapshots with pyznap
- Plain old rsync to copy important files that happen not to be on ZFS filesystems to ZFS.
If I were doing this over today, I'd probably consider https://zrepl.github.io/ instead of pyznap, as pyznap is no longer receiving real active development.In the past I've used rdiff-backup, which is great but it's hard to beat copy-on-write snapshots for speed and being lightweight.
zrepl - ZFS replication — zrepl documentation
zrepl.github.iodustyData likes this.
the_tab_key
in reply to dustyData • • •dustyData likes this.
cow
in reply to dustyData • • •Bupstash.io
bupstash.iolike this
dustyData and cyberpiggy like this.
kunic
in reply to dustyData • • •𝓢𝓮𝓮𝓙𝓪𝔂𝓔𝓶𝓶
in reply to kunic • • •kunic
in reply to 𝓢𝓮𝓮𝓙𝓪𝔂𝓔𝓶𝓶 • • •𝓢𝓮𝓮𝓙𝓪𝔂𝓔𝓶𝓶 likes this.
TiTeY`
in reply to dustyData • • •BURP - BackUp and Restore Program
burp.grke.orgcyberpiggy likes this.
stravanasu
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
Tristano, clyne, round_circle, andruid and mrh like this.
omeara4pheonix
in reply to stravanasu • • •like this
stravanasu, Tristano, clyne, blue_struct, Jocarnail, round_circle, Solemn and andruid like this.
stravanasu
in reply to omeara4pheonix • • •This reminds me of a story that happened in some university in England: they had two backups of some server in two different locations. One day one back-up drive failed, and the second failed the day after. Apparently they were the same brand & model. The moral was: use also different back-up hardware brands or means!
like this
Tristano, blue_struct, Jocarnail, omeara4pheonix, gensens and andruid like this.
andruid
in reply to stravanasu • • •3 different backups
2 different mediums
1 off-site
Haven't seen that not be good move yet.
stravanasu likes this.
omeara4pheonix
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
Jocarnail and round_circle like this.
DJFart
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
Dessalines and round_circle like this.
joel_feila
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
mnemonicmonkeys, Lakso, garam and barbecue_sprinkler like this.
garam
in reply to joel_feila • • •Quazatron
Unknown parent • • •like this
133arc585, SeifuNiiso, PAPPP, D_Air1, kariunai, tramanart, kif, osiris, responsible_sith, Ullebe1, gensens, netvor, pvq, bellsDoSing and karol520 like this.
ISOmorph
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
Sirius006, RoosterBoy and forger125 like this.
Starfish
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
dustyData and Sethayy like this.
whiny9130
in reply to dustyData • • •ruplicant likes this.
Hopscotch
in reply to whiny9130 • • •https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/latest/100_references.html?highlight=deduplication#backups-and-deduplication
References — restic 0.15.2 documentation
restic.readthedocs.ioRooty
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
yak, MarcDW, winety and dustyData like this.
Lemmyin
in reply to dustyData • • •I the. Rsync this up to cloud once a day.
Ullebe1 likes this.
philipstorry
in reply to dustyData • • •Having your files just be files in your backup solution is very handy. At work I don't mind having to use an application like Veeam, because I'm being paid to do that. At home I want to see my backups quickly and easily, because I'd rather be working on my files than wrestling with backup software...
Remote backups are handled by SpiderOak, who have been fine for me for almost a decade. I also use them to synchronise my desktop and laptop computer. On my desktop SpiderOak also backs up some files in an archive area on the rotating rust mirror set - stuff that's large and I don't access often, so don't need to put on my laptop but do want... show more
Having your files just be files in your backup solution is very handy. At work I don't mind having to use an application like Veeam, because I'm being paid to do that. At home I want to see my backups quickly and easily, because I'd rather be working on my files than wrestling with backup software...
Remote backups are handled by SpiderOak, who have been fine for me for almost a decade. I also use them to synchronise my desktop and laptop computer. On my desktop SpiderOak also backs up some files in an archive area on the rotating rust mirror set - stuff that's large and I don't access often, so don't need to put on my laptop but do want backed up.
I also have a USB thumbdrive that's encrypted and used when I'm travelling to back up changes on my laptop via a simple rsync copy - just in case I have limited internet access and SpiderOak can't do its thing...
I did also have a NAS in the mix once, but I realised that it was a waste of energy - both mine and electricity. In normal circumstances my data is on 5 locations (desktop SSD, laptop SSD, desktop mirror set, SpiderOak's storage) and in the very worst case it's in two locations (laptop SSD, USB thumbdrive). Rdiff-backup to the NAS was simply overkill once I'd added the local mirror set into my desktop, so I retired it.
I'd added the local mirror set because I was working with large files - data sets and VM images - and backups over the network to the NAS were taking an age. A local set of cheap disks in my desktop tower was faster and yet still fairly cheap.
Here's my advice for your consideration:
- Simple is better than complicated.
- How you restore is more important than how you backup; perform test restores regularly.
- Performance matters; backups that take ages are backups you won't run.
- Look to meet the 3-2-1 criteria; 3 copies, on 2 different storage systems, with at least 1 in a different geographic location. Cloud storage helps with this.
Good luck with your backup strategy!
like this
OptimisticPrime, dustyData, andruid and Zucca like this.
Zucca
in reply to philipstorry • • •I had before (and I think I'll implement it again) snapshot capable filesystem where to I rsynced my stuff. Then once a day did a snapshot of the backups. It has the advantage of all the backups being easily readable as long as your backup filesystem is intact and your kernel can mount it.
philipstorry likes this.
Fryboyter
in reply to dustyData • • •Generally speaking, you should always test whether you can restore data from a backup. No matter which tool you use. Only then you have a real backup. And an up-to-date backup should always additionally be stored off-site (cloud, at a friend's or relative's house, etc.). Because if the house burns down, the external hard drive with the backups next to the computer is not much use.
By the way, I would advise against using just rsync because, as the name suggests, rsync only synchronizes, so you don't have multiple versions of a file. Which can be useful if you only notice later that a file has become defective at some point.
Cloud Storage for Offsite Backups - borg support
www.rsync.netlike this
133arc585, Sunny, dustyData, Daniel Phan, robotrono, netvor and bellsDoSing like this.
TheImpressiveX
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
dustyData and Daniel Phan like this.
pound_heap
in reply to dustyData • • •For user data on my PC and on home server I mostly use Duplicacy. It is fast and efficient.
All data backed up locally on NAS box over SFTP, and a subset of that data is backed up to S3 cloud storage.
I have a Mac, this one is using TimeMachine, storing data on NAS, then it's synced to S3 cloud storage one a day.
And on top of that VMs and containers from home server are backed up by Proxmox built in tool to NAS. These mostly exclude user data.
Duplicacy
duplicacy.comdustyData likes this.
GustavoM
in reply to dustyData • • •...I mean, it takes like less than 3 minutes to redownload and 5 reconfiguring everything manually, so eh.
dustyData likes this.
glob
in reply to dustyData • • •dustyData likes this.
Rikudou_Sage
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
dustyData, mikatukana and Ricky like this.
ErwinLottemann
in reply to Rikudou_Sage • • •barbecue_sprinkler likes this.
mikatukana doesn't like this.
bellsDoSing
in reply to ErwinLottemann • • •I assume the original comment meant code based projects, for which git, if repo is pushed to a remote, is a very sane choice.
like this
Isbjerg, Ricky, andruid and Rikudou_Sage like this.
andruid
in reply to bellsDoSing • • •bellsDoSing likes this.
Rikudou_Sage
in reply to bellsDoSing • • •bellsDoSing likes this.
BaconIsAVeg
in reply to ErwinLottemann • • •kebabslob likes this.
Alexander Kutsyk
in reply to dustyData • • •Ricky likes this.
denny
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
Fantasy, Ricky, enfluensa, gordane, ilillilillilillililli, Chinzon, kebabslob, mrh and nathanjent like this.
cals11 doesn't like this.
Fantasy
in reply to denny • • •syncthingyesterday and it really is superb, it's so easy to use even crossplatform.unisonis another syncing tool that I like, I find it better for bidirectional syncingdenny likes this.
nis
in reply to denny • • •denny likes this.
denny
in reply to nis • • •nis
in reply to denny • • •I may be wrong about Syncthing, though. I haven't used it yet, but will probably use it in the future. Just not for backup 😀
badaiotak likes this.
denny
in reply to nis • • •badaiotak likes this.
nis
in reply to denny • • •FAQ — Syncthing documentation
docs.syncthing.netlike this
denny and badaiotak like this.
Tio
in reply to dustyData • •like this
Konstantinos and dustyData like this.
Linux reshared this.
ScottE
Unknown parent • • •wreiner
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
feral_hedgehog and dustyData like this.
understandable
in reply to dustyData • • •dustyData likes this.
Pussyphobic
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
QuazarOmega, feral_hedgehog and dustyData like this.
all64bits
in reply to dustyData • • •like this
Corngood, Kajika and dustyData like this.
pythia
in reply to dustyData • • •dustyData likes this.
U de Recife
in reply to dustyData • • •Home
Vorta for BorgBackupQuazarOmega likes this.
Amadeus Paulussen
in reply to dustyData • • •dustyData likes this.
ElectronBadger
in reply to dustyData • • •Syncthing (laptop <-> desktop)