Re: Backup Software

[Johann Spies <jspies@sun.ac.za>]

On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 08:20:26AM +0200, lee wrote:
> Ethan Rosenberg <ethros@earthlink.net> writes:
> 
> > What software would you recommend to backup a Debian system on a
> > stand-alone computer?
> 
> That depends on what you want to back up and what the backup media is
> and on a lot of other factors.  And what is a stand-alone computer?

I will be less philosophical and assume two things: a stand-alone
computer is a computer without network connection and that you will
backup to an external hard disk.

I have tried various backup programs over the years and have settled
with rsync. To be able to go back to previous versions of files I use a
script like the one below which you can modify for your circumstances.
This will create a top level directory on the destination device
containing the date of the today and move all the changed files to that
directory.

#!/bin/sh

    SKYF=/media/mybookext4/


    BESTEMMING="$SKYF/`date +'%Y%m%d'`"
    sudo mkdir "$BESTEMMING"
    sudo chmod 775 "$BESTEMMING"


    sudo rsync -CavrxSb --backup-dir=$BESTEMMING --delete \
        --delete-excluded --exclude "\.netscape/" --exclude "rugsteun/" \
	    --exclude "/\.cache/" --exclude "cache/" --exclude ".unison/" \
        --exclude "rugsteun/" --exclude "tmp/"\
        --exclude "/media/" --exclude dev/ --exclude "sys/" --exclude "proc/"\
        --exclude "/home/js/\.beagle/" --exclude "/.thumbnails/" --exclude "lost+found/" \
        --exclude "/home/js/\.gvfs"  --exclude "/home/js/\.cache" \
        --exclude "/home/js/.local/" --exclude "/var/run/"\
        --exclude "Cache/" --exclude "\.Trash/" /   $SKYF/artikel/
    
    ja=$?
    sudo rsync -CavrxSb --backup-dir=$BESTEMMING --delete \
        --delete-excluded --exclude "\.netscape/" --exclude "rugsteun/" \
	    --exclude "/\.cache/" --exclude "cache/" --exclude ".unison/" \
        --exclude "rugsteun/" --exclude "tmp/"\
        --exclude "/media/" --exclude dev/ --exclude "sys/" --exclude "proc/"\
        --exclude "/home/js/\.beagle/" --exclude "/.thumbnails/" --exclude "lost+found/" \
        --exclude "/home/js/\.gvfs"  --exclude "/home/js/\.cache" \
        --exclude "/home/js/.local/" --exclude "/var/run/"\
        --exclude "Cache/" --exclude "\.Trash/" \
        --exclude ".recoll/" /home   $SKYF/artikel/
     

Regards
Johann
-- 
Johann Spies                            Telefoon: 021-808 4699
Databestuurder /  Data manager

Sentrum vir Navorsing oor Evaluasie, Wetenskap en Tegnologie
Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology 
Universiteit Stellenbosch.

     "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is 
      right."             Ephesians 6:1