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Software - Support => Installing Software => Topic started by: Coastie on March 13, 2014, 04:04:56 PM

Title: Backup program
Post by: Coastie on March 13, 2014, 04:04:56 PM
What is a good backup program for a newby? Easy to set up and easy to restore the backup it needed. No Terminal programs please. I guess I would use a CD or DVD or USB stick.

Backintime-Gome was the highest reviewed in the Ubuntu Software Center but one of the reviews said "While I really like the backup process, I do not like the restore process. You have to install BIT manually when using a live CD/USB stick and you have to set the correct hostname. Otherwise BIT is not able to detect its own backup." Not sure what it means but sounds difficult.
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: N4RPS on March 13, 2014, 04:26:46 PM
Hello!

I use Redo Backup to back up all my PCs, laptops, and netbooks onto a 1TB external HD. It will also back up to and from a network drive.

Like LL, it's a LiveCD, based on Ubuntu, that can be installed onto either a CD or a USB flash drive (it's only around 350MB or so). Redo is as easy as it gets. The LiveCD also has GPartEd for partitioning drives, and Disk Utility, which I use to mount and unmount individual drives.

It backs up the whole drive (both Windows and Linux partitions), so even if the drive fries, you can restore it to another drive, as long as the drive is the same size or larger.

If I just want to back up a single partition, I use Clonezilla for that...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: gold_finger on March 13, 2014, 05:04:24 PM
Luckybackup is another easy-to-use backup program -- very easy to use actually!  Pretty much a GUI that uses rsync.  I use it for backing up data to USB's and to backup partitions.  (EDIT:  What I mean is I have extra partitions on a different drive that I send data backups to.  I don't actually backup entire partitions, but many people do.)  I haven't used it to clone drives/partitions, but it will do that as well.  Here's a page with more info:  http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/ (http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/).

Can be installed through Synaptic or using terminal:
Code: [Select]
sudo apt-get install luckybackup
Tried Redo Backup once a while back to clone a partition.  Don't remember much, but think that's a pretty easy one to use as well.

Download and test out both to see which does what you want and seems easiest to use.  Can always uninstall one, or keep both if you think each is better for different tasks you have in mind.
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: Coastie on March 13, 2014, 07:56:12 PM
Appreciate the suggestions. They all look kinda complicated for a newby.

Looking for You Tube reviews of suggestions, I found a review for Deja Dup. It looks pretty simple. Any opinions on it?

Could I leave a USB stick or a CD in the computer waiting for the next automatic backup?

Would it be better not to use automatic backup and just put the USB or CD in when I want to do a backup?
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: N4RPS on March 14, 2014, 12:42:47 AM
Hello!

I tried Deja Dup before I found Redo, and I had issues with getting it to work properly. YMMV.

In any case, you may want to 'test' what you're going to use to back up with on something that isn't critical first. That way, you'll get an idea as to whether or not it's REALLY going to work as it should.

If you're going to use CDs or DVDs, you'll need a backup solution that supports backups spanning multiple CDs or DVDs.  If you use a USB stick for the backup, of course it'll have to be big enough to hold the backup (and incremental backups, if applicable). Neither of these are really practical for unattended scheduled backups.

As for Redo Backup, the CD boots right into the backup program. You click on the create backup or the restore backup icon, click to select/deselect the partitions to be backed up (the default is all of them, or the whole drive), and, lastly, select the destination drive (plus the path and filename, if applicable).

After that, it does the rest. If there's a simpler way to back a drive up than that, then tell me and I'll consider switching, as I like the easiest thing going, also.

Depending on how big the drive is, how full the drive is, and what OSs are on the drive to be backed up, Redo backups can take anywhere from 20 minutes to over 4 hours to create, but restorals are considerably faster - sometimes in as little as ten minutes for a freshly installed Linux-only system.

With that said, I hope you find a backup and restoral solution that is to your liking...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: Coastie on March 14, 2014, 09:12:49 AM
At this time, I only plan on backing up my home folder which isn't very large. I have always read that it is safer just to reinstall the OS and applications in case of a crash. I will try checking to see if the back up is working.
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: N4RPS on March 14, 2014, 01:56:08 PM
Hello!

I guess it depends on how little (or how much) one has installed, and their particular circumstances.

In my situation, I run a dual LL/Windows 8.1 system with a LOT of added apps and data on several machines, so it's MUCH easier for me to back up periodically. It's saved my skin on a number of occasions, like when an HD died on me or an update went awry...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: Coastie on March 14, 2014, 02:17:52 PM
Could I leave a USB stick or a CD in the computer waiting for the next automatic backup?

Would it be better not to use automatic backup and just put the USB or CD in when I want to do a backup?
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: riser on March 14, 2014, 09:26:04 PM
I suggest you look inyo Back In Time.  It is a simple to use program.
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: Coastie on March 14, 2014, 11:21:02 PM
I suggest you look inyo Back In Time.  It is a simple to use program.

I did but as I wrote before "Backintime-Gome was the highest reviewed in the Ubuntu Software Center but one of the reviews said "While I really like the backup process, I do not like the restore process. You have to install BIT manually when using a live CD/USB stick and you have to set the correct hostname. Otherwise BIT is not able to detect its own backup." Not sure what it means but sounds difficult."
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: riser on March 15, 2014, 01:18:15 PM
It may sound difficult and may be difficult, but probably because it's trying to use BIT to solve a different problem than the one it was designed for.

The reason to boot from a Live CD and do a restore is that you OS (Operating System, main partition) got corrupted.

BIT is not a good solution for backing that up.  You're better off with qt4-fsarchiver or such (full partition backup tools).

You use BIT to backup document, media, etc.  These are things you restore from within your working OS using the BIT interface.

I suggest you create separate backup volumes for documents/email (more frequent, maybe hourly, backups) and one for media/video (less frequent, maybe daily, backups).

riser
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: Coastie on March 15, 2014, 06:11:50 PM
??? ... The reason to boot from a Live CD and do a restore is that you OS (Operating System, main partition) got corrupted. ... I suggest you create separate backup volumes for documents/email (more frequent, maybe hourly, backups) and one for media/video (less frequent, maybe daily, backups).

riser

This seem way over my head. Wouldn't be sufficient to just back up the files I created in my home folder and saved e-mails (if I can find them) and if the hard drive got corrupted just reinstall the OS and programs?

(The only partitions that I think I have are a small one for grub and the rest of the HD for Linux Lite.
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: gold_finger on March 15, 2014, 09:11:08 PM
Quote from: Coastie
Wouldn't be sufficient to just back up the files I created in my home folder and saved e-mails (if I can find them) and if the hard drive got corrupted just reinstall the OS and programs?

Yes.  That is pretty close to what I normally do.  Because re-installing is so easy, I don't bother making clones of the system partitions.  I just have backup copies of my important data files, any custom configs, scripts, etc. I've got, and I keep a running list of extra programs I install to the system.  If I change to another distro or update to later version, I just install the new one -- then install the programs I like from my list onto the new one.

I keep my data files on a completely separate partition (which doesn't get touched during any installation), so just link the new distro to it and am ready to go in no time.  I use the Luckybackup program for the data backups, which serve two purposes for me:
1.  To save me in case of a disaster if my data partition gets destroyed.
2.  To sync the same files from one machine to another.

In your case, the easiest thing to do would be to use Luckybackup to backup your /home/coastie directory.  That will backup any data in Documents, Pictures, Music, etc. and will also backup your hidden program configuration files.  If disaster strikes, just do a re-installation, add back any other programs you may have installed before, then use Luckybackup to restore your old /home/coastie in place of the new one.  Everything will be back to the way you had it.  Done.

(By the way, your Thunderbird and Firefox stuff will be restored as well following the above because those are contained under your /home/coastie directory also.)

I'd recommend using a USB stick or external HDD -- otherwise, over time, you'll end up with a million CD's/DVD's.  Just make sure you use one that has the capacity to hold what you're backing up.


Install Luckybackup and give it a try -- it's not hard at all.  Here are basic instructions to backup your /home/coastie directory.

*  Open program:  Menu -> Accessories -> Luckybackup

(http://ibin.co/1FeQ17MhWbqF)

*  Along right, under "Task", click "+Add" -- which will pop-up a "Task Properties" window.

(http://ibin.co/1FeQYpyeAIiC)

*  "Name:" -- Describe what this task is for -- eg. "Backup /home directory"
*  "Type:" -- this can be a "backup" or a "sync"; choose "Backup Source inside Destination".
*  "Source" -- type in, or navigate with file button to /home/coastie and hit "open"
*  "Destination" -- navigate to folder on USB/HDD where you want to backup to, hit "open"
*  Check the box next to "Do NOT create extra directory".  (If you were syncing files b/w source and destination you would leave this box unchecked.)

Here is picture of what it should look like.

(http://ibin.co/1FeW6txlEgvO)

Only difference you should see is the "Destination".  In this example I'm using a USB stick that I labeled "EXTRA" and has a folder on it called "Backups".  Yours will read differently.  (Side note:  when connecting a USB stick or external drive it will likely be mounted under either "/media", or "/media/coastie" -- so that's where you want to navigate to to find it in the file system.)

Once task is all filled in hit "Run" (top right).  Or, you can click the box next to "Dry", then hit "Run" to do a dry run test of the action.  The dry run will show you what your task is going to do and also report if something is wrong that may cause errors when doing the real Run.

So, there you go -- give it a shot now.  Think you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.

P.s.  I normally do the backups manually, but you can use the schedule button (clock) on interface to set up automatic backups if you like.
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: Coastie on March 16, 2014, 12:21:16 AM
Thanks
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: riser on March 16, 2014, 07:12:50 PM
??? ... The reason to boot from a Live CD and do a restore is that you OS (Operating System, main partition) got corrupted. ... I suggest you create separate backup volumes for documents/email (more frequent, maybe hourly, backups) and one for media/video (less frequent, maybe daily, backups).

riser

This seem way over my head. Wouldn't be sufficient to just back up the files I created in my home folder and saved e-mails (if I can find them) and if the hard drive got corrupted just reinstall the OS and programs?

(The only partitions that I think I have are a small one for grub and the rest of the HD for Linux Lite.

That is my point.  You don't need to backup the OS, so there is no need to boot from a Live CD. 

Use Back In Time to backup your home directory and any other important files.  I suggested separate volumes within BIT to backup often changing files (usually small),  and not-often changing files (usually large).  You should also exclude some files/patterns from the backup to improve performance and reduce clutter (tmp, cache, *~, etc.).

riser
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: uxli on March 17, 2014, 06:04:06 PM

Use Back In Time to backup your home directory and any other important files. 

A Newby does not know what are "other important files"

Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: Robert S on December 05, 2014, 12:17:04 AM
I prefer CloudBacko software for backup plan to my data and information. I am using this software because it provides me free cloud storage combined from Google Drive, Drop Box, One Drive into a large single cloud storage. Data remains secured because healthy encryption is done so that it is impossible to crack such a keys. So i would like to suggest you to try this CloudBacko software for your backup plan. For more information visit...http://free.cloudbacko.com/?r=1d (http://free.cloudbacko.com/?r=1d)
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: Mike on December 05, 2014, 06:19:52 AM
It's not exactly free software but I'm a fan of CrashPlan. You can backup to other folders and computers for free. Or there is a paid option to backup to their servers for a reasonable price which I do pay for because of the high bit encryption. I've had to restore numerous times and they have never let me down.
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: N4RPS on December 09, 2014, 03:05:50 AM
Hello!

Never say never. Given sufficient computing power and time, ANY encryption can be broken through cryptoanalytic attack.

The goal is to avoid the data being compromised in a meaningful period of time. The boys at Fort Meade (NSA) have a whole complex of Cray supercomputers on hand for just that purpose...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: Mike on December 09, 2014, 06:52:06 AM
I meant never in terms of the reliability of their service. :)

While I do appreciate their 448 bit encryption, I know it's only a matter of time before a super computer breaks it.
Title: Re: Backup program
Post by: altman on December 10, 2014, 09:14:26 AM
I m using SystemBack , saved on installs time on my end . It s the only one that worked for me up to gate , but some backup tools in this thread that I haven t used yet , so can t comment on those .