`progress` (https://github.com/Xfennec/progress https://github.com/Xfennec/progress) and similar can be very helpful too depending on the backup utilities being

`progress` (https://github.com/Xfennec/progress https://github.com/Xfennec/progress) and similar can be very helpful too depending on the backup utilities being used (in my case often involving rsync) even if the processes normally have everything set to quiet so no progress information is automatically forthcoming.