5 ms·

Ask HN: If you use Ubuntu, which backup utility you use?

9 points by anujkk 14y ago

If you use Ubuntu Linux on your development machine, how do you backup your system? I'm looking to put a backup & recovery system in place for my laptop that runs Ubuntu 12.04.

mattbillenstein 14y ago
rsync
veyron 14y ago
tarballs
kellros 14y ago
I prefer doing some backups manually and automating others. I usually manually backup my projects/files on a flash stick/external hdd/NAS/dropbox. I don't have anything against CVS - I regularly use git and svn. Given git's snapshot based model, I think if it's on git it's probably not neccessary to create snapshots and storing them (rar/tarballs etc.). In terms of environment, I prefer to create a folder and store installers and patches (ex. environment/dev, environment/install) - specifically the most recent ones. A lot of devs I know prefer to doing their development on virtual machines and backing up the entire VM (think isolated dev environment). I personally, find it too slow. I prefer having everything I need available in order to do a fresh install if required (some other OSes tend to optimize for current hardware during installation).
rdegges 14y ago
I use Dropbox, I'll tell you why: - It integrates nicely with Ubuntu's unity UI. You get a nice tray icon that shows when files are being uploaded / downloaded, what % the transactions are at, how fast they're going, ETA, etc. - It never ever fails to work. - It begins uploading files as soon as they're added to a Dropbox folder. - It allows you to restore deleted files via the web interface. - You can easily share files by right clicking folders in Nautilus. - It syncs across as many devices you want (multiple laptops, desktops, etc.). I've tried many options: - Manual backups via rsync, tarballs, etc. This is generally a bad idea as they take work to setup each time you format your system or get onto a new box, and that's just one more chance for error. - Ubuntu One. This is essentially a ubuntu sponsored Dropbox. In my experience it is VERY buggy. If you have more than 100 or so files backed up it will act oddly: won't immediately backup files, will download only some of your files, crashes often and stops uploading / downloading backups silently (without any messages).
- martey 14y ago
  There was an earlier discussion on HN about why people should not use DropBox for backup: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4411822 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4411822 As far I can tell from DropBox's help pages, they claim that they are safe for backup [1], but they only save file changes for 30 days unless you pay extra [2]. Do you use the PackRat addon, or is 30 days worth of changes okay for you? [1]: https://www.dropbox.com/help/122/en https://www.dropbox.com/help/122/en [2]: https://www.dropbox.com/help/113/en https://www.dropbox.com/help/113/en
D9u 14y ago
A simple cron job sends select directory contents to other partitions and redundant cloud storage. Encrypted and compressed.
santa_boy 14y ago
I just use Amazon S3 using a utility to transfer files called s3cmd (http://s3tools.org/s3cmd http://s3tools.org/s3cmd). I have a small 4 line bash script that does all the compression and transfer. (I do not use encoding for security yet). It is easy, fast, reliable and cheap. I like the setup even more now, because I plan to move my archives to Amazon Glacier. There is an s3 import/export feature that will be launched quickly to do this from the console. I am sure it is already possible to do this completely automated using cron (actually I use upstart jobs that are scheduled with cron for other tasks).
aliem 14y ago
rdiff over a secondary non-mounted hard disk and cron
martey 14y ago
I use Debian, but the tool I use (DejaDup) is also available in Ubuntu: https://live.gnome.org/DejaDup https://live.gnome.org/DejaDup https://launchpad.net/deja-dup https://launchpad.net/deja-dup It's duplicity, but with easy graphical configuration. I previously used command-line duplicity with a custom Bash script, but realized that the program had matured substantially since I last tried it in 2008.
nthdeui 14y ago
rsnapshot onto a portable hard drive, that I take home each night. The hard drive is encrypted with Truecrypt in case someone gets their mitts on it.

9 points by anujkk 14y ago

If you use Ubuntu Linux on your development machine, how do you backup your system? I'm looking to put a backup & recovery system in place for my laptop that runs Ubuntu 12.04.

mattbillenstein 14y ago

rsync

veyron 14y ago

tarballs

kellros 14y ago

I prefer doing some backups manually and automating others. I usually manually backup my projects/files on a flash stick/external hdd/NAS/dropbox. I don't have anything against CVS - I regularly use git and svn. Given git's snapshot based model, I think if it's on git it's probably not neccessary to create snapshots and storing them (rar/tarballs etc.). In terms of environment, I prefer to create a folder and store installers and patches (ex. environment/dev, environment/install) - specifically the most recent ones. A lot of devs I know prefer to doing their development on virtual machines and backing up the entire VM (think isolated dev environment). I personally, find it too slow. I prefer having everything I need available in order to do a fresh install if required (some other OSes tend to optimize for current hardware during installation).

rdegges 14y ago

I use Dropbox, I'll tell you why: - It integrates nicely with Ubuntu's unity UI. You get a nice tray icon that shows when files are being uploaded / downloaded, what % the transactions are at, how fast they're going, ETA, etc. - It never ever fails to work. - It begins uploading files as soon as they're added to a Dropbox folder. - It allows you to restore deleted files via the web interface. - You can easily share files by right clicking folders in Nautilus. - It syncs across as many devices you want (multiple laptops, desktops, etc.). I've tried many options: - Manual backups via rsync, tarballs, etc. This is generally a bad idea as they take work to setup each time you format your system or get onto a new box, and that's just one more chance for error. - Ubuntu One. This is essentially a ubuntu sponsored Dropbox. In my experience it is VERY buggy. If you have more than 100 or so files backed up it will act oddly: won't immediately backup files, will download only some of your files, crashes often and stops uploading / downloading backups silently (without any messages).

martey 14y ago
There was an earlier discussion on HN about why people should not use DropBox for backup: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4411822 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4411822 As far I can tell from DropBox's help pages, they claim that they are safe for backup [1], but they only save file changes for 30 days unless you pay extra [2]. Do you use the PackRat addon, or is 30 days worth of changes okay for you? [1]: https://www.dropbox.com/help/122/en https://www.dropbox.com/help/122/en [2]: https://www.dropbox.com/help/113/en https://www.dropbox.com/help/113/en

D9u 14y ago

A simple cron job sends select directory contents to other partitions and redundant cloud storage. Encrypted and compressed.

santa_boy 14y ago

I just use Amazon S3 using a utility to transfer files called s3cmd (http://s3tools.org/s3cmd http://s3tools.org/s3cmd). I have a small 4 line bash script that does all the compression and transfer. (I do not use encoding for security yet). It is easy, fast, reliable and cheap. I like the setup even more now, because I plan to move my archives to Amazon Glacier. There is an s3 import/export feature that will be launched quickly to do this from the console. I am sure it is already possible to do this completely automated using cron (actually I use upstart jobs that are scheduled with cron for other tasks).

aliem 14y ago

rdiff over a secondary non-mounted hard disk and cron

martey 14y ago

I use Debian, but the tool I use (DejaDup) is also available in Ubuntu: https://live.gnome.org/DejaDup https://live.gnome.org/DejaDup https://launchpad.net/deja-dup https://launchpad.net/deja-dup It's duplicity, but with easy graphical configuration. I previously used command-line duplicity with a custom Bash script, but realized that the program had matured substantially since I last tried it in 2008.

nthdeui 14y ago

rsnapshot onto a portable hard drive, that I take home each night. The hard drive is encrypted with Truecrypt in case someone gets their mitts on it.