Best full-system backup utility?

[Snowhog]

Now that I have my system the way I like it, I need to back it up - fully. I want a backup utility that is easy to use, easy to setup, and will backup everything to external media - HD, CD, ...

Looking for suggestions and qualified recommendations.

[Qqmike]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

I don't use full backups, but I would look at
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3094854.0
because I-G does good work in general.
And I know people who use and swear by Partimage, regular, full weekly backups.
(Mine is either cp or dd ).

[wizard10000]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

I know this isn't what you asked for, but I use rsync as a daily cron job - I use /etc/crontab rather than crontab -e

# date-stamp local cron log

0 0 * * * wizard date >> /home/wizard/Documents/cron-output.log

# backup stuff

#
1 0 * * * wizard dpkg --get-selections > /home/wizard/Documents/installed-programs.log
# mount the 'My Documents' folder on the wife's pc
0 2 * * * root mount -t smbfs -o username=wizard,password=xxxxxxxx //192.168.1.103/documents$ /home/wizard/mrs-wiz-pc >> //home/wizard/Documents/cron-output.log 2>&1
#
15 2 * * * wizard sh /home/wizard/scripts/rsync_backup.sh >> /home/wizard/Documents/cron-output.log 2>&1
# unmount the windows share
0 4 * * * root umount /home/wizard/mrs-wiz-pc >> /home/wizard/Documents/cron-output.log 2>&1

The actual backup script looks like this -

rsync -rltEmqu --exclude-from=/home/wizard/.rsync/exclude /home/wizard /media/ARCHIVE/archive/home
rsync -rltEmqu /etc /media/ARCHIVE/archive
rsync -rltEmqu /boot/grub /media/ARCHIVE/archive
rsync -rltEmqu /var/cache/apt/archives /media/ARCHIVE/archive

The exclude file looks like this -

.rnd
.gvfs/
.VirtualBox/
lock
download/
temp/

Anything with a trailing slash is a directory name.

I don't backup installed software, just my home directory, /etc, /var/cache/apt/archives and /boot/grub. When it comes time to restore I have my home directory, the handful of files I need in /etc and my apt cache so I don't have to reinstall everything from the internet.

So I install the new OS, restore /var/cache/apt/archives and then reselect the packages I had installed before with

dpkg --set-selections < /home/wizard/Documents/installed-programs.log

and

sudo apt-get dselect-upgrade

As I said this isn't exactly what you asked for but I can do a full system restore in less than an hour.

[toad]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

I am not 100% sure that that is actually what you want - even though you ask for it Thing is, an OS is a live creature consisting of various bits and pieces that combine to a big whole. I know this is like teaching your grandmother to suck eggs, so please forgive me

There is ~ but /etc/ is just as important. Depending on how prudent you have been with "foreign" additions /opt is vital. If less careful, things may have been dumped in /usr which is not ideal. Another really important list is that of packages installed.

Oh heck, it is complicated.

If you just want to dump your entire system I reckon a dd is the ultimate solution.

Haven't looked at I-G's guide - thanks for the link!

I have used backintime quite successfully but still rely on good ole' rsync with crontab same as wizard10000

[verndog]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

I use either Clonezilla or Partclone, for all my backups.

[Snowhog]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

Clonezilla

Limitations
The destination partition must be equal or larger than the source one.
Differential/incremental backup is not implemented yet.
Online imaging/cloning is not implemented yet. The partition to be imaged or cloned has to be unmounted.

That isn't a problem, but does mean that Clonezilla would have to be installed on one of my other two *buntu installs in order to backup my Karmic OS. I have the space on an external USB HD sufficient for such a 'bare metal' backup of both, / and /home/paul. That Clonezilla doesn't do incremental backups isn't really an issue for me either - doing full backups now and again doesn't bother me - I have the time.

Hmm. I see on Clonezilla's site, that it can be downloaded/installed on a USB Flash Drive. That is of course, useful. I think I'll download and give it a try.

[verndog]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

I use it using the loop-back method. Having the iso in one of my other ntfs partitions. Also I do the same with pmagic, which has partclone built in.

[Snowhog]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

Clonezilla is nice. Just used it to clone my Karmic / partition to my external 30G USB HD. Took just over five minutes. I'm going to use GParted to reformat the 30G into three partitions - 20G for / and 8G for /home (the sizes of my / and /home partitions for each of my three *buntu installations), and a 2G for general use. That way, I can clone both, my selected / and /home partition from either of my three *buntu installations. Thanks for the suggestion verndog.

[Telengard]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

Plenty has been written on this topic, not only in this forum but also in our sibling communities.

• What to backup??: if you only want essential data, not the entire system
• Guide: How To Backup Operating Systems: already mentioned, but worth repeating
• Using tar scripts and CRON to back up: by GreyGeek
• HOWTO: One way to back up to an external drive using rsync: by wizard10000
• The dd Command: by Qqmike
• HowTo: Backup & Restore your system my way: by integr8e, great idea for using dpkg and dselect to automatically save and restore all software installed from the repos
• HOWTO: Copy kubuntu system: by Rog131
• How to backup & Restore Kubuntu 9.10 on a USB, Ext. Drive: with rsync and aptoncd instructions
• howto - complete Kontact backup and restore: by toad, GUI-enabled scripts for backup/resotre of data for a single application
• Data File Backup SW SOLVED: by toad, a simple cp script for KCron
• Jaunty - Kubuntuguide: getting and using Keep (probably applies to Karmic as well)
• BackupYourSystem - Community Ubuntu Documentation: overview of concepts and options
• rsync - Community Ubuntu Documentation: using rsync to backup
• BackupYourSystem/TAR - Community Ubuntu Documentation: using tar to backup
• DriveImaging - Community Ubuntu Documentation: using partimage or dd to backup
• Backing Up in Ubuntu: using rsync or dd_rescue, by psychocats
• Using PartImage in Ubuntu: using partimage, by psychocats
• Howto: Backup and restore your system! - Ubuntu Forums: using tar to backup
• Disk ARchive (Backup and Restore) using dar and kdar(dar Frontend) | Ubuntu Geek: somewhat dated
• SourceForge.net: DiscSpan - Project Web Hosting - Open Source Software: may be useful for backing up to regular sized optical media

.

Not much more I could add even if I wanted to.

So what do I use for backing up? In short, I use a combination of tar and 7-Zip to make backups of small amounts of data in various places. I also have a custom backup script in my crontab which calls on the zip utility to make daily backups of mission critical data.

For putting large amounts of data into permanent cold storage on DVD-R, I have a rather elaborate scheme involving 7-Zip, par2cmdline, md5sum, and SFV files. The routine is so optimized for my own needs that I have great doubt as to whether explaining it all in detail here would actually help anyone. Short explanation: DVD-Rs are not reliable for long term storage, so have two or more copies of anything you burn to disc.

Edit: Added GG's article

[Snowhog]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

Nice post there Telengard. Thank you.

Realized that I had a LiveCD of SystemRescue, and that it has Partimage. I can easily use Partimage to do what I want. The Partimage GUI is pretty easy to follow, and the documentation - Partimage-manual Usage is clear and easy to follow as well.

[Telengard]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

Have used partimage few times before, and it does work. It is a heck of a lot easier to use than dd too.

[Snowhog]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

Also faster and smaller.

dd does a bit-by-bit copy of the source, to include all unused space, so creates a 'clone' of the source. That means you must have a target destination that is large enough to hold the 'clone.' Partimage does not copy unused space on the source, and has two compression options - medium and high - resulting in small or smaller (relative to the size of the source) compression files saved on the target.

[verndog]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

Also faster and smaller.

dd does a bit-by-bit copy of the source, to include all unused space, so creates a 'clone' of the source. That means you must have a target destination that is large enough to hold the 'clone.' Partimage does not copy unused space on the source, and has two compression options - medium and high - resulting in small or smaller (relative to the size of the source) compression files saved on the target.

The only problem with partimage . It cannot image Ext4 file systems.

Another great tool is Parted Magic. It has partimage, partclone, and FSArchiver. Plus many more tools.

[Snowhog]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

It cannot image Ext4 file systems.

True. Supported-Filesystems - Partimage

[verndog]

Re: Best full-system backup utility?

It cannot image Ext4 file systems.

True. Supported-Filesystems - Partimage

I always like that program and interface, but it hasn't been worked on for almost 2 years.