Questions about backup data/system ?

[ronshor]

I got a new external HDD and I'm going to backup my data and my system. Since it's actually the first time I do it on linux I have a few question

1. The HDD is using the NTFS file system. Would you recommend that I format it to EXT4 ?

2. What is the best program for backing up data ?
I need a simple mirror backup program to backup mostly videos, pics and music .

3. I would like to make an image file of my system, just like the one I had for windows that saved so many times.
what program would you recommend me to use ?

Thanks in advance for any help on the subject !

[ronw]

1. I formatted my external drive as ext4, because I don't care about being able to access it from Windows.

2. There are a lot of posts here with GUI and other recommendations. The GUIs seem to be mostly frontends to rsync. Here is my simple approach:

~ $ cat bin/backup_to_seagate.sh 
#!/bin/bash
#
rsync -aAXHv --delete --delete-excluded /home/ronw /media/ronw/seagateslim/home --exclude={camvids/,podcasts/,ImapMail/,Cache/,VirtualBox\ VMs/,cache/}

Insert usual warnings about reading 'man rsync'. That's a mirror (not a true 'backup' with versioning, etc.) of my home directory except for stuff I don't need (cache) or can easily recreate (podcasts, mail, vms).

3. No idea other than search here for the many previous posts, or wait for other responses.

[verndog]

...
I need a simple mirror backup program to backup mostly videos, pics and music .

3. I would like to make an image file of my system, just like the one I had for windows that saved so many times.
what program would you recommend me to use ?...

What program did you use for imaging Windows? I would recommend using CloneZilla for partition imaging.

[ronshor]

What program did you use for imaging Windows? I would recommend using CloneZilla for partition imaging.

For Windows I used a program called Drive Image XML. It was recommended by the Gizmo tech support website back then and I think it still rates very high on their list of best free drive cloning software.
All I can say is, that program did its job very well and never let me down. I had a hardware problem that made me use the image 8-9 times within a time period of 10 months.

Do you have a successful recovery history with the CloneZilla ?

[ronshor]

1. I formatted my external drive as ext4, because I don't care about being able to access it from Windows.

2. There are a lot of posts here with GUI and other recommendations. The GUIs seem to be mostly frontends to rsync. Here is my simple approach:

~ $ cat bin/backup_to_seagate.sh 
#!/bin/bash
#
rsync -aAXHv --delete --delete-excluded /home/ronw /media/ronw/seagateslim/home --exclude={camvids/,podcasts/,ImapMail/,Cache/,VirtualBox\ VMs/,cache/}

Insert usual warnings about reading 'man rsync'. That's a mirror (not a true 'backup' with versioning, etc.) of my home directory except for stuff I don't need (cache) or can easily recreate (podcasts, mail, vms).

3. No idea other than search here for the many previous posts, or wait for other responses.

I don't think I would ever go back to Windows either but I ask about the EXT4 to know if there are any pros and cons to using NTFS / EXT4 file systems on the backup disk ?

As for the backup program, Thanks for your help but I would rather get a recommendation for a software with a GUI.

[oshunluvr]

I use rdiff-backup and a cron job to automate the backups. GUI for backing up is a waste of time IMO, but each to his own.

I wouldn't use NTFS unless you're accessing the drive from windows too. NTFS won't keep the file permissions.

I wouldn't bother backing up the system at all - except maybe files you modify manually for your setup. It's way faster to do a new install than restore a backup - again just my opinion.

[verndog]

For Windows I used a program called Drive Image XML. It was recommended by the Gizmo tech support website back then and I think it still rates very high on their list of best free drive cloning software.
All I can say is, that program did its job very well and never let me down. I had a hardware problem that made me use the image 8-9 times within a time period of 10 months.

Do you have a successful recovery history with the CloneZilla ?

Funny, but I just used Drive Image XML, and it failed to restore MBR correctly. I have Trueimage , but I wanted to test and older Drive Image XML.
Regarding CloneZilla, it has always worked without fail. I now usually use 'partclone', which CZ uses. It makes for simpler cli commands.
CZ will also clone Windows NTFS systems.

[kubicle]

I wouldn't use NTFS unless you're accessing the drive from windows too. NTFS won't keep the file permissions.

That isn't a problem if one uses a backupscheme that wraps the backups with tar (like duply/duplicity)...of course using ntfs doesn't really offer many benefits either (unless one wishes to access the drive from windows as well like you mentioned).

[oshunluvr]

Funny, but I just used Drive Image XML, and it failed to restore MBR correctly. I have Trueimage , but I wanted to test and older Drive Image XML.
Regarding CloneZilla, it has always worked without fail. I now usually use 'partclone', which CZ uses. It makes for simpler cli commands.
CZ will also clone Windows NTFS systems.

The best way to backup an MBR is with dd. I've posted how-to here several times.

If you really need to backup an entire system, I don't know of a single tool that can do it all except a RAID1 configuration. But of course, RAID1 doesn't protect you from yourself - a file deleted one place is deleted the other. I suppose two drives and a mirroring program that you can activate manually or on a schedule would be the best method - but tedious. I like rdiff-backup because I only backup data and it can keep multiple copies. Most of the time now, since I'm using btrfs, a simple snapshot does what I need.

Backups - like any other computer tool - boil down to need. Are you protecting data? Is your goal to keep your PC bootable? Defining what you are trying to protect will dictate the best course of action.

[vsreeser]

I use clonezilla to periodically back up sda1, sda2, and sb2 to sdc2 (707Gb). It takes a while, but makes a compressed backup to an ext2 drive hidden from windows and not mounted in Kubuntu 14.04. I chose image over simple file backup because it is so much easier to restore. Plus, all my docs and pics are backed up separately to onedrive, externa hdd, and 3 other computers at home (so, I'm a bit paranoid with 14 years of kid pics)

[kubicle]

I chose image over simple file backup because it is so much easier to restore.

That sort of depends on what you're restoring. If you're restoring a whole system (like when replacing a broken drive) images are often the easiest way, but not if you're just restoring some accidentally deleted files.

Of course you can get the best of both worlds by using both image backups (less frequent) and file backups (more frequent)