

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

If you use Ubuntu Linux on your development machine, how do you backup your system? I'm looking to put a backup &#38; recovery system in place for my laptop that runs Ubuntu 12.04.
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rdegges
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
There was an earlier discussion on HN about why people should not use DropBox
for backup: <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>

[2]: <https://www.dropbox.com/help/113/en>

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kellros
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).

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santa_boy
I just use Amazon S3 using a utility to transfer files called 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).

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martey
I use Debian, but the tool I use (DejaDup) is also available in Ubuntu:

<https://live.gnome.org/DejaDup>

<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.

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D9u
A simple cron job sends select directory contents to other partitions and
redundant cloud storage. Encrypted and compressed.

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nthdeui
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.

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aliem
rdiff over a secondary non-mounted hard disk and cron

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mattbillenstein
rsync

------
veyron
tarballs

