Linux Tip | Create and Restore Backups

Here's how I handle backing up and restoring data on my Linux systems.
Check out www.ezeelinux.com for more about Linux.

[@eznix]

Thank you for the in depth use of grsync. I have always done the backups manually, but I will give this a try as I am replacing my external hard drives and need to backup everything soon.

[@hitherehi135]

I just want to send a shout to your KZbin channel. I like your videos a lot. Watching them move me from a newbie Linux user to an intermediate one quickly. Thanks and please keep up the great work!

[@theena]

Seriously, Joe. I lost count of the number of things I've picked up from you since I moved to Linux. I even run some of your scripts for updating and upgrading. Thank you so much. Happy New Year. Thank you again.

[@stevesveryown]

Thanks, Joe! Funny how I was just thinking of doing this and your video pops up on KZbin. Another great tip! Thanks!

[@effdpaul1815]

Thanks!! I always felt that I didn't understand my Linux Backup Software well enough to perform a risk-free backup. This works.

[@Hvtesla]

Another excellent & informative video. You've got this of to a tee!

[@glencoukell163]

Joe thanks for doing this. I don't know how I could have missed it.

[@James_Haskin]

Really great tool. I now have it homebrewed on my OSX and debian distros.

[@Rood67]

Linux version of Windows ROBOCOPY and someone wrote a GUI for it as well. I use these tools to back up remote locations to a server at my site, and spin off to tape for off site storage. Excellent video!

[@charliebrownau]

I miss TOTALCOPY from win9x/2k

[@dipi71]

I’ve used plain good old »cp -a« to back up my data for quite some years now, because of some rsync quirks I’ve grown weary with. On occation, I use my own custom Ruby scripts to quickly deduplicate larger files in older backups in order to save storage space. Currently I’m using 4 USB-HDDs and one additional SSD, and I strategically spread those drives over different buildings in case one of them burns down. Can’t be too careful with digital data. Cheers!

[@jeffharmed1616]

Thanks for sharing. Masterfully presented, thanks

[@Waris-bv7nu]

great video Joe. Straight to the point.

[@djamison9r]

Joe, this was an awesome video! Just what I was looking for to backup my system... P.S. I backed up my home folder while watching this video and my data hard drive will be backed up in less than an hour from the end of the video... Thanks...

[@Thorpe]

You can use 'Switch source with destination' in file menu by the way. I like grsync but it lacks some options from the command line (like human readable sizes, delete after on destination). That trailing slash is indeed important otherwise you end up copying the folder rather than contents. Easy to overlook.

[@cgillyard]

Thanks for this video presentation. I needed something to use to backup some data. By the way nice wall paper background.

[@gmc9753]

I personally have been using rsnapshot for years to do backups. It uses rsync and hard links to save files and save space. I only backup my home directory and /etc. I don't care about backing up the operating system and software packages. In the event of a crash, I'll just reinstall the OS and packages. It's my data (all kept within my home directory) and config files that are important. I run a daily cron job that dumps system information (df output, names of packages installed, crontabs) into my home directory to help for when I need to reinstall. I keep over 50 generations of snapshots on a separate hard disk. I'm currently using 198G on my home and the snapshot partition is using 440G. I keep it mounted read-only except for when rsnapshot is running and it spins down when not being used. The backups are in the original file formats and I can mount the backup disk on any computer to access the files with no special software.

[@riplavabit]

Thanks for the introduction, very useful

[@jonfiss8627]

Hi Joe, thanks for posting this. I've now installed Grsync and going to get backing up, been meaning to do it for ages. Hard to believe that such a powerful piece of software is such a small package. Would you please consider doing a follow up video on Grsync covering encrypted directories/folders and benefits/drawbacks of using checksums for error checking. Thanks, Jon.

[@nethernoah484]

I cloned the Linux system from the hard drive I salvaged from my broken laptop to a new computer and it works like a charm!

[@ezl7052]

Real informative concerning "Grsync". I've had real good success using "CloneZilla" which is not real intuitive and a person does need to experiment with it to get use to it. A word of warning using it, experiment with it before using it on your main system since it's real easy to clobber a system! The worse systems that I have had trouble with are the Windows7 thru 10 with multi-boot systems. Linux is not a problem even with multiple Linux OSs in separate partitions. CloneZilla and Gparted are two applications to get proficient with before using it. I haven't tried using "Grsync" yet, but will be trying it in the future and thanks for your review.

[@yopparaiiii]

I was in the processing of doing this guide and backing up my home folder with one user account. The process is taking a very long time (1 1/2 day),but I end up stopping the process. The size I had is +56GB. Is this correct? I just installed the Linux OS with little applications installed.

[@iPondR]

Still a relevant video in 2020 (BTW) there's a 'switch source with destination' cmd in file menu) thanks!

[@maykhal93]

+Joe Collins thanks for video if you can i need try a deference destro and back to my distro without the delete it just like a backups because i don't have so many space on my hard drive and thanks again for the video

[@Nazareth434]

Hey Joe, what if I only,want to backup global settings like for instance, I have my Taskbar set the way I, ike it, power settings set to never sleep, font set to a certain size. Taskbar header set to certain size etc etc etc. What folder or file contains those settings? Can I just copy that folder, fresh Install Linux, then paste the folder into the same spot in the new install and have all the g,oral settings returned how I like it? If not, is there an easy way to write some ,ind of executable script or something thst has all the custom global settings set the way I want?

[@joabtrust]

I just bought a refurbished computer and I installed an SSD but was not able to transfer or backup my art work before the HDD stopped or became ? So I took the HDD out and plugged it into another computer to see if it would recognize it but it is not. Short of taking the HDD apart how do I get my art work off it before I send back the computer? I am trying to get DISK to see it but nothing is there. I hear the HDD ticking and it spins but it will not boot nor is it noticed by any program.

[@mahernadar4397]

Great Video :) If i backed up my Home directory., then i had to reinstall Ubuntu. Can i restore the home directory even before reinstalling all the old applications that i had? or would it create some sort of conflict? Thanks

[@anarita2998]

Joe my friend this video of yours has been one of my favorite videos yet although you did a video on this application like you said not as in detail as this video and I even download with 4K Video Downloader which is a program I use to download You Tube videos for future references for myself as I tend to forget things but Joe just a question I have Steam client so if I download and install steam it will then be in the Home folder and the settings of steam will be save but will the downloaded games as well and saved games or just the settings of the steam client? anyways great video and keep up the excellent work :)

[@dwbsovran]

Very timely! Checking grsync on the LM Community pages, there are reports that grsync has a bug on LM 17.3. I see at the grsync site there is a new version released in March v. 1.2.6. The Repository has v. 1.2.4. I assume you are using grsync on LM 17.3. What is your advice? Thanks!

[@vajohn13081]

Thanks for the great video and all the info that it gives. What is your opinion on Aptik? I have used it a few times and it always works fine for me and my equipment. Thanks again

[@geryardmon7523]

Tank you! very clear and to the point... what theme you are using?

[@joerogers4227]

Often when I was working, I was asked how often do I need to back up I answered how long would it take you to create what was lost. Would you spend x amount of time to restore what was lost then that is your test to when you need to backup.

[@knightshousegames]

Is there a way to schedule this to happen on a regular basis? Say I wanted to have the computer automatically do this in the background once a week, is that possible?

[@longlost8424]

its called a "cron" job.

[@FredPilcher]

:D Great info! Thanks Joe!

[@hitherehi135]

Thanks Joe. I always learn a lot from your videos. What program do you use to backup & restore programs, applications and PPAs? Could you create a video on that topic.

[@EzeeLinux]

I don't back up those things... You can just reinstall them if you need to reload. I wrote a script to do it all in one shot. :)

[@catslife5501]

Thank you for the reply. I have linux mint 17.3 and in the repo they only have an old version of grsync 1.2.4. I tried installing on CLI using ./configure. It does the checks and creates files etc. then gives an error that the c-compiler cannot create an exe file. That is on 1.2.5 and 1.2.6. the older one did install via the manager but does not read the remaining time. Apparently that was a problem with the old version.

[@EzeeLinux]

+Brian Manthé Use the one in the repo! I do not recommend building anything from source code unless you know exactly what you're doing. Packages you build locally will NOT get any security updates and they can cause system instability if they use dependencies that will get updated. Not being able to see the remaining time is not a big deal anyway. Not worth risking trashing your system over.

[@opssheesh]

hey Joe, I did exactly what you did in this video. however when I restored the backup it created a home folder in the main home folder. like /home/home/user/Documents. where did I go wrong. I put in the destination text box: /home/

[@EzeeLinux]

But did you have an / at the end of the source? That would cause your problem. It should be something like home-backup-directory/ for the source and then /home/ for the destination. I wrote a program to simply all this called XBT. You may want to check it out. github.com/EzeeLinux/xbt-external_backup_tool

[@factfusion394]

Hi I have an important program. My knowledge is limited, I am worried if something happens in my server. Is there a chance to clone the server? The OS is Linux Ubuntu. At the same time I have a external backup for data so I just paste it. I would like to this to save money. The developer of this program is greedy.

[@minnesnowtan9970]

Is that where they got the song "The Day the Music Died"?

[@gregbenwell6173]

I know speaking "in Windows" for me it is just easier to load certain files and folders directly from my computer onto external hard drives. Every week I try to back up everything I have done in the past week or so!! BUT because I am using Windows, I store the files directly has uncompressed full data files!! Then if Windows crashes (and it will eventually) I can do a system restore and then plug in a hard drive or two and restore everything on my machine I was working on!! BUT I don't stop there!! I have one external hard drive I have listed as "Final Restore" and that disk ALONE has a very specific function which is to store and restore any downloaded software packages I use!! In fact I have been doing this so long I have a collection of software back ups for Windows 95, Windows XP and Windows 7 all on that hard drive that if I need to I can install software and drivers for things I have or had previously owned going back to 1995!!! And I have owned a lot of software over the years so as I have amassed such a collection of titles every few months I revisit the "Final Restore Disk" and up date it with any new software I may have purchased or installed in my computers keeping the back up "up to date" as it were. And each time I make a back up to that drive alone, I create a file folder with a date on it so I know when it was last copied too! Then I can restore my system completely in the matter of a couple of hours or even days (depending on how deep I want to install everything)!! And this for example (speaking of days) would happen with my Windows 95 and Windows XP machines because I had drivers that are on the Final Restore disk as well for hardware I own, and I have software packages like Office 97 that I could go through and restore even templates that I made to use with THAT PROGRAM ONLY!! Like a lot of other programs I have tweaks also that help those programs run....so if I want to get "silly" and make the computer do what it did 20 years ago I can just by a few mouse clicks!!

[@catslife5501]

Hi Joe, thanks for the vid. Just a question, I am running Mint 17.3 and when I try to ./configure I get an error that c compiler cannot create an exe file. Any help would be much appreciated. (newbie question) Tried 1.2.5 and 1.2.6

[@EzeeLinux]

+Brian Manthé What is it your trying to do exactly?

[@acerlmt]

Thank you! Remember that some config files stores in /etc/...

[@midplanewanderer9507]

Hey Joe, how are ya? Question: ("Grsync" doesn't come with Cinnamon Mint 19.1 so I installed it, but yet to run it); can I occasionally use Grsync to save my (unencrypted) personal data and profile preferences of my Home Folder to a 64Gig jump-drive, without borking or conflicting with something else in my system? (Note: I'm still under 60 gigs of data). I also use TimeShift (backed to my native drive) and your BU_ program on a separate thumb-drive (yet to be tested), but I just want my Home Folder on hand (on yet another jump drive) with all my personal files and configs safe, particularly Firefox, uncompressed and ready for the inevitable melt-down of my hard-drive. I'm leery of Mint's back-up tool because I believe it saves it all as tar files, and besides .config and Documents, I'm not sure what else I need to save of my hidden files. Their system seems a bit goofy and misleading since it doesn't seem to include _all_ personal data and hidden files by default. (Of course I'm still going to mess with Mint's Back Up tool anyways, before I deploy Grsync). I'm not looking to distro-hop per say or even upgrade but I prefer a more universal method of saving my Home Settings so I have the option. Grsync appears more universal, robust). I'm curious if anyone else out there in the wild has already tried and tested Grsync with success, with Mint 19.1? (I'm open to feed-back from any and all, here..) Thanks Joe, no worries if you're too busy to reply. I really appreciate your content and your humor (love the silly voices you occasionally do), You gave me (and clearly thousands of others) the confidence to jump-ship from Windows to Linux!

[@EzeeLinux]

I wrote a script to automate doing backups that way... It's called BU and you can find it at ezeelinux.com on the BASH scripts page. :)

[@cukedaddy]

Can I back up my ubuntu and then clone the hard drive for another computer and run both?

[@goodfella9807]

That would work.

[@SinCityGT3]

Do you have any tutorials on how to back up applications and their settings? I know you can output a text file of them and reinstall from that list, but none of the settings are saved and not everything I have can be apt-get installed. I'm trying to find a way to back all of that up and haven't been able to. I DD'ed my hard drive in an attempt to clone it, but that didn't work. Probably because I was going from an SSD to an HDD. I also have changed a lot of files, setting a static IP etc.

[@EzeeLinux]

All the local user settings for applications are stored in the home directory. As long as your /home folder is intact, you can re-install all the apps and they will be the same as you left them. Network configuration is stored in /etc. If you back up your home directory and make a copy of /etc then restoring a full system is easy. As for full system backups, the best tool is Clonezilla. It will create an image of Linux partitions and restore them to new drives when you need to. DD will do the job too but it's finicky to work with. Clonezilla is much easyer. :)

[@SinCityGT3]

Ahh okay. Thank you so much for the reply!

[@keithoakes2240]

Joe, your video was outstanding as usual. I loved this easy way gave to backup my linux mint 18.1. You mentioned you had a way to make a list to backup my programs after a system crash do you have a video on that. Thanks again keep them coming.

[@terranrepublican5522]

You can't backup your programs but Linux Mint has a backup tool that lets you make a list of your installed programs. Once you reinstall, you can feed the backup tool this list and it will install all the programs you previously had on your system. After you restore your /home/ (assuming you back up your entire home folder) the settings of your programs will be restored so you are all set.

[@glencoukell163]

So Joe in the basic portion of grsync you do not need to click on ignore existing when doing a second back-up. Is that true.

[@EzeeLinux]

Clicking that would make rsync not update files that have changed since the last back up. It would only add new files if that was checked. :)

[@Ilsh1964]

Although Grsync is good, I prefer the backup tools that come with the distribution. The reason is that the backup tools is well integrated with the desktop: It save several versions of each file, and if you right click on the file you can revert to it's previous version. Right click on empty space and you can get a list of 'what missing...' Anyway: Deleting the destination file is very dangerous and not recommended by default (if you accidentally delete an important file -> it will delete from the backup too...)

[@antidotejack2771]

keep it up joe!

[@koreamedia]

Would you recommend any BackUp grogram with schedule functionality?

[@EzeeLinux]

I don't use any however I have setup a scheduled backup by writing a script and then setting it as a job in cron.

[@koreamedia]

Great. Script and Cron. That is it. I wish I knew about it.

[@lazarusrize]

Thank you so much! Subscribed!! :-)

[@indigowyrm]

Thanks Joe, well done as always, I've seen other videos where you use timeshift? Do you use them in tandem etc?

[@EzeeLinux]

This is an old video... I have since written my own back utility which I use. Time shift is for system snapshots and doesn't make a great data backup solution. :)

[@indigowyrm]

@@EzeeLinux ok thanks oh yes I remember you talking abt it now on your show

[@indigowyrm]

@@EzeeLinux there's so much to take in! But I'm getting there

[@luigiprovencher8888]

Are you Linux or Linux+ Certified? I was thinking about becoming Linux+ Certified and was wondering where to begin. I've recently purchased a Linux+ Study Guide by Christine Bresnahan and 101Labs CompTIA Linux+ by Paul Browning and was wondering if that was going to be enough or if there was something else that I should get or do.

[@EzeeLinux]

I took some classes year ago before I started this but I don't have certificate of any kind. Still, they can't hurt and if you can afford it go for it. :)

[@speeddemon574onVM]

Is there a way to see the full command that it uses to backup your system with? I plan on using grsync to figure out what command I should use to back something up on a system that only has a CLI and then use the command that it grsync uses in a script that runs automatically on a system (changing the source and destinations of course). Also I've heard that rsync copies files faster then the regular "cp" command does, is this true?

[@EzeeLinux]

+Alex Herzog I don't know if it works faster but I do know that if you run Grsync from a terminal the output will be sent to that terminal and you should see the exact command it uses printed in the output. :)

[@jonfiss8627]

+Alex Herzog I 've only just installed Grsync and never used it before. But I did notice that If you open Grsync and put your mouse cursor over the options 'a box' appears showing the syntax of the cli instructions. That might help you out a bit. Jon.

[@speeddemon574onVM]

+Alex Herzog I just installed grsync myself (I have been really busy today with other things and haven't gotten a chance to look at the program until now). It looks like if you select "Rsync command line" in the file menu it shows you the command that it uses to run the backup. So it would seem that I've found what I was looking for. Thanks for the help though, I was not expecting a response this fast.

[@EzeeLinux]

+Alex Herzog Duh! It sure does! Ha Ha. I never noticed that before! :)

[@SinCityGT3]

Thanks for posting this! I was wondering the same thing because if I had to go into Grsync and do this every time I'd never back up. Way easier to get the command, put it in a bash script and set it as a cron job.

[@ScottyD]

What about advanced options for deduplication at the source or at the very least destination? What about one time full, with dedup and then incremental forever with dedup with the capability to interrogate and discover all the desperate jobs no matter where the data is at and collate the data back to you in the event of a needed restore or DR recovery? Without these features, you consume vast amounts of valuable network and storage resources every time you do a backup.

[@EzeeLinux]

+Scotty D What about all of That? This is a simple tool to do a simple job. It works quite well for small home networks too. :)

[@ScottyD]

+Joe Collins I realize this is a "simple tool" but if it desires to be a viable solution for large quantities of data and the long haul, it should incorporate the basics of source-side de-duplication and the ability to not do "full" backups every time. It should be able to discern change block or change rate data and only backup necessary changes. It makes zero sense to do a full backup every day if for example your change rate of data daily is less than 5-10%. Without these basic features, you consume greater amounts of network and storage resources than necessary. It also increases your RTO (Recovery Time Objective). Additionally you should be able to set retention periods for that data that matches your RPO (Recovery Point Objectives) to be able to roll-back to any point in time within your retention or archive periods. For example if you have 2TB of data with a 30day RPO and zero de-duplication, you backup a full every day and you want to roll back to any give day within a 30 day retention period, you then have to account for 60TB of capacity in your target storage. On the other hand, if you had the ability to discern change data daily (10% change rate daily) and only back that up... you would have 1 Full backup at the beginning plus 29 days of incremental data which equates to 7.8TB of capacity needed on your target storage. 10% is quite high, so let's be conservative and say you have around 5% change rate daily, you would have 1 Full Backup plus 29 days of incremental data which then equates to 4.9TB of capacity needed on your target storage. You mentioned this does capture change data daily but does it do true "Incremental" or is it "differential" backups? Lastly is self-healing... if something goes wrong with your job, or something goes wrong with the target side where there's no doubt a database of some sort tracking these backups, then you will want to have the piece of mind for a self-healing backup solution. The backup window also is affected when you do full backups every day. Most people in home networks are wireless on 802.11N which has a 300Mbps max network bandwidth. If nothing else is on the router at the time you do your backup you have all of that bandwidth available. But let's assume you have others on the network at the same time leaving you with 50% wireless network availability. Then you have 150Mbps. Doing a full backup of 2TB daily would take nearly 28 hours to do a full backup over a network with that available bandwidth vs just short of 3 hours for a 10% change rate backup and less than 1.5 hours with a 5% change rate backup (The amount of data is divided by the (average) transfer rate in order to find how long the transfer will take). So you get better I/O with change data only. For obvious reasons if you're not wireless and are hard wired via Ethernet then ethernet port speed and network switch speed is calculated against your available network throughput. If you get dedup into the equation then depending on the type of data being protected you might get a 2:1 or greater capacity requirement benefit and better I/O and target storage capacities needed. While it may seem like overkill for a home network or a home office, it's quite the opposite. As more and more people work from home in an entrepreneurial venture or simply have a home network which they produce data daily at home that is considered "mission critical" to keep and maintain for large and long periods of time, it is equally as critical to have a data management solution that will match the overall RPO and RTO, Backup and Archive needs of that particular situation. Far too many people implement what they think will be their saving grace in the event of a simple and/or catastrophic situation but when they actually need to invoke that solution to recover they find themselves in a quandary that won't satisfy all their wants, needs and desires.

[@EzeeLinux]

+Scotty D LOL Did you miss the part where I said that rsync does incremental backups? It only moves data that has changed. It creates snapshots. It's actually quite efficant and easy to keep up with. This is NOT a sophisticated enterprise grade back up program! It's just a small command line utility that happens to be included in GNU/Linux. One can write scripts around it to automate it in a crontab and even have it rotate between several remote data sets on a daily basis. . That way you could keep a copy of what the data set looked like for any number of days on a rotating basis. But, that sort of functionality is beyond the casual user or even the hobbyist. I wouldn't recommend that a data center rely on rsync to backup millions of dollars worth of data. If you need that sort of functionality, there are scores of open source and proprietary solutions available. I think anyone who does wouldn't be too interested in my videos anyway. :)

[@ScottyD]

+Joe Collins I did hear about the "incremental" but wanted some clarity around that as it's a term loosely used in products. A true incremental with retention will build a change control where by which if the original data set is created on Monday and then changed on Wednesday and then again on Thursday and then on Friday your primary copy gets corrupt, you can roll back to any particular day there was a valid backup of the changed data. So you could restore the Wednesday version or Thursday version. Subsequently if there's data that is co-dependent in an application it can rebuild a data set from desperate data using the daily incrementals. Otherwise it's a single copy of change files with zero retention therefore if garbage goes in then garbage comes out of the target storage. This is very dangerous as many people do not understand the impact. Even in a home network use, these features I speak of are more of the norm than the exception. People rely more and more on data from their home computers that a simple rudimentary solution usually doesn't solve for what they truly want in a data protection solution. This includes eliminating any scripting needed by an end-user. Most people are not skilled in scripting, therefore it has to be policy based, point and click. I think you'd be surprised of the number of people that watch your videos that would be interested in more of a holistic data management solution. This particular one you've presented seems like an asynchronous basic directory mirror copy feature but then again, I could be wrong... it's just my perception.

[@PaperBagMan884]

Hmm, this looks great, I'll have to check it out. But my question is, isn't this and other backup programs a bit redundant? Can't you just open the file explorer and copy and paste them yourself?

[@EzeeLinux]

Copy & Paste is a bit cumbersome and it doesn't always copy files will the correct attributes. This is an old vid. I have since written my own backup software called XBT. You can find it here: www.ezeelinux.com/bash-scripts/

[@KunalSaini97]

I want my manjaro (in dual boot with windows) to migrate over to my new laptop with exact customizations, programs etc. Will this method work?

[@EzeeLinux]

This works for personal data and settings... You'll have to re=-install the OS and install any programs you need. :)

[@KunalSaini97]

Thank you.. :)

[@kennynvake4hve584]

Will this program, or do you know of a program that will completely backup everything on the hard drive AND have the backup BOOT and then restore everything....I want to use a DVD disk as my destination..This is a new install I have with no data, but I want to restore what I have without having to go thru the updates...

[@EzeeLinux]

There won't be enough room for an ISO image of a fully installed system on a DVD but you could do it with a flash drive. Try CloneZilla. :)

[@kennynvake4hve584]

I guess it wont continue to the next disk like windows does, right?

[@joshua572]

Finally someone gives it to me straight about backing up Linux.

[@timothy4]

Heh Joe, thank you for the video. Many of your videos have helped me migrate recently from Windows 7 to Linux Mint so am very grateful for that, thank you (I still have Windows 7 running in a VM). Having just completed a backup using Grsync following this video I was left wondering why not just copy/and paste your home directory to your backup location? You could delete the previous backup so as not to clog up the system. There must be something obvious I am missing here...

[@EzeeLinux]

First, this is an old video... I have written software that does this automatically and it's called BU. You can find it at www.ezeelinux.com/bash-scripts/ Second, coping and pasting won't bring over a lot of special system files used to store setting. Try to restore the /home directory wouldn't work right either. It has to be done with elevated privileges and it must archive the files exactly as they are in terms of permissions. :)

[@GCoda]

rsync backup option are quite usefull, you can do incremental backups, only changed files will be copied, files that stayed the same will be linked to previous backup, exactly like Apple Time Machine, i bet they use rsync under he hood ) And compress file data will help you a lot if dealing with over the network backups

[@anarita2998]

+Евгений Фуко Apple does many things similar to Linux so I would not be surprised if that is the case but one thing Linux has over Apple is that it is open source and it has a community in which in my book in more valuable then a close source and company running but one of things that apple does that does not work for me is it is either their way or the highway not giving choice and freedom to its users so Apple is not for me :)

[@fsdigitalworld6259]

hi there my name is farrukh an i am professional librarian i need help... how i can i make 100% working bootable iso file with Ubuntu 16.4 which could be distributed to other. I used software pinguy builder but some software doesn't work n like koha is an web based software for libraries its run on web with address for example "localhost:8080" when i make distributed cd with it it shows whole software is completely up to date but doesn't works can you help how i can make it which could be easy to install ubuntu with software without any difficulties please guide me for it

[@fsdigitalworld6259]

thank you very much sir

[@BEDavisBrown]

Are you still using grsync today and could you make your settings in grsync then use cron to run it?

[@EzeeLinux]

No, I have written my own backup program since then. It's called BU and you can find it at www.ezeelinux.com

[@Khyree_Holmes]

I have been using "Backups" for years, then "Aptik Backup" - then what?? Grsync. Tested Grsync, this what happened - this is normal for the test run? rsync: opendir "/home/khyree/.dbus" failed: Permission denied (13) rsync: opendir "/home/khyree/.gvfs" failed: Permission denied (13) rsync error: some files/attrs were not transferred (see previous errors) (code 23) at main.c(1183) [sender=3.1.1] Rsync process exit status: 23

[@anarita2998]

+Khyree Holmes I use Apitik too to backup software and software options and then use Grsync to backup Home Folder and Personal Data then I use Pinguy Builder to backup my operating system although I still will use CloneZilla in case Pinguy Builder is no longer supported or not in repositories anymore that about it and it has worked for me without issues :)

[@Khyree_Holmes]

Aptik was buggy in 14.04 for me, hmm..... it was weird! I still have my backups from Aptik from my 14.04 days. 2016: I use Grsync is my main backup routine - OH, it has been very very life saving, I save my Home Folder backup to a 16GB Flash Drive and its a OPEN BACKUP and I get excited to just go into my backup archives on my backup drive with out hassle.

[@catslife5501]

I downloaded the tar.gz files from the grsync website and extracted them on my machine. I guess I should wait for mint 18 to be released, hopefully the repos will be a bit more up to date. Thanks anyway. Bruno );>

[@lazarusrize]

Can anyone suggest the app Joe mention concerning creating a list of installed apps or programs that would "cron job" them back onto the system. Thanks in advance! I'm trying to avoid Clonezilla.

[@EzeeLinux]

Synaptic Package Manager... This is a very old video and I have since written a script that does this automatically and much more. Go to ezeelinux.com and look at the Bash Scrips page and find BU, :)

[@lazarusrize]

@@EzeeLinux Thank you, sir.

[@lazarusrize]

@@EzeeLinux Hey, Joe. I only had an SDHC card available. BU is reporting that it can't find it, so I'm guessing this is the problem: /dev/mmcblk0p1

[@EzeeLinux]

@@lazarusrize Bu is not designed to work with anything other than a USB drive. You have to format the drive with a special partition named "BU_Drive" or it won't find it. :)

[@lazarusrize]

@@EzeeLinux Thanks, Joe. Yes sir, I did everything per the video. I guess it's just, per what I think you're saying, an SD card only situation. I'll pick up an SD card. :-) TY!

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

Are you using Clonezilla to clone your boot drive? as I thought Clonezilla would be the easiest to use.

[@EzeeLinux]

+DAVID GREGORY KERR I've used Clonezilla in the past and it's nice if you want to move an entire installation exactly as it but most often I am re-installing and I want the distribution to be fresh. I can then just add my personal data to it and that's that. :)

[@LLPOF]

My first attempt at restoring a backup with grsync totally blew my existing system away. I entered wrong destination path. I have my home directory on a different hard drive than the distro. Fortunately I had other backups of the system with TimeShift, however restoring everything didn't go well and I spent several hours getting everything back in order. Just a warning, this is a great tool but you have to be careful. The ending back slashes on the source and destination are important and easy to screw up.

[@PaperBagMan884]

Good thing about Linux is you have complete control over your system, which means it allows you to make horrendous mistakes like that, so you gotta be more careful lol.

[@pyotrleflegin7255]

There are two kinds of computer users; those who have catastrophically lost data -- and those who are about to! Great video -- thanks!

[@EzeeLinux]

+Pyotr Leflegin LOL. Yep. Thanks. :)

[@Tea-Spin]

I want to get new laptop soon. Thinking about how much pain it will get to setting up a new ubuntu system like my old one kinda make me stressed.(cause i can't simply put my old hdd to my new laptop because it will void the warranty of the laptop). Of course my new laptop has windows in it and not Ubuntu. if i backup my old ubuntu settings,what i have to do is to install a new one in my new laptop. so 1. does it have to be the exact same size to the old one? 2. what should i do before and after restoring data to the new one? does it have to be the same superuser username and password like the old one? Are all the softwares ready to use or i have to download them again and do some settings after restoring it? 3. is it safe to only backup the home directory? i mean.. is there any other folder that works with the home folder simustenuously? like lib folder or root folder? 4. What about the other softwares that weren't installed on home folder? thank you for your response

[@EzeeLinux]

First off, if you're going to buy a new machine then buy one that comes with Ubuntu installed already. It's silly to buy a Windows machine and then just expect that Ubuntu will work on it these days. Backing up your home folder will get all of your personal settings. It's the only one you have to worry about. You can then move your data over to the new machine. The username and passwords will have to be the same if you want to use Grsync but you don't have to use that because you could just drag and drop. You'll have to re-install the programs you added to the distribution and configure them. :)

[@Tea-Spin]

Joe Collins thank you for your response. Yeah you're right about finding the machine that already installed ubuntu, but apparently i bought the one who didn't because i like the spec and price and didn't really bother the os(they said it bonus). So home directory only contain all the settings not the software file? I mean i have to redownload all the softwares? One more question, are you recommend to clone my old hdd to the new one? Because i did research on Google and I came to idea to just clone my old hdd to the new one. Is it recommended tho?

[@EzeeLinux]

One of the best tools for cloning a drive is CloneZilla. I suggest you read the documentation. It will answer all of your questions. clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live-doc.php

[@Tea-Spin]

Joe Collins thank you very much

[@Darth12000]

Hello, Joe, and thanks for your many helpful tutorials. :) Reacting here to the cloning subtopic, i have a question of my own : how about using cloning as backup tactics ? Maybe in addition to grsync backups, as the latter allows access to content and not the former... I've been only doing cloning as backups so far, but i do wonder if my tactics can be improved.

[@fubaralakbar6800]

Being able to change distros/move to another machine easier than Windows is one of the biggest advantages of Linux...but I'd stop short of saying it's no big deal. I have about 40 gig worth of stuff, which takes maybe 20 to 30 minutes to back up, then I need 20 to 30 minutes to install the new system IF nothing goes wrong, 20 to 30 minutes to restore from backup, at least an hour to do the updates (having the installer do the updates helps, but not every distro does that), and at least a couple of hours to get my favorite programs reinstalled, and get my browser re-registered with the bank website (so they won't ask me for an extra security code). If I start early in the morning and make good time, I can be settled into my new distro by lunch time...but yeah, it's not something I do on the fly or without trepidation.

[@FirstLast-ml7yf]

Question...is this equivalent to TimeShift on Linux Mint?

[@EzeeLinux]

No.

[@sounddoctorin]

i still am not clear on how to just copy unique and modified files. i don't want to burn my drive 2 hours when only 2 sec. of unbacked content exists... 'simulation' just lists all files even when i say 'size only'

[@EzeeLinux]

The software figures that our. rsync only updates what has changed. There are a bunch of backup programs written around it. :)

[@sounddoctorin]

oh isee you have to set target 1 directory back....

[@18rahulverma]

How to take full backup in centos 6. May you provide complete short process and any videos!

[@EzeeLinux]

Same process. :)

[@18rahulverma]

+Joe Collins (EzeeLinux) No. I have to take backup via terminal in command line interface , which runlevel is 3, not in GUI.

[@EzeeLinux]

Just use rsync at the command line. linux.die.net/man/1/rsync

[@18rahulverma]

+Joe Collins (EzeeLinux) But, rsync is for incremental backup. I want full backup

[@EzeeLinux]

I think you're looking for a dedicated app to do backups. Here's one that might do what you need: wiki.r1soft.com/display/ServerBackup/Install+Server+Backup+Manager+on+CentOS%2C+RHE%2C+and+Fedora

[@JLMoriart]

This looks like a great option, definitely going to give it a go. (And going to make sure to show respect to the root privileges I'm giving it.) Appreciate the video, do you accept Bitcoin Cash tips/donations?

[@luigiprovencher8888]

Grrrrrrrr.........could of sworn that I chose the right destination location but apparently not because it said that thr Dry run was successful but the Real attempt was not. How do I find the place where it was synced to wrong so that I can delete and remove to free up the space on my hard drive. It was supposedly syned to /Linux/Home or /Home/Linux.

[@luigiprovencher8888]

I was able to find the folder in the Linux Home folder and deleted it. It was weird because I'm pretty sure that I clicked on the external drive that I was trying to save it to but instead it created a folder called Software in the /Linux/Home directory.

[@dallase1]

If you can accidentally wipe out all you files by setting a wrong option why is Gsync a good program?

[@Rood67]

Because of its simplistic power to do what it does very well. You just need to be careful and test a few times before letting it run freely. And the danger actually exist more if you use this to do the restore, and old files overwrite newer from updates you may have done since the backup.

[@KushalPandya]

What's the theme that you're using there?

[@master_andreas1202]

+Kushal Pandyat the default ubuntu-mate theme

[@EzeeLinux]

+Kushal Pandya It's called Green Submarine. :)

[@Brainneeds]

thanks you

[@KeithDavey2014]

Two problems with you soltuion. One... It is NOT a backup. It is a replication. Two, your script allows a hacker to delete files and then run the backup which will wipe out the files in your backup as well. Backups need to follow the 3,2,1 rule. 3 copies of the data, 2 copies on different types of media in use (this include cloud storage, 1 copy that is air gaped.

[@iflnr978]

would it be correct to say that it is not best practices re backing up? i read what you said, yet replication is a backup, or an action to create a copy, which can be used to restore data, if to your point, it wasn't deleted by a hacker or just someone deleting files which the backup system then deleted out of the replicated files. anyone working on the system should be notified about that backup delete feature. on the other hand, copying the files from a day's work is not a super useful, in a sense, because if 'you' are going to resume working after software or hardware glitch or drive failure, what about restoring the programs that were used to create the data? part of the reason of creating a backup system is to resume work. if the backup was complete, would include restoring the boot, OS and application drives. i haven't finished the video, so perhaps that is covered. to me, this video is showing a type of backup that isn't following the best practice of the 1, 2, 3 rule, boot drive restoration, work resumption (more critical when using proprietary software) (i am not sure why this text is red as i am typing it) an updated point is backed-up data might also have comprehensive checksums with active error correction from a parity drive which is most easily accomplished, at least in open source, via ZFS. this video is from 2016 May, so things have changed from then to your comment and further to my comment.

[@a3-82]

how to over network??.

[@MrKristian252]

Hmm.. So I guess a *full disk backup* is not possible while the system is running.

[@xxxDemonDavexxx]

i just use a handful of USB sticks for a backup...but that's all i really need

[@robertandersson1128]

A handful you say... How big hands do you have?

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

It really depends on the purpose and timeframe for the backup... or copy. When I'm active enough in "dangerous activities" and I get a little wild about backups/copies... I am known to label and use a whole stack of plain old SDcards... The medium is relatively fragile, but if the term isn't ridiculous (say a few weeks before re-purpose or end of term... It's a really DIRT CHEAP and QUICK resource for the job... They're just a viable in size now as thumbdrives, flashsticks, and ssd's... AND (for the sneaky folks around there) they can hide anywhere. When it's just a common sensibility (that usual activity point when you know you should back it up and keep it up) yes, USB stick is useful. This can work out if kept safely over a period of months, so it should be redone at least every month or two... Hardcore, long term stuff... Like that entire encyclopedic collection(s) of music by time, date, genre, and original recording artist... Yeah, you don't want to EVER have to f*** with that. Get a good solid state drive. It's got to be tested and qualified for terms. In fact, just get two of them (in case one fries, gets stolen, or meets an end-date with stupidity) and keep them both separate and secure. The bottom line is that you tread a delicate line between sensible hardware for the job and the expense of keeping on keeping on. Pay too much for the backup(s) and you've got great recovery, but you can't afford the new equipment for the upgrade or new project... Slack off, and your data corrupts... well, the least little thing can cause catastrophe... and you NEVER recover. So cheaping out isn't a criminal offense, but be sure to test the damn things from time to time to KNOW your reliability. :o)

[@manizaeim]

so you dont have mass data at the first point, 2nd you dont have complicated files and directory structure and 3rd you are not using any cloud services such as owncloud, google, dropbox or Mega i use rsync+BackInTime on Mega and owncloud and gdrive, depends on my source files

[@JessicaFEREM]

I reccomend using a hard drive that is the exact size or bigger than your partition, get a cheap enclosure and a protective case. backup for about $15 if you already have a drive. easy.

[@layer8371]

look @ luckybackup ;) give it a try

[@vanpeters9751]

Great video I gave you a like but my phone glitches and removes my likes not joking

[@RoadToTheCup]

This is so old... there are newer linux versions, maybe you should update. It didn't help me as I am using Linux Mint.

[@EzeeLinux]

Yes, it is old but guess what? It still applies!. Crazy, I know.

[@begratefulandhappy]

Real men don't back up.

[@kj-marslander]

lol

[@zanaris-falador]

Gr8 topic and video. Totally agree with you on your point of most apps backing up compressed files. I hate that. I've used Rsync ever since I started using linux. It fits my workflow perfectly.

[@EzeeLinux]

+Zanaris Falador Thanks. :)