Backup Solutions for Linux

While there are many options(cp, tar, simplelinuxbackup, fwbackups, rsync, unison, bacula, keep, karchive ... etc) for backing up Linux systems, there does not seem to be a consensus number one option. So, I went through the frustrating process of trying out a lot of options and found my number one. While the particular needs and intentions of specific systems ultimately determines the best backup tool, I went for the simplest solution for my simple problem.

First, I don't need data compression since I have plenty of space on my HD. Plus, date compression consumes a lot of CPU which becomes a huge hustle when I am trying to do real work while performing my backups.
Second, automatic/periodic/scheduled backups are not needed in my case because I will invoke the backup process whenever I plug in my external HD and am in the mood to perform backups.
Third, I don't feel the need for file encryption.
Fourth, I don't need incremental backups -- I simply want the latest copy backed up and don't want to worry about earlier versions.

On the basis of what I need (or don't need), I concluded that rdiff-backup was the simplest and best tool for my backups. It is quick, does no compression or encryption by default and works very reliably. Plus, it does not require me to do any conflict resolution (unlike unison) and it builds the latest backup using previous backups and the newest source very efficiently (unlike rsync).

Addendum 06/30/08::
rdiff-backup & keep were all good until I started switching distros like my freaking socks. So, I am adding another requirement to my simple backup tool - portablity and platform-independence. I need something that should work with any distro without my intervention. That final requirement has led me to switch to rsync.

Comments

BT08 said…

KDE has built a program called keep which basically provides a GUI for doing backups using rdiff-backup. The set up is very simple, and backups could be automated or performed manually. So, it's the solution I have upgraded to.

February 6, 2008 at 4:36 PM

LaTeX Greeting Cards

No, no, not that kind of latex. You are pretty sick for thinking that. I am talking about LaTeX, the typesetting program. Back to greeting cards. Anybody else hate greeting cards? The type that you buy at the store, sign and deliver even though the message is very impersonal and superficial? Yeah, those kind. I hate them very much. Not only do I hate spending time trying to find something that's mildly personal, but I hate paying for them too. $3-5 on that garbage is a travesty. Jerry Seinfeld captures my feelings towards Hallmark cards perfectly in this clip: or this one http://www.youtube.com/v/7tq-RE_6yVo This problem has become significant enough for me to start working on solutions. I am going to make my own cards using LaTeX. So, I googled "LaTeX greeting cards" and came across the the gcards package. It requires that you also install the textpos and graphicx packages, if you don't have them installed already. I am working with a Linux system

Economic Aid to Developing Countries - The Stats

World economics has been an interest of mine for a long time and I will start blogging about it here. Questions like how and if the US can continue its dominance and prosperity, what role China and India will play in the world and what the future holds for the likes of Ethiopia and Eritrea fascinate and worry me quite a bit. To the best of my non-economist abilities, I will address these questions in the future. My first entry derives some general conclusions from statistics on economic aid from developed countries to developing and third-world countries that I found on BBC . It is no surprise the US leads in this category and a better measure of generosity would be one where the amount of aid is given as a percentage of the country's GDP or revenues. Considering this aid is coming from governments as opposed to NGO's, it would be more informative to calculate this aid as a percentage of a government's revenue. Unfortunately, what BBC reports is the amount of aid as a

Victim of Asylum Roulette

Not too many stories resonate with me as much as the plight of legitimate asylum seekers whose desperate plea to find refuge in the US is ultimately decided by the questionable preference, judgment and mood of a single asylum officer (with some oversight from a regional asylum director) on one fateful day. That decision, according to numerous credible and through studies, depends largely on the location of the regional asylum center, the legal representation of the the applicant, the gender of the asylum officer just as much as the merit of the asylum case, while in fact the legitimacy of the asylum case should be the only relevant factor. This phenomenon has become so real that researchers at the Georgetown University law school have dubbed it the Refugee Roulette . Why am I so sensitive about this subject? My most devastating tragedy of late has been the denial of my legitimate and honest application for political asylum at the Chicago Asylum Office. When I applied believing the

Random Thoughts

Search This Blog