Presentation for Software Freedom Day 2010 (Melbourne, AU). Updated for Barcamp Geelong July 2011

1. Linux Backup
Alec Clews
@alecthegeek
alec.clews@gmail.com

2. Assumptions
● Linux
● Personal System
– Not enterprise backup plan!!
● Simple and quick

3. Because one day....
Image: 'Licorne 2'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7969902@N07/511103951

4. Ask yourself...
● Amount of data
● Frequency of change
● Affect of loss

5. Restoring your work
● Linux Operating System
● Software and settings
● Release DVD, paper notebook, ...
● Work in progress
● Documents, account files, email, code,...
● USB Drive, Cloud, DVD,
● Keys, personal config settings
● Multiple copies
● CD/DVD, USB thumb drive, Online

6. Backup Media
● CD/DVD ROM
● Online e.g. DropBox
● Small media e.g. USB Thumb Drives
● Large Portable Media
● Another Machine
● Remote Storage
– email servers
– "cloud"

7. DVD/CD ROM
● Off-site
● Robust,cheap, universal, long lived
● Static files
● Media collections (beware size)
● ssh and GnuPG keys
Image: 'Information Superhighway'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7762644@N04/2533281806

8. Online
● “Set and forget”
● Limited free storage
● Useful for passwords (encrypted), rc files etc
● Keep files in online folder, use links to original
location

9. Large Drives
Image: 'My Book'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46177487@N00/193505182

10. Large Drives contd.
● Cheap (1Tb < A$80!)
● Simple to use
● Format as NTFS. Universal restore
● Do not encrypt
● You still need off-site copies of critical info.

11. Tools
● Drag and drop in file manager
● Back In Time http://backintime.le-web.org/
● Command Line interface e.g.
$ tar czf /media/backups/bkps_$(date
+%C_%m_%d­%k_%M).tgz $HOME
$ cp ­a <src> <backup>

12. Plan
● How much
● Use files analysis tools
● When
● Weekly?
● Daily?
● Online?

13. And Finally
● Backupas are useless without a way to restore
● Your hardware will fail and you will make
mistakes. Backups will save your mental health
● Simple plans and regular routines
● Make sure you backup hidden files and
directories
●
.
In Linux the hidden names begins with “ ”