If you use Ubuntu Linux on your development machine, how do you backup your system? I'm looking to put a backup & recovery system in place for my laptop that runs Ubuntu 12.04.
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).
- 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).
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?
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).
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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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 31.6 ms ] threadIn 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).
- 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).
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
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).
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.
The hard drive is encrypted with Truecrypt in case someone gets their mitts on it.