[ale] Linux GUI or CLI backup tool

[JD]

For home use, Back-In-Time http://backintime.le-web.org/ is great. Easy 
to use GUI.  Setup Mom's PC with it in under 5 minutes and never looked 
back.  It uses hardlinks in the backup area to efficient storage.  
Hourly snapshots take seconds.  If you are only using UNIX file systems, 
it is great.  To get networked backups, you need to use sshfs or some 
other networked file system to hide the remote-ness of the storage. 
Still, it is so easy and just works. Check your distro's repo for it. 
Restores are a copy since the backup area appears with timestamped 
directory structures.

If you need to mix file systems, I use rdiff-backup on Linux and 
Windows. The command syntax is like rsync, but does so much more - 
incremental, differential, networked backups. Very efficient on storage 
and time. The downside is that client and server versions of 
rdiff-backup must match. That can be problematic.  Restore is a copy for 
the last backup made. To access earlier versions, other rdiff-backup 
commands are needed to get any other version back.

If you want enterprise level backups at home (remote, encrypted, etc...) 
Duplicati (GUI for Duplicity) can work. However, it is slow.  Weekly 
full backups + incrementals. It is easy to setup. Did I mention how slow 
it is? The backup area is not human readable. Think "catalog."

Rsync is great for mirroring files but it isn't a complete backup 
solution.  For example, if there is corruption that isn't recognized 
immediately, you are likely to replicate that corruption. Same for viruses.

I hope others will post what they use with Pros/Cons. There's always a 
better way, right?


On 02/14/2011 12:05 PM, Sergio Chaves wrote:
> I currently use TAR to backup my PCs at home - not familiar with rsync.
> Wife was converted to linux last year and love it (and so do I,  no more
> reinstalls, yeah!).
> The thing is that she got into photography and wants to manage her own
> backups.
> Is there a good, intuitive, linux GUI tool that uses Rsync? I would like to
> just sync the directories after the 1st backup is done.
> I am also ok with options other than rsync or a script that she can start from
> a desktop shortcut.