Re: [Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Peter

> I see that I can find everything in case I need to restore too. Now to
> test it as a future incremental backup. The only question that I have
> before I continue is that on my backup media I have a directory called
> pictures already, and will this overwrite it, or just do the
> incremental backup on it?
>
> The script looks like this:
>
> # Program to backup /Home/peterm to USB store  using rdiff-backup
> # as suggested by Ralph Corderoy
> #  October 12 2015.
> # Intention is to do one full backup per year and then monthly
> # append to it.  separate backup for pictures. can it be done to
> # pictures directory on backup unit?

You may want to back up a lot more often than this once you've
experimented and seen if a new backup only takes a little disk space,
e.g. weekly.

> # may want to clean out firefox/chrome caches first.
> # rm ~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/*.sqlite 
> ~/.mozilla/firefox/*default/sessionstore.js
> rm -r ~/.cache/mozilla/firefox/*.default/*

If you ask rdiff-backup to exclude that instead then the cache will
remain to aid Firefox.

> rdiff-backup --exclude "/home/peterm/My_Pictures/" \
> /home/peterm/ "/media/peterm/Expansion Drive/U-backup-oct15"
>
> # now backup the pictures
> # rdiff-backup "/home/peterm/My Pictures/" "/media/peterm/Expansion 
> Drive/pictures"

Ah, you're saying you've already backed up My\ Pictures in the past to
pictures, but not with rdiff-backup, and what will happen.  I've just
tried.

$ mkdir -p src dest
$ touch src/foo
$ rdiff-backup src dest
$ ls dest
foo  rdiff-backup-data

So it doesn't mind an empty dest already existing.

$ rm -rf dest
$ mkdir dest
$ touch dest/foo

Now src and dest both have an empty foo.

$ rdiff-backup src dest
Fatal Error: Destination directory

dest

exists, but does not look like a rdiff-backup directory.  Running
rdiff-backup like this could mess up what is currently in it.  If you
want to update or overwrite it, run rdiff-backup with the --force
option.

Let's throw in a bar too, and --force as it said.

$ touch dest/bar
$ rdiff-backup --force src dest
$ ls dest/bar
ls: cannot access dest/bar: No such file or directory

So it has removed bar, probably not what you want.

If pictures really is a copy of an older My\ Pictures, with much content
the same in the same files, then you could try

rdiff-backup pictures pictures.rdiffb

as a one-off command to prime the rdiff-backup destination and then

rdiff-backup '/home/peterm/My Pictures' \
'/media/peterm/Expansion Drive/pictures.rdiffb'

from then on.

There are some other commands you might like to consider.

rdiff-backup -v 4 --verify \
'/media/peterm/Expansion Drive/pictures.rdiffb'

Read all the files in the latest backup and compares their SHA1 digests
against the rdiff-backup's metadata.  There's --verify-at-time to check
old backups.

rdiff-backup --list-increment-sizes \
'/media/peterm/Expansion Drive/pictures.rdiffb'

List the current, latest, backup and its size, and all the older backups
and their increments' size.  This may persuade you that you've the space
for more frequent backups.

Cheers, Ralph.

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Re: [Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Peter Merchant]

On 08/10/15 09:44, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter

Tim wrote:

Take a look at rdiff-backup which uses rsync libs. It's possible to
exclude specific directories (--exclude or --exclude-globbing-filelist).
If you call it from a daily cronjob you can back up multiple directory
trees by running it sequentially on those. The most recent backup is
fully accessible and earlier backups are compressed diffs. Can do remote
backups over SSH. Been using it for around 15 years - does the job.

I was also going to suggest http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup/
The backup is a simple copy of the original in appearance, so you can
cp(1) files out of it, etc.  There's one addition, a directory starting
with `.' where it stores all the information about the previous versions
of that directory so it can switch to them.  And whereas rsync is about
transferring only the changes, rdiff-backup uses the mechanism to store
only the changes, handy if there's a large file where only a few bytes
in the middle change every day.  It has a lot of users.

Cheers, Ralph.


OK, I created a script which runs rdiff-backup and I have finally got it 
working to do a backup that looks OK. I am quite pleased with it. The 
only error message was about a file that I had open with Kate.


I see that I can find everything in case I need to restore too. Now to 
test it as a future incremental backup. The only question that I have 
before I continue is that on my backup media I have a directory called 
pictures already, and will this overwrite it, or just do the incremental 
backup on it?


The script looks like this:
# Program to backup /Home/peterm to USB store  using rdiff-backup
# as suggested by Ralph Corderoy
#  October 12 2015.
# Intention is to do one full backup per year and then monthly append to it.
# separate backup for pictures. can it be done to pictures directory on 
backup unit?


# may want to clean out firefox/chrome caches first.
# rm ~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/*.sqlite 
~/.mozilla/firefox/*default/sessionstore.js rm -r 
~/.cache/mozilla/firefox/*.default/*



rdiff-backup --exclude "/home/peterm/My_Pictures/"  /home/peterm/ 
"/media/peterm/Expansion Drive/U-backup-oct15"



# now backup the pictures
# rdiff-backup "/home/peterm/My Pictures/" "/media/peterm/Expansion 
Drive/pictures"



--
I also need to exclude the dropbox folder from the backup process.

On the XP box I created a batch file that uses xcopy and that is 
satisfactory for me.


Thanks for all the help and advice.
Peter



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Re: [Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Peter

Tim wrote:
> Take a look at rdiff-backup which uses rsync libs. It's possible to 
> exclude specific directories (--exclude or --exclude-globbing-filelist). 
> If you call it from a daily cronjob you can back up multiple directory 
> trees by running it sequentially on those. The most recent backup is 
> fully accessible and earlier backups are compressed diffs. Can do remote 
> backups over SSH. Been using it for around 15 years - does the job.

I was also going to suggest http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup/
The backup is a simple copy of the original in appearance, so you can
cp(1) files out of it, etc.  There's one addition, a directory starting
with `.' where it stores all the information about the previous versions
of that directory so it can switch to them.  And whereas rsync is about
transferring only the changes, rdiff-backup uses the mechanism to store
only the changes, handy if there's a large file where only a few bytes
in the middle change every day.  It has a lot of users.

Cheers, Ralph.

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Re: [Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Peter Merchant]

On 08/10/15 07:12, Keith Edmunds wrote:

Be aware that there is an inherent problem using rsync for backups, which
is addressed by some of the projects that wrap around rsync.

If you simply rsync from SystemA to SystemB, you are not preserving
history. If you use the "--delete" switch, SystemB will be a faithful copy
of SystemA; realising that you accidentally deleted VitalFile the weekend
before last, and that you've been running nightly rsync backups since,
will highlight the problem.

The key to a good backup regime is not how well it backs up files: it is
how well it restores them. Although I've heard good things about
rdiff-backup, I have also failed to restore a file using it (to be fair,
this was nine years ago, but once bitten...). At that time, at least, it
has a somewhat convoluted command line to restore files, which is not what
I want when that stuff has hit the fan.

In our business, we use backuppc. Apart from sounding as if it is
something you'd use to backup the kids' homework, it is a solid product
that, to date, has not let us down (and yes, we do carry out test
restores). There are, as the BBC would say, other backup programs
available - but don't judge them by their backup ability. Judge them by
their restore ability. Backuppc has a passable file-manager type web
interface, and lets you browse all historic backups. Once set up (which
will take a little time), it is stunning trivial to backup, monitor and
restore from.

I know. That is why I want to have the backup 'in clear' and not zipped 
up. When I restore I might want to be selective. I know that you can 
look inside a gzip and be selective that way.  I know that I am holding 
on to a whole lot of stuff I'll never look at again.

Cheers,
Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Peter Merchant]

On 07/10/15 22:25, Tim wrote:

On 07/10/15 19:21, Peter Merchant wrote:
Hi, I have been looking for a means of formalising my backup 
procedures.  At the moment on my USB 500Tb Backup drive I have three 
sets of folders:



Can you tell me where you bought your 500TB USB drive please? :)


Oops- I guess that should be 0.5 Terabyte or 500GB - from Argos!






While this may not be the full answer to your problem I have found 
using Luckybackup a very useful program for sorting out my backups (at 
least to the point of backing up what I want). Luckybackup is 
basically a GUI for rsync and I have used it simply for that purpose. 
I constructed a backup I want in luckybackup and then once I am happy 
it is backing up what I want I copy the rsync output into a script and 
then just run it as a cron job ( I used scheduledtask to setup the 
cron job).


That's what I want to end up with, but as I am not so disciplined to be 
able to connect the backup drive for a specific time, I will just run 
the script when I want to.

Peter

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Re: [Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Keith Edmunds]

Be aware that there is an inherent problem using rsync for backups, which
is addressed by some of the projects that wrap around rsync.

If you simply rsync from SystemA to SystemB, you are not preserving
history. If you use the "--delete" switch, SystemB will be a faithful copy
of SystemA; realising that you accidentally deleted VitalFile the weekend
before last, and that you've been running nightly rsync backups since,
will highlight the problem.

The key to a good backup regime is not how well it backs up files: it is
how well it restores them. Although I've heard good things about
rdiff-backup, I have also failed to restore a file using it (to be fair,
this was nine years ago, but once bitten...). At that time, at least, it
has a somewhat convoluted command line to restore files, which is not what
I want when that stuff has hit the fan.

In our business, we use backuppc. Apart from sounding as if it is
something you'd use to backup the kids' homework, it is a solid product
that, to date, has not let us down (and yes, we do carry out test
restores). There are, as the BBC would say, other backup programs
available - but don't judge them by their backup ability. Judge them by
their restore ability. Backuppc has a passable file-manager type web
interface, and lets you browse all historic backups. Once set up (which
will take a little time), it is stunning trivial to backup, monitor and
restore from.

> > At the moment on my USB 500Tb Backup drive I have three 
> > sets of folders:
> >
> Can you tell me where you bought your 500TB USB drive please? :)

To be fair, he said "500Tb", not 500TB"!
-- 
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Sidney Morgenbesser


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Re: [Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Tim]

On 07/10/15 19:21, Peter Merchant wrote:
Hi, I have been looking for a means of formalising my backup 
procedures.  At the moment on my USB 500Tb Backup drive I have three 
sets of folders:



Can you tell me where you bought your 500TB USB drive please? :)


D-2015-Mo-dy From Downstairs XP machine Data partititon
U-2015-Mo-dy   from upstairs kubuntu /home partition
Pictures Pictures and photos combined from both D & U

The Pictures folder already exists, but the others would have to be 
created by the script or manually beforehand.


What I would like to do is backup the Kubuntu machine /home contents 
to a base U-2015-Mo-Dy folder, including hidden files, but Excepting 
the My Pictures folder.


Similarly for the XP machine.

Then update the Pictures folder with any and all updates and changed 
files.


Second stage is to more frequently run an incremental backup of all 
changes and updates on the Kubuntu box to a separate folder, perhaps 
U-2015-mo-dy-topup.  This to be followed by, or performed separately 
for a backup of pictures.


Is this possible? It looked very difficult to learn how to use rsync 
to do it, so I thought I might try grsync.


If grsync creates the scripts that can be run by rsync, can I then in 
the future run those scripts without the GUI?


Thanks for any help or advice.

Peter M.


While this may not be the full answer to your problem I have found using 
Luckybackup a very useful program for sorting out my backups (at least 
to the point of backing up what I want). Luckybackup is basically a GUI 
for rsync and I have used it simply for that purpose. I constructed a 
backup I want in luckybackup and then once I am happy it is backing up 
what I want I copy the rsync output into a script and then just run it 
as a cron job ( I used scheduledtask to setup the cron job).


Hope it helps

Tim

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Re: [Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Peter Merchant]

I have just run a trial with grsync and it seems to basically have 
worked, except that I decided to enter a script to run before it started 
to clear  the firefox cache that looked like it worked but didn't, and 
the --exclude "my pictures" did not exclude them.  And it gave error 
messages at the end because it was unable to copy some files in 
.kde/share ... relating to kate, that were owner only and not accessible 
to group or root.


A bit more tweaking to get me happy I think.

Peter

On 07/10/15 21:20, Simon Avery wrote:
In that instance, you can always unpack an archive into a temporary 
directory and just copy across the directories or files that you want 
restored.




On 7 October 2015 at 20:42, Peter Merchant > wrote:


That's one other criteria I forgot to mention. I don't really want
all the files zipped up. I like to be able to see that they are
all there and to pull back any that I should need for whatever
reason. I guess that I am a bit worried that I could have a
situation where I can't undo a tarball or image.

[ I have just finished sorting out a neighbours backup where his
whole xp system was imaged on his backup and he wanted to restore
just his data onto his new W10 computer]

Peter

On 07/10/15 19:30, Simon Avery wrote:

Hi Peter,

Backup-manager is excellent at creating sequential gzipped
tarballs of directories and managing their expirations. It's
also good at mysql dump archives too, if that's relevant to you.

That would be my recommendation - although note that because
it's a sequential tarballer (it'll do that over rsync if you
need), it won't only copy the files that have changed.

For that, backuppc is another excellent tool that I use
heavily. It will do that and pool the files between as many
clients as you have, which means there's only ever one copy of
any unique file no matter how many times it occurs on
different machines, but will manage different versions with
ease.. Between them they manage almost every use-case I
encounter, including backing up windows clients, servers,
linux clients, file servers, whatever.

Hope that's useful

S

On 7 October 2015 at 19:21, Peter Merchant
mailto:madsmad...@netscape.net>
>> wrote:

Hi, I have been looking for a means of formalising my backup
procedures.  At the moment on my USB 500Tb Backup drive I have
three sets of folders:

D-2015-Mo-dy   From Downstairs XP machine Data partititon
U-2015-Mo-dy   from upstairs kubuntu /home partition
Pictures Pictures and photos combined from
both D & U

The Pictures folder already exists, but the others would
have to
be created by the script or manually beforehand.

What I would like to do is backup the Kubuntu machine /home
contents to a base U-2015-Mo-Dy folder, including hidden
files,
but Excepting the My Pictures folder.

Similarly for the XP machine.

Then update the Pictures folder with any and all updates and
changed files.

Second stage is to more frequently run an incremental
backup of
all changes and updates on the Kubuntu box to a separate
folder,
perhaps U-2015-mo-dy-topup.  This to be followed by, or
performed
separately for a backup of pictures.

Is this possible? It looked very difficult to learn how to use
rsync to do it, so I thought I might try grsync.

If grsync creates the scripts that can be run by rsync,
can I then
in the future run those scripts without the GUI?

Thanks for any help or advice.

Peter M.




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Re: [Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Simon Avery]

In that instance, you can always unpack an archive into a temporary
directory and just copy across the directories or files that you want
restored.



On 7 October 2015 at 20:42, Peter Merchant  wrote:

> That's one other criteria I forgot to mention. I don't really want all the
> files zipped up. I like to be able to see that they are all there and to
> pull back any that I should need for whatever reason. I guess that I am a
> bit worried that I could have a situation where I can't undo a tarball or
> image.
>
> [ I have just finished sorting out a neighbours backup where his whole xp
> system was imaged on his backup and he wanted to restore just his data onto
> his new W10 computer]
>
> Peter
>
> On 07/10/15 19:30, Simon Avery wrote:
>
>> Hi Peter,
>>
>> Backup-manager is excellent at creating sequential gzipped tarballs of
>> directories and managing their expirations. It's also good at mysql dump
>> archives too, if that's relevant to you.
>>
>> That would be my recommendation - although note that because it's a
>> sequential tarballer (it'll do that over rsync if you need), it won't only
>> copy the files that have changed.
>>
>> For that, backuppc is another excellent tool that I use heavily. It will
>> do that and pool the files between as many clients as you have, which means
>> there's only ever one copy of any unique file no matter how many times it
>> occurs on different machines, but will manage different versions with
>> ease.. Between them they manage almost every use-case I encounter,
>> including backing up windows clients, servers, linux clients, file servers,
>> whatever.
>>
>> Hope that's useful
>>
>> S
>>
>> On 7 October 2015 at 19:21, Peter Merchant > > wrote:
>>
>> Hi, I have been looking for a means of formalising my backup
>> procedures.  At the moment on my USB 500Tb Backup drive I have
>> three sets of folders:
>>
>> D-2015-Mo-dy   From Downstairs XP machine Data partititon
>> U-2015-Mo-dy   from upstairs kubuntu /home partition
>> Pictures Pictures and photos combined from both D & U
>>
>> The Pictures folder already exists, but the others would have to
>> be created by the script or manually beforehand.
>>
>> What I would like to do is backup the Kubuntu machine /home
>> contents to a base U-2015-Mo-Dy folder, including hidden files,
>> but Excepting the My Pictures folder.
>>
>> Similarly for the XP machine.
>>
>> Then update the Pictures folder with any and all updates and
>> changed files.
>>
>> Second stage is to more frequently run an incremental backup of
>> all changes and updates on the Kubuntu box to a separate folder,
>> perhaps U-2015-mo-dy-topup.  This to be followed by, or performed
>> separately for a backup of pictures.
>>
>> Is this possible? It looked very difficult to learn how to use
>> rsync to do it, so I thought I might try grsync.
>>
>> If grsync creates the scripts that can be run by rsync, can I then
>> in the future run those scripts without the GUI?
>>
>> Thanks for any help or advice.
>>
>> Peter M.
>>
>>
>>
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>> AUTHOR
>>
>>
>>
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Re: [Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Tim Allen]

Hi Peter


On 07/10/15 20:42, Peter Merchant wrote:

That's one other criteria I forgot to mention. I don't really want all
the files zipped up. I like to be able to see that they are all there
and to pull back any that I should need for whatever reason. I guess
that I am a bit worried that I could have a situation where I can't undo
a tarball or image.

[ I have just finished sorting out a neighbours backup where his whole
xp system was imaged on his backup and he wanted to restore just his
data onto his new W10 computer]




Take a look at rdiff-backup which uses rsync libs. It's possible to 
exclude specific directories (--exclude or --exclude-globbing-filelist). 
If you call it from a daily cronjob you can back up multiple directory 
trees by running it sequentially on those. The most recent backup is 
fully accessible and earlier backups are compressed diffs. Can do remote 
backups over SSH. Been using it for around 15 years - does the job.



Cheers


Tim


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Re: [Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Peter Merchant]

That's one other criteria I forgot to mention. I don't really want all 
the files zipped up. I like to be able to see that they are all there 
and to pull back any that I should need for whatever reason. I guess 
that I am a bit worried that I could have a situation where I can't undo 
a tarball or image.


[ I have just finished sorting out a neighbours backup where his whole 
xp system was imaged on his backup and he wanted to restore just his 
data onto his new W10 computer]


Peter

On 07/10/15 19:30, Simon Avery wrote:

Hi Peter,

Backup-manager is excellent at creating sequential gzipped tarballs of 
directories and managing their expirations. It's also good at mysql 
dump archives too, if that's relevant to you.


That would be my recommendation - although note that because it's a 
sequential tarballer (it'll do that over rsync if you need), it won't 
only copy the files that have changed.


For that, backuppc is another excellent tool that I use heavily. It 
will do that and pool the files between as many clients as you have, 
which means there's only ever one copy of any unique file no matter 
how many times it occurs on different machines, but will manage 
different versions with ease.. Between them they manage almost every 
use-case I encounter, including backing up windows clients, servers, 
linux clients, file servers, whatever.


Hope that's useful

S

On 7 October 2015 at 19:21, Peter Merchant > wrote:


Hi, I have been looking for a means of formalising my backup
procedures.  At the moment on my USB 500Tb Backup drive I have
three sets of folders:

D-2015-Mo-dy   From Downstairs XP machine Data partititon
U-2015-Mo-dy   from upstairs kubuntu /home partition
Pictures Pictures and photos combined from both D & U

The Pictures folder already exists, but the others would have to
be created by the script or manually beforehand.

What I would like to do is backup the Kubuntu machine /home
contents to a base U-2015-Mo-Dy folder, including hidden files,
but Excepting the My Pictures folder.

Similarly for the XP machine.

Then update the Pictures folder with any and all updates and
changed files.

Second stage is to more frequently run an incremental backup of
all changes and updates on the Kubuntu box to a separate folder,
perhaps U-2015-mo-dy-topup.  This to be followed by, or performed
separately for a backup of pictures.

Is this possible? It looked very difficult to learn how to use
rsync to do it, so I thought I might try grsync.

If grsync creates the scripts that can be run by rsync, can I then
in the future run those scripts without the GUI?

Thanks for any help or advice.

Peter M.



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Re: [Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Simon Avery]

Hi Peter,

Backup-manager is excellent at creating sequential gzipped tarballs of
directories and managing their expirations. It's also good at mysql dump
archives too, if that's relevant to you.

That would be my recommendation - although note that because it's a
sequential tarballer (it'll do that over rsync if you need), it won't only
copy the files that have changed.

For that, backuppc is another excellent tool that I use heavily. It will do
that and pool the files between as many clients as you have, which means
there's only ever one copy of any unique file no matter how many times it
occurs on different machines, but will manage different versions with
ease.. Between them they manage almost every use-case I encounter,
including backing up windows clients, servers, linux clients, file servers,
whatever.

Hope that's useful

S

On 7 October 2015 at 19:21, Peter Merchant  wrote:

> Hi, I have been looking for a means of formalising my backup procedures.
> At the moment on my USB 500Tb Backup drive I have three sets of folders:
>
> D-2015-Mo-dy   From Downstairs XP machine Data partititon
> U-2015-Mo-dy   from upstairs kubuntu /home partition
> Pictures Pictures and photos combined from both D & U
>
> The Pictures folder already exists, but the others would have to be
> created by the script or manually beforehand.
>
> What I would like to do is backup the Kubuntu machine /home contents to a
> base U-2015-Mo-Dy folder, including hidden files, but Excepting the My
> Pictures folder.
>
> Similarly for the XP machine.
>
> Then update the Pictures folder with any and all updates and changed files.
>
> Second stage is to more frequently run an incremental backup of all
> changes and updates on the Kubuntu box to a separate folder, perhaps
> U-2015-mo-dy-topup.  This to be followed by, or performed separately for a
> backup of pictures.
>
> Is this possible? It looked very difficult to learn how to use rsync to do
> it, so I thought I might try grsync.
>
> If grsync creates the scripts that can be run by rsync, can I then in the
> future run those scripts without the GUI?
>
> Thanks for any help or advice.
>
> Peter M.
>
>
>
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[Dorset] Rsync & grsync backups - help please

[Peter Merchant]

Hi, I have been looking for a means of formalising my backup 
procedures.  At the moment on my USB 500Tb Backup drive I have three 
sets of folders:


D-2015-Mo-dy   From Downstairs XP machine Data partititon
U-2015-Mo-dy   from upstairs kubuntu /home partition
Pictures Pictures and photos combined from both D & U

The Pictures folder already exists, but the others would have to be 
created by the script or manually beforehand.


What I would like to do is backup the Kubuntu machine /home contents to 
a base U-2015-Mo-Dy folder, including hidden files, but Excepting the My 
Pictures folder.


Similarly for the XP machine.

Then update the Pictures folder with any and all updates and changed files.

Second stage is to more frequently run an incremental backup of all 
changes and updates on the Kubuntu box to a separate folder, perhaps 
U-2015-mo-dy-topup.  This to be followed by, or performed separately for 
a backup of pictures.


Is this possible? It looked very difficult to learn how to use rsync to 
do it, so I thought I might try grsync.


If grsync creates the scripts that can be run by rsync, can I then in 
the future run those scripts without the GUI?


Thanks for any help or advice.

Peter M.



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