On 07/06/2017 03:05 PM, Joao Monteiro wrote: > I was used to use the command prompt to select which files I wanted > to backup both from my own as well as from any other user of the same > machine and/or network. > > In Linux, though, I haven't yet figured how to do such a selective > backup
There are two common commands for this: tar (originally for Tape ARchives) which is similar to zip, making a single file from a specified list of files or directories (and can also compress). rsync (already mentioned) which copies files individually but can detect if a file has changed or not, and won't copy again if it doesn't need it. > I won't ask anybody to painfully type the instructions for me... I > just ask that someone please post a link to "where" can I read and > learn about how to do it, as I'm sure there's such a way in linux... the 'man' command will display the manual page, eg man tar man rsync I use grsync, the graphical interface to rsync, but... > as a "batch-like" manner... This is a separate question. Once you have worked out the correct command for what you want to do, you can store it in a utility called cron and have it run in batch mode at predetermined times. Use the command 'crontab' to do this; man 5 crontab will explain the format of a crontab entry. grsync can export the rsync command it uses, so here's mine: I back up my home directory to an external USB disk mounted at /media/peter/backup I exclude all the SVN repositories listed in repos because the repos get backup up independently; I also exclude a list of directories which have huge amounts of transient or machine-created metadata which I don't want taking up time and space. rsync -r -t -p -o -g -v --progress -l -s \ --exclude-from=/home/peter/repos \ --exclude=Downloads/ \ --exclude=.thunderbird/ \ --exclude=.cache/ \ --exclude=.config/ \ --exclude=.cxoffice/ \ --exclude=.mozilla/ \ --exclude=.wine/ \ --exclude=.thumbnails/ \ --exclude=.rvm/ \ /home/peter /media/peter/backup The options grsync added for me in the first line can be seen in the man page for rsync. > On a slight different note... I have been reading all the recent > problems from various users... and I'm lost... You're not the only one. > Coz I'm running xubuntu xfce on 4 different machines right now - 3 > laptops, 1 custom tower with intel core i7, ATI Radeon, Asus motherboard > - and I don't have ONE single glitch anywhere.... That's normal. I don't have any at the moment either. > That said... after every install on each one of them, I go to a page > that I saved (google "10 things to do after installing xubuntu xfce"), I > do everything therein suggested/recommended, and voila... no glitches... > just blissfully beautiful working machines... Very good recommendation, thank you. Everyone has their own set of essentials. One I would add is: learn about Ctrl-Alt-F1 and Ctrl-Alt-F7. The first opens a new shell independently of your X server, so you can log in and unjam or unwedge things that get stuck and lock up X. The second returns you to your X session. ///Peter -- xubuntu-users mailing list xubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/xubuntu-users