Using Linux » Backup

Configuring rsnapshot & cron for automatic backups

Tommy Keswick — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:43:39 +0000

I could almost get everything working perfectly well following the HOWTO from rsnapshot.org (and just copying my old version of the configuration file). I really recommend this little program.

The only part I had difficulty with was getting cron to work properly. Instead of using the directions from the Automation section of the HOWTO, I did a different simple step.

On a Linux Mint 5 system (based on Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04) I ran the following from a terminal:

gksudo gedit /etc/cron.d/rsnapshot

Then I simply uncommented the lines for the schedule I wanted for the backups. It worked with no other hassles.

Increasing the Ubuntu partition

Tommy Keswick — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 01:29:37 +0000

Because I’ve been installing so many applications lately, my 10 GB partition for Ubuntu is feeling cramped. It may also have to do with the fact that I moved my /home back to the same partition as the OS because of other strange issues.

The last time I did something with GParted, it screwed up the partition. I had to use TestDisk to recover my partition that got lost. This time I plan on backing up my partition first. I’m going to run

sudo rsync -avx --progress --numeric-ids / /media/EXTERNAL/BACKUP/Ubuntu_20070728/

The -x, --progress, and --numeric-ids options I learned more about from http://www.sanitarium.net/golug/rsync_backups.html.

Wow, Beagle has a lot of files. I did not realize. My ~/.beagle directory has 79,832 files in it, taking up 552.3 MB of space. Next task will be to move that directory to another volume and symlink to it!

Anyway, after running rsync I booted into my trusty Puppy Linux because I knew that GParted won’t allow me to work on mounted partitions.

Honestly, I was surprised when the resize went off without a hitch.

I then booted back into Ubuntu and my partition is now doubled in size.

Hard disk problems

Tommy Keswick — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:15:06 +0000

While I thought it would be a great idea to keep /home on a separate partition for backup purposes and the like, it turned out to be more of a headache than I had planned.

When attempting to login at the Ubuntu prompt I would get an error message saying that my /home directory did not exist. Before those errors I would usually have a problem with /etc/fstab not recognizing my external USB drive or telling me it failed fsck. The odd thing is that the external USB drive and the drive which /home resided on had nothing to do with each other.

After moving /home back to the partition that the rest of Feisty is installed on, I was able to login just fine. (Once again I must say that Puppy Linux saved the day.) I still get superblock errors on my external drive, even though it works fine after the system boots up.

I think I will handle backups using this method with tar.

I also found Unison which should handle syncing with my USB flash drive.