http://norman.walsh.name/2006/03/27/backuporama 9 35 2006-03-27T15:24:39-05:00 $Date: 2006-03-27 16:37:25 -0500 (Mon, 27 Mar 2006) $ Norman Walsh 2006 Norman Walsh Sean asks “what's your backup strategy?” Since I've been meaning to write this since my last post on backups, I'll do my part to spread the meme. Like Sean McGrath , I run Ubuntu on my T42p. And like Sean, I keep as much stuff as I possibly can checked into source code control systems at work, on Java.net, on Sourceforge, etc. If I'm writing code or prose, I want it checked in somewhere. I run a Subversion repository on my laptop so even private stuff is “checked in”. (A local repository doesn't save me from a disk disaster, but the real risk on a day-to-day basis isn't hardware failure, it's human stupidity. Mine.) On a roughly monthly basis, I connect an external drive and run the following script: #!/bin/bash BROOT=/media/usbdisk/Backup/ndw DATE=`date "+%Y-%m-%d"` if [ ! -d $BROOT ]; then echo "No backup directory: $BROOT" exit 1; fi echo "Stop mysql and hit return..." read $x echo "Backing up /var/lib/mysql/" rsync -a --delete /var/lib/mysql/ $BROOT/var/lib/mysql/ echo "Ok, you can start mysql again..." echo "Backing up /etc/" rsync -a --delete /etc/ $BROOT/etc/ echo "Backing up /opt/" rsync -a --delete /opt/ $BROOT/opt/ echo "Backing up /home/" rsync -a --delete \ --exclude ndw/Mail/ \ --exclude home/ndw/Desktop/ \ --exclude home/ndw/.Trash/ \ --exclude home/ndw/.mozilla/firefox/926iwrha.default/Cache/ \ --exclude home/ndw/.mozilla/firefox/oijtdfv2.xproc/Cache/ \ --exclude home/ndw/tmp/ \ --exclude home/ndw/scratch/ \ --exclude home/ndw/.thumbnails/ \ /home/ $BROOT/home/ echo "(Mail will be done later...)" echo "Backing up /share/" rsync -a --delete /share/ $BROOT/share/ echo "Backing up /root/" rsync -a --delete /root/ $BROOT/root/ echo "Backing up /usr/local/" rsync -a --delete /usr/local/ $BROOT/usr/local/ echo "Backing up /home/ndw/Mail/" cd /home/ndw tar cf - .news* .gnus* Mail | gzip > ${BROOT}-mail.$DATE.tar.gz echo "Compressing backup..." cd $BROOT cd .. tar cf - ndw | gzip > ndw.$DATE.tar.gz echo "Done" The MySQL backup captures my DSPAM training database. I ask first because I have to stop my periodic mail collection script so that it doesn't run while MySQL is down. (I suppose I could fix that, but it hasn't been a big deal.) I backup /etc, /opt, /home, /share (where I keep most things that aren't in my home directory), /root, and /usr/local. Mail is backed up in a slightly different way because it consists of so many tiny little files. I keep photographs and music under /share, so that gets backed up with everything else. But I also copy those files separately onto backups of their own. Using rsync The value of rsync with a local disk may be negligible, but a slightly modified version of this script used to run backups across my network before I had a USB2 enclosure. means that I don't copy over a bunch of stuff that hasn't changed (like huge parts of /share and /usr/local). But it also means that I only have one backup. That's why I added the last steps, to make a dated, compressed archive. Being able to look a little further back in time has saved my butt more than once. I don't use Windows, but Deb Walsh does. I backup her laptop by smbmounting it and copying the relevant bits onto my laptop, where it gets backed up as per above.