backuporama

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, 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 rsyncThe 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 does. I backup her laptop by smbmounting it and copying the relevant bits onto my laptop, where it gets backed up as per above.