Backup software for Linux?

Question

Is there some software suite (like Acronis, for example) that can
make a backup or drive image of a Linux OS ? I can't find any.

Are there some special commands to backup Linux and/or make a clone (to an external drive) ?

I've used the Acronis True Image Home software on a Linux partition,
and it will only do a backup using
the sector-by-sector method. I don't trust it :_

Answer 1

There are lots of great backup solutions for linux.



If you want to make a hard drive image then using clonezilla is very highly recommended. basically you can download the clonezilla live image onto a usb or cd. Then restart your computer and have it load from the cd or usb and you can go from there. There are many video tutorials on youtube on how to do this.



If you are just wanting to make a backup of like your /home directory you can use rsync. rsync is fully command line. If you want a graphical interface then you can use grsync.



You should also definitely checkout MintBackup and install it on ubuntu. this site will help you with that http://www.webupd8.org/2010/07/install-mintbackup-linux-mint-backup.html



with mintbackup you can backup your installed applications and also files and all.



good luck. be sure to also check out forums like www.ubuntuforums.org

Answer 2

Arkeia Software supports Disk and Volume Image (RAW DISK) backups on Windows, Linux, Solaris and others. Since you're running Ubuntu 11.10, install our Free Use Edition which allows the backup of three Linux, Windows, xBSD or MAC workstations to disk or to tape.



Arkeia Free Use Editions

http://wiki.arkeia.com/mediawiki/index.php/Arkeia_Free_Version



How To: Backup Linux & Unix Raw Devices

http://wiki.arkeia.com/mediawiki/index.php/Backup_Linux_Raw_Devices



How To: Backup Windows Raw Devices

http://wiki.arkeia.com/mediawiki/index.php/Backup_Windows_Raw_Devices



Bill Woods

(Full Disclosure: I have a tech role at backup software vendor, Arkeia Software.)

Answer 3

Acronis' sector-by-sector is probably OK, but I don't blame you for not trusting it. (I got burned a few years back: an old version of Norton Ghost claimed to work on EXT3 file systems, but did not.)



I usually use "tar", working from a live CD or a different boot partition on my system. You can use it on your booted partition safely, according to this very nice thread:



http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=35087



I believe that there are some open source imaging solutions specific to Linux, but I haven't tried any of them; so I won't make any recommendations.

Answer 4

Hi



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Regards,

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