Best Backup software for Ubuntu 8.10

[Thorny]

On Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:50:59 +0700, Robert Parker posted:

> On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 8:12 AM, Robert Holtzman <holtzm at cox.net> wrote:
>> On Thu, 2 Apr 2009, Derek Broughton wrote:
> 
>>> rsync is a low-level utility, it's not a backup application.
>>
>> I've seen that statement or one similar a few times. Could you point me
>> to a doc(s) that explains the drawbacks of using it for backups in a
>> little more detail?
> 
> It's fairly obvious if you take a few seconds to think about what you
> want from a backup.

The only thing that is fairly obvious to me is that you've described what
*you* want from a backup. Not all wants/needs are necessarily the same.
And, what you want is available through the proper use of rsync.


> 1. Do you want to retrieve the state of DocumentA from 3 days ago?
> Nothing in rsync to allow that.
> 2. Do you want to retrieve DocumentB that you deleted yesterday? If you
> used rsync with the --delete option since too bad rsync has done what
> you wanted and deleted the copy in your mirror.
> 
> 
 
Using the -b option you would have copies of preexisting files and they
would be protected from the --delete. So yes, rsync can allow what you
describe. It has to be configured to do so.

In addition, if you followed a common backup strategy you would have
multiple copies of your backup, rotated on a time schedule that fits your
situation, then you'd have what many backup solutions offer.

But, as Derek stated it's a utility, rsync is not some GUI that lets you
click, click and done. And. as Chris pointed out, the manual page needs to
be consulted.