How to perform automatic backups ?

Bouquins

Hello all ! I'd like to periodically backup some files from my computer to an external hard drive. i'd like Solus to do this, say, once a week, and if possible, that Solus be able to do a "smart" backup, ie not to copy a file already on the hard drive.
Is it possible ?
Thank you !

johano

Bouquins Have a look at unison or grsync in the software centre. Might be useful?

Hope you get it sorted

adurante

Bouquins what you're describing sounds exactly like vorta which uses borg-backup.

Vorta will copy whatever files/directories you want on a scheduled basis and then deduplicate and compress them

Snoober

A common command-line program used is rsync. I will link to another post that I made with my rsync script in case it's helpful. It also includes my rclone script -- rclone is based on rsync but it is for cloud services instead of local backups. Here is the post: https://discuss.getsol.us/d/2118-backups/7

I don't automate it, but you can do something with cron jobs which I am not familiar with, but I understand it can run scripts on a schedule. Google cron jobs or another user here should be able to help.

If you are looking for GUI I am sure there are good options too, but I am not familiar.

Nacho_Trebuchet

I use grsync and Backup (Deja Dup). Both are in the software center. Backup runs on a schedule, is easy to use, and works with cloud storage. grsync is manual, unless you dabble with cron. However, what is cool about grync is that the files are readable.

tothecloudd0

Nacho_Trebuchet Backup runs on a schedule, is easy to use, and works with cloud storage. grsync is manual, unless you dabble with cron.

Just wanted to point out that you can't use cron on Solus. You can can use systemd.timer for job automation

Bouquins

Thank you all, I'll try everything !

adurante

tothecloudd0 Side question, I have heard it is easier to work with systemd.timer than cron. I havent had a case where I have needed to use either so I wanted to ask if this is true.

Nacho_Trebuchet

tothecloudd0 Then it's a good thing I don't use cron. ;-) Actually, thanks for sharing for those who may look toward that as a solution.

tothecloudd0

adurante I wouldn't say it's easier, but you do have more flexibility with it I think. The only thing is you have to do some research to set it up. For the most part you only need to write a bash script for the backup, create a service for it then use timer to run that service at whatever time you set. Once you grasp how it works you'll find it's pretty straight forward. Here's a good guide I followed to get started.

https://www.putorius.net/using-systemd-timers.html

n2o

You might also want to check out this post and also this one.