Backing Up Files (with rsync)

This guide is unfinished. The content is present but the detail is sparse.

Prerequisites

You are expected to have the following set up already

• A private server with ssh

Introduction

Having backups of data gives a lot of peace of mind. Using rsync and cron, you can schedule your computer to periodically backup important files to the server.

All you need is to create a script, say backup.sh or the likes, which syncs your information to the server at a set time everyday For example.

backup.sh
rsync -Partz ~/Pictures user@example.com:bkp/Pictures
rsync -Partz ~/code user@example.com:bkp/code

The downside is that each backup overwrites each other. This doesn't allow us to go back in time. Maybe a script that copies the backup file on the server before updating it could be good. That way incremental updates still work, and there is a solid history.

A whole system backup would be nice in the future. But this is enough for now.