Comments on: Best Backup Software to Back up Files in Linux

By: Friar Tux

Friar Tux — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 01:19:22 +0000

I think a better backup AND sync program is FreeFileSync. I have tried pretty well all backup programs/apps and found them wanting in different ways. Most of the time, I just use “Copy To” because it was the best. Recently, however, I found FreeFileSync and it seems to out shine ALL the rest – at least, so far. It was pretty easy to set up/configure but it DOES look challenging at first glance. Also, if you do use it, don’t be shocked by the estimated time given on the display. Not sure how they actually estimate the time but it does NOT take as long as estimated.

By: PB

PB — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 04:27:53 +0000

Hi Ramces,
Thanks for your article.
Please be aware of the difference between backup and synchronization! As you point out yourself in the description, Syncthing as well as SparkleShare are synchronization tools, i.e. no backup tools.

At least with their default settings they make sure that two folders stay in sync which also means, that if you delete a file by accident in your original folder, it will also be deleted in its sync counterpart. So you won’t have a backup!
With a backup tools you take some sort of snapshot at a certain time that won’t get altered anymore no matter what you do in your original folder. Therefore you can use it for example to retrieve a file that got deleted in your original folder.

You might want to have a look at Restic to be added to your list of backup tools:
https://restic.net

By: Andy Van Pelt

Andy Van Pelt — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 02:25:27 +0000

I would also suggest Back In Time. It’s built on top of rsync. It provides access to multiple backups, similar to Time Machine on Apple’s computers.

One nice thing is that you don’t *have* to use the program to access the backups, they’re just a bunch of directory trees, one for each backup, and rsync is used to do the de-duplication.