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I have a laptop with Ubuntu installed on it and some other private software and files. I want to make a complete image of the current state of my system and than make backups on daily basis of my work. What is the best tool to accomplish this?

I've found some tools like partclone (from CloneZilla), dd or rsync. But those tools either create a one time image or backup certain directories (like a photo directory). Using partclone, I have to recreate a complete image of my system, which is time consuming, but it's also not efficient as I'd like to update an image by the difference between the current state and previous image.

If my laptop's HDD is broken or I messed up something severely using root, I want to be able to restore everything (projects, updates and so on...) up to yesterday.

Does an all-in-one solution exist? If not, which tool is suitable to create a backup of the entire system?

Fabby
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is better served on http://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com, a sister site to Ask Ubuntu. – Fabby Jul 06 '15 at 20:20

2 Answers2

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What I did was: split up the system between / and home. That way I can just clone my system using partclone from CloneZilla in 20 minutes flat over USB 2.0 and use backintime do do incremental backups of /home.

The next thing I'm going to try is timeshift which looks like it has everything you need... (But: I haven't even tried that one for back-ups, let alone restores whereas the above has been tested!)

Having said all the above: I like people backing up but this question is really a request for a software recommendation which is better served on Software Recommendations, a sister site to Ask Ubuntu...

Fabby
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You should start by reading BackupYourSystem wiki. Incremental backup (to an FTP server, perhaps) using Duplicity should be an ideal way for you I guess.

Duplicity backs up directories by producing encrypted tar-format volumes and uploading them to a remote or local site. It uses librsync to record incremental changes to files; gzip to compress them; and gpg to encrypt them.

The Duplicity wiki has excellent tutorial starting from basic function to advanced functions like automating backups

You'll also find an excellent read in How to back up my entire system?

Ron
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