Revision of Backup Files Quickly and Easily from Fri, 04/29/2011 - 08:55

This is one simple method of backing up and restoring your files.

Installation

• The application you need to install is Déjà Dup. For instructions on how to install the deja-dup package, see the installation manual.

• Déjà Dup is pre-installed on Trisquel 4.5 and above.

Opening the Program

After it is installed, Déjà Dup is located in the Main Menu at System Tools → Preferences → Déjà Dup Backup Tool.

Configuration

Before making any backups, you should configure the Preferences, which are accessed in the toolbar via Edit → Preferences.

There are multiple settings:

• The backup location (on Amazon's pay-per-use S3 service, on a remote server, on removable media like external hard drives or thumb drives, on a connected server, or on a local folder)
• Which folders to be backed up (by default, it will back up the files in your /home folder except for the Trash directory)
• Whether or not to encrypt your backup files. Enabling encryption is recommended to keep your data safe.
• Whether or not to automatically backup on a schedule (daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly)
• How long backups should be kept (anywhere from at least once a week to indefinitely)

Backing up

When you are ready to make your backup, simply click on the right-hand Backup button and enter your encryption password if prompted. The first time you run Déjà Dup, you will be asked to choose a backup location and which files to include or exclude. Wait until the process is completed.

Restoring

When you are ready to restore from a backup, simply click on the left-hand Restore button and enter your encryption password if prompted. The first time you run Déjà Dup, you will be asked to choose a backup location. Then choose which backup date to restore from and where to put the restored files. You can either restore them to their original locations or put them in a folder of your choice.

After clicking Forward, you can review your restore options, then click Restore to start the restore.

Notes

• While backup to Amazon's S3 service is possible it is NOT RECOMENDED! You should never trust a third party such as Amazon with storage of your data for many reasons.
  • Amazon's servers can crash and they can lose your data the same way a hard drive can crash for you.
  • You should only store your data on a server you completely control. This can easily be achieved by backing up to devices such as external hard drives.
  • If the government requests copies of your data a third-party can easily do so. If you control the data you can tell them to return with a search warrant.