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Idea #25425: There is still no user-friendly and solid way to backup your system and MBR

bug This idea was marked as already implemented the 23 August 10.
Written by CutControl the 21 Jul 10 at 17:20. Category: System. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: Already implemented
Rationale
I tried different software (like the popular Clonezilla) to backup my system, but all of it had some essential functionality missing or was lacking usability. Ubuntu gains more and more users that come from Windows and want to see some thing similar to Acronis True Image to easily backup their entire root partition with MBR and then have the ability to rollback in case something goes wrong.

263
votes
closed
Solution #1: Native powerful backup tool with clear look and a novice user-friendly GUI
Written by CutControl the 21 Jul 10 at 17:20.
Essential features are:
-Full disk, system partion+MBR or chosen data backups
-Online processing. Backup while you work
-Compression
-Incremental backups
-Ability to mount,browse and recover single files from a image
34
votes
closed
Solution #2: There is a good program for it
Written by Aceler the 25 Jul 10 at 21:23.
Back in time (backintime-gnome or backintime-kde packages) is quite user-friendly and can be installed from repository.

To promote this program as an "official" backup solution, just put it on a Live-CD.
-69
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Solution #3: Why not Offer Recommended Online Backup Providers
Written by aurin69 the 30 Jul 10 at 14:08.
The likes of Mozy provide for UserData Backup online for Free
I am sure that with suitable promotion they would sponsor a free ubuntu backup client.
14
votes
closed
Solution #4: Ubuntu one backup syncronization
Written by pererik87 the 7 Aug 10 at 02:50.
Ubuntu works with packages which all have unique package names. It should be easy to create a tool that lets you store the programs used in a small backup-file on drive or on ubuntu one.(this should be handled by a GUI so the user don't have to do anything. kind of like synchronizing tomboy notes. user and newb friendly) Then you would be able to sync many computers and the package manager will always independently install the newest package. Doing the backup in ubuntu 8.04 and then synchronizing in 10,04 will result in all packages being up to date for the 10.04. The file of the backup will be a few kb if not less, and you can also sync with friends etc... This would be better than any service provided by any OS today and if you had a virus the backup won't be infected. The program can also fetch system settings as well. Example if you disable screen-saver and change the settings for the power manager.
0
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Solution #5: use backintime in combinatie with compfused
Written by koenfloris the 20 Aug 10 at 13:18.
backintime is a good program
http://backintime.le-web.org/

in combination with compFUSEd it would be perfect
http://freshmeat.net/projects/compf/

Propose your solution

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Comments
Akerbos wrote on the 21 Jul 10 at 20:42
Why do you want to backup a possibly already corrupted system? Data backup seems sufficient to me; for this, try unison.

CutControl wrote on the 22 Jul 10 at 05:58
There is nothing about corruption. I don't know what gave you that idea) Thou that data duplication may seem suitable from your perspective, many people prefer having a block-level image to instantly recover a system state. Solution provided is NOT focused on simple personal data protection.

Akerbos wrote on the 22 Jul 10 at 21:21
You duplicate data as well, and probably more.

I did not challenge you having another focus than personal data protection, but I challenged the need of this. Setting up a new Ubuntu system is a matter of minutes, yielding a completely clean system that can be filled with backup data.

Reloading a complete disk image revives any issues the system already head at backup time.

DaVince wrote on the 27 Jul 10 at 12:59
Not if you hold multiple backups of different times. That is the whole point of regularly backing up - being able to revert your system to a point where it didn't have the problem. You're discussing the issue of backups themselves now, as the "clean system with backup data" could just as easily copy over some bad files and mess your stuff up exactly the same.

Eldmannen wrote on the 27 Jul 10 at 20:06
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_%28Unix%29

dd if=/dev/sda of=/home/sam/MBR.image bs=512 count=1

Eldmannen wrote on the 27 Jul 10 at 20:07
But I want GPT not MBR.

ozbolt wrote on the 28 Jul 10 at 19:34
Ubuntu should jump on btrfs before next LTS and use the features it offers. Such as timeline (you can go back in time and get the state of hard drive from whenever in the past) and others. But still making UbuntuOne online backup - pay for - would be nice. For local backup... there is an app for that.

impaler wrote on the 29 Jul 10 at 02:52
I agree we need a gui orientated backup tool that is able to make live backups of the system.

"drive imaging requires exclusive access to a drive and must not be mounted"

I do not see this limitation using Acronis True Image. I cannot even begin to comprehend the complexity of copying something that is changing all the time like the currently mounted system partition. I would love to see a linux program have the same user experience and flexibility as Acronis True Image or norton ghost.

All the solutions I found need exclusive access to the drive, partimage, Clonezilla etc .

For the backing up of user folders ubuntu seems to already have a great grasp of that https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BackupYourSystem/SimpleBackupSuite.

For now, an interesting idea is create your own install cd http://maketecheasier.com/reconstructor-creating-your-own-ubuntu-distribution/2 008/07/05


PaddyLandau wrote on the 29 Jul 10 at 09:47
Akerbos, maybe you don't see the need, but other people find this invaluable. When I upgrade a system, or if I add Ubuntu to a Windows machine, I can take a snapshot of the entire drive to restore from. It's also useful to clone a system to another. Restoring a drive takes a fraction of the time of reinstalling and restoring data and settings. It has saved me many hours in the past.

Back to the original question:

If CloneZilla were to be given a decent GUI front-end, using layman's terms instead of jargon, it would be wonderful. Although easy to use when you're used to it, CloneZilla is confusing and difficult for the newcomer and especially for the layman.

CloneZilla with a decent GUI front-end would satisfy perfectly the first option.

geekgaurav wrote on the 30 Jul 10 at 17:22
+ Must Include Ability TO bakp To Cloud

jloveless wrote on the 2 Aug 10 at 13:15
I use QuickStart - a series of Ubuntu scripts with a GUI menu frontend. It has several backup options and a bunch of other functions. Works well and it sounds like it might help you.
http://quickstart.freeforums.org/

Shahram A wrote on the 4 Aug 10 at 13:36
solution #1 is good just needs options to choose general places to back up; for example someone might want their documents to be included other might not, some might want new installed programs to be included, others might want to just keep the original, the place to back up to (same local disk or periphery disks, or somewhere on the network for some people etc..
However, it should be simple to understand and to use with default choices so that if some one has difficulty to choose, they can just go ahead with the default.

CutControl wrote on the 12 Oct 10 at 02:06
"This idea was marked as already implemented"
Can somebody point out what it was implemented with?


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