I have been looking around but I cannot seem to find anything that will do a full system backup. Programs like deja dup let you pick which folders to backup but I want the entire Ubuntu OS and everything on it backed up onto an external hard drive. There are probably ways to do it in the terminal but I don't like to do those kind of things in the terminal and would rather have a GUI for this. Does anyone know of an application that can do FULL system backups and if so how?
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2Just keep in mind "full backup" is not necessary and the resulting backups are large. You only need to back up user files (/home and /root) as well as any system files you edit. Personally when editing system files, I advise you make a backup (I save the original file as file.org), leave a comment as to you configuration (comments usually start with a # or a ;), and keep a copy of the file(s) in /root (such /root/etc/file). The only other exception would be servers, and in that case you would back up the server data (config files and /var/www for example).– PantherDec 18, 2013 at 17:58
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2You can also generate a list of all installed packages. See askubuntu.com/questions/9135/…– PantherDec 18, 2013 at 18:00
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So what you are saying is if I just backup /home and /root I can get Ubuntu back to the way it is now even if something happens and Ubuntu gets messed up?– spot9901Dec 18, 2013 at 18:00
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See the link I just gave you. I use to do a "full back up" in the way you are asking, but the resulting backup files are large and more difficult to restore, IMO.– PantherDec 18, 2013 at 18:02
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Does root infer home if residing on the same partition?– fleamourNov 29, 2019 at 13:36
2 Answers
You can use Deja-dup for this. If you want to just backup all of your files, then you just have to set Deja-dup to backup your entire system. Make sure the Deja-dup does not backup your backup location or it will run into problems. If you are backing up to an external hard drive it will probably be mounted under /media/$USER
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I would recommend creating a system image because it saves all of your partitions and can be used to do a full system restore. It is common practice to do small backups of your home directory every day and then every week create a new system image. This way if your system gets breached, you can just restore a previous system configuration without worrying about your system getting screwed up.
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1Would you happen to know what setting in Deja-dup will do a full backup because as I am looking at it I cannot find a way to do a full backup with Deja-dup.– spot9901Dec 18, 2013 at 17:57
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1You have to go to backup folders and select the root directory. Make sure that you exclude your backup directory! If you need pictures let me know.– JohnDec 18, 2013 at 17:59
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@John Is the file created by using "DD" to create a system image a true system image and not a "diff" backup? In other words, could I use it to restore my system on to a "blank" hard drive? Aug 21, 2017 at 9:40
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@RobertOschler When you use DD you are creating a raw representation of the disk as a file. So yes, all you would do is create the image file using dd, then write the image file to a device using dd. The drawback of this is that there is no compression so you need a hard drive that is at least the size of the source hard drive to do the backup.– JohnAug 23, 2017 at 15:49
Use clonezilla on live CD/USB, its free and powerful. With this you'll be able to fully backup/restore disks/partitions including OS, userdata, etc..
Check : http://clonezilla.org/
Follow this to use : http://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live.php#use
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1Clonezilla is the best, but every time you want to do a system image you have to boot off of the live CD. It's worth it to have the extra backups though =)– JohnDec 18, 2013 at 17:58