Roundup
GUI backup tools
WE COMPARE GUI backup TONS OF tools STUFF SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO!
Linux nerd Michael Reed likes a backup regime that makes him feel as secure as a man wearing two pairs of underpants.
Deja Dup 42.8 BackupPC 4.4.0 Vorta 0.7.5 Grsync 1.3.0 Back In Time 1.2.1
Michael Reed sleeps easy at night knowing he’s keeping a backup of all his systems under his kingsized mattress.
HOW WE TESTED…
We wanted to get an idea of what each package would be like to install, configure and use, and to this end, we installed each package on a fresh system. We chose Ubuntu 21.10 as our testbed system, but we checked to make sure there was nothing stopping the backup software from being installed on other popular systems. We then set each piece of software up and configured it, making notes of any difficulties or inconveniences that cropped up along the way.
For each program, we set up an actual backup using real user data. We then evaluated both the back up process itself and the user experience that it took to get to that point. We tested it with real user data because, quite frankly, any piece of software can look good, but with backup software, you can’t be sure what you’re dealing with until you actually attempt to back up and restore your most precious files.
W elcome to our Roundup of the best backup tools currently available for Linux. For this month’s article, we’ve concentrated on GUI tools aimed at the general user, else you should be using rsync. These tools range from the most basic and easy to set up, to those that offer more complex options and facilities, and we’ve stuck to tools that are currently maintained.
We’re interested in backup programs that can carry out user file backups – usually the contents of the /home directory. These tend to be the most important files for a backup system, because they can’t easily be replaced if lost. In effect, the installation media for your operating system is your backup of the system files themselves.
All of the programs that we’re looking at are front ends that run on top of the actual backup program. This means that they all run on top of a well-tested underpinning. This fact also opens up options for automation and manual configuration, if you’re keen to dig down to that level.
These are five excellent programs, but they have strengths and weaknesses in different areas. For that reason, which one you prefer might depend on your specific needs.
Installation and
configuration
How easy is it to install and set up?
U sing Ubuntu 21.10 as a base, we’ve given preference to applications that can be installed via the package manager and that seem to be currently maintained with a recent release.
Deja Dup is a front-end to the Duplicity backup tool. Note that, in various areas of the system, the application may be referred to simply as ‘Backup’ as it’s the default user backup tool for the GNOME desktop. It’s the easiest configuration procedure that we encountered, but it’s not designed to handle a complex backup regime. You can only set up a single set of source directories and a destination, and you accomplish this with a wizard style interface.