2019-11-24-backups.html (2960B) - raw

      1 <!-- title: Backing up my computer -->
      2 <!-- slug: backups -->
      3 <!-- categories: FOSS, Privacy -->
      4 <!-- date: 2019-11-24T00:00:00Z -->
      5 
      6 <p>
      7   If you have important information on your computer, you probably back it up somehow. I used to
      8   save all my important files on Google Drive, which was convenient not only because it would make
      9   backups automatically, but because I could access my files from any computer, or even my phone
     10   without much effort.</p>
     11 <!-- /p -->
     12 
     13 <p>
     14   Since reducing my dependency on Google, that isn't an option anymore, so I had to find an
     15   alternative. I have an account in a server running Nextcloud, so I could use it the way I used
     16   Google Drive—and I could access it as easily from other computers or my phone—, but I am also
     17   trying to reduce the amount of private information I put online (whether it is behind a password
     18   or not), so I decided that I should have offline backups for my computer<sup id="fnref1"><a
     19   href="#fn1">1</a></sup>.</p>
     20 <!-- /p -->
     21 
     22 <p>
     23   The main problem with backups is the effort/time spent doing them, so the process had to be as
     24   automated as possible, as well as fast and efficient. I decided to use the <code>rsync</code>
     25   tool, as it efficiently copies files from one directory to another, skipping the ones that are
     26   already up to date (it is also preinstalled and easy to run from the terminal). I use a bunch of
     27   options that make the transfer behave as I want to, and I created an alias for the command, so I
     28   only need to type <code>backup_all</code> to back up my computer.</p>
     29 <!-- /p -->
     30 
     31 <p>
     32   On top of my ordinary backup, I do a secondary backup (just in case!), which is made on my
     33   everyday USB drive. Having a backup of my <code>home</code> folder there is a little risky, as I
     34   have private information on my computer, so that is why I encrypt the backups. The software I use
     35   is <a href="https://www.veracrypt.fr/en/Home.html">VeraCrypt</a>, and this obviously makes the
     36   backup process a little more complicated. However, I created another alias that mounts the
     37   VeraCrypt volumes (there are two because I need more than 4GiB and the USB drive uses the FAT
     38   format), synchronizes the files and unmounts the volumes. So the only remaining thing for me to do
     39   is type in the passwords—although actually, KeePassXC does that for me. I might even automate that
     40   part in the future, so I only have to type in my master password.</p>
     41 <!-- /p -->
     42 
     43 <p>
     44   So backing up my files is a pretty smooth process again, plus I now know exactly what I am doing
     45   when running the command and the backups are made to hardware that I have access to.</p>
     46 <!-- /p -->
     47 
     48 <!-- footnotes -->
     49 <hr />
     50 
     51 <ol>
     52   <li id="fn1">
     53     Regardless of the existence of an online backup, making an offline one is an interesting option,
     54     as you have full control over it. <a class="footnote-backref" href="#fnref1" title="Jump
     55     back to footnote 1 in the text">&#8617;</a>
     56   </li>
     57 </ol>