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Backups ​

Currently I only use Apple's time machine to do backups weekly. iOS is fully backed up already and most of my documents except code is in iCloud so it's safe.

Previously I tried using Arq to make scheduled (every 120 hours & after 22:00) encrypted cloud backups of macOS to BackBlaze but stopped using it. Might start again though.

I love the fact that I can set up any new mac or phone to use my exact and perfect setup without any cruft in seconds. All my dotfiles are online and can be setup on any new mac via few commands, thanks to Nix and some scripts I wrote. I try keep everything declarative so it's reusable by all, including me.

Restic & Walrus seem nice.

Backup tools ​

  • Arq - Automatically backs up Macs and Windows PCs.
  • Restic - Fast, secure, efficient backup program. (HN) (Web) (Rest Server) (GitHub) (Home backups using Restic) (HN) (Restic by Example) (HN) (Awesome) (Restic in Rust)
  • BorgBackup - Deduplicating archiver with compression and authenticated encryption. (Web) (HN)
    • Vorta Backup Client - Backup client for macOS and Linux desktops. It integrates the mighty BorgBackup with your desktop environment to protect your data from disk failure, ransomware and theft.
    • BorgBase - Specialized Hosting Service for BorgBackup.
    • Restic Robot - Backups done right... by robots! Restic backup but the robot friendly version.
  • HashBackup - Unix command-line backup program to create a local backup, remote offsite backup, or both, in your own storage accounts.
  • Kopia - Simple, cross-platform tool for managing encrypted backups in the cloud. (Web) (HN)
  • knoxite - Data storage & backup system.
  • Rclone - Command line program to sync files and directories to and from different cloud storage providers. (HN) (Web) (HN) (syncrclone) (HN)
  • bup - Very efficient backup system based on the git packfile format, providing fast incremental saves and global deduplication.
  • encbup - Companion to bup, the backup program. encbup adds encryption to bup, while still allowing per-file deduplication.
  • Conserve - Robust portable backup tool in Rust.
  • tm - Time Machine recovery utility for the six-or-so people who still use Time Machine for version control.
  • Unison - File-synchronization tool for OSX, Unix, and Windows. (Web)
  • Tarsnap - Online backups for the truly paranoid. (CLI client) (HN)
  • Bupstash - Encrypted backups made easy. (Code) (Introducing Bupstash) (Lobsters) (The Bupstash Garbage Collector)
  • BlobBackup - Simple Backups to Any Storage.
  • zrepl - One-stop ZFS backup & replication solution. (Docs)
  • Linux Time Machine - Rsync-based OSX-like time machine for Linux, MacOS and BSD for atomic and resumable local and remote backups.
  • Autorestic - High level CLI utility for restic. (Docs)
  • Walrus - Fast, Secure and Reliable System Backup, Set up in Minutes. (Web)
  • awsbackup.sh - Bash script for personal backup with Amazon Web Services S3 Glacier Deep Archive.
  • nFreezer - Encrypted-at-rest backup tool, designed specifically for the case when the destination server is untrusted.
  • rsync - Cloud Storage for Offsite Backup. (Code) (rsyncparse) (rsync-go) (rsync: Scenarios) (HN)
  • Bakelite - Incremental backup with strong cryptographic confidentiality baked into the data model.
  • shallow-backup - Git-integrated backup tool for macOS and Linux devs.
  • paperback - Paper-based backup scheme that is secure and easy-to-use.
  • Duplicati - Store securely encrypted backups on cloud storage services.
  • Back In Time - Simple backup tool for Linux.
  • Duplicacy - Lock-free deduplication cloud backup tool.
  • ZnapZend - ZFS centric backup tool to create snapshots and send them to backup locations.
  • saf - Rsync-based time machine for Linux, written in Python, for local and remote backups. (HN)

Cloud Storage ​

Notes ​

  • Data that is not backed up is lost data.
  • Even the smallest file can take days to recreate.