Automatic Backup Files Script

Prerequisites

• Rsync (included in Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc.)
• SUDO or root access
• Familiarity with terminal commands

Quick Start

If the backup disk is different from the installation disk:

Copy the UUID of your external disk:

sudo blkid

Edit the mount points file:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Replace the disk UUID and mount point (default is "/backup-disk") with your configuration:

# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>

# Others discks
UUID=645648-kadfvadfb86teyn1sd3  /boot/efi       vfat    umask=0077      0       1

# backup external disk
UUID=<replace for your disk UUID>  /<replace for moun point>    ext4    defaults        0       0

Modify custom service:

• Default backup runs every hour (RestartSec=3600)
• Default bash script path is "/home/backup-files.sh" (ExecStart=/to/script/file)

[Unit]
Description=Automatic backup files
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=root
ExecStart=/home/backup-files.sh
Restart=always
RestartSec=3600

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Copy the service to the path "/etc/systemd/system/":

Copy script:

sudo cp backup-files.service /etc/systemd/system/

Reload system dameon:

sudo systemctl dameon-reload

Enable backup service:

sudo systemctl enable backup-files.service

Modify script:

# Paths
# Default backup saved on external disk
external_disk=true

# Disk backup mount point
backup_path="/backup-disk"

# Origins files array
origins=("/home/user1/files" "/home/user2/files/documents")

# Destination backups
destinations=("$backup_path/backup-user1" "$backup_path/backup-user2")

Copy the script to the path defined in the service file:

The default path is ExecStart=/home/backup-files.sh

sudo cp backup-files.sh /home/

Test script commands:

Manually execute the script for testing:

sudo bash /home/backup-files.sh

If no errors occurred during the test, start the service:

Start service:

sudo systemctl start backup-files.service

Check the status of the service:

sudo systemctl status backup-files.service

View backup files

If the backup disk is different from the installation disk:

Show disks:

sudo lsblk

Mount external disk. Command example contain disñ /dev/sdb1 and a mount point is "/backup-files":

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /backup-files

Or if the backup disk is the installation disk:

Enter in folder cofigured of script backup-files.sh:

cd /backup-files