I want to create a backup of my Linux system, including user files, from the command line. I tried using Timeshift but it doesn’t have a CLI argument to include a folder.
I found a guide on dev.to that explains how to use Timeshift from the command line, but it doesn’t mention how to include user files. According to ItsFOSS, Timeshift is designed to protect system files and settings, not user data, so user home directories are excluded by default.
I came across a list of backup programs for Linux on Slant, and BackInTime appears to be the best.
Has anyone used BackInTime to backup the whole system including user files? Are there any other tools that you would recommend?
Edit: would also be nice if it had similar features to Timeshift, like incremental snapshots, weekly snapshots, list, restore and delete snapshots, etc.
I have always used clonezilla to just make a complete system image if that’s what you are looking for. The downside being its not gonna be a tool you just run from the command line, you need to install it to some bootable media and select each drive to backup. But if a full system image backup is your goal, I’d say give clonezilla a go.
It also fails spectacularly when you restore a btrfs image.
Huh til, thanks for the heads up!
I only discovered the btrfs issues recently, thankfully when trying to move stuff to a new machine. Direct copy, imaging, using dd mode, didn’t matter, the destination filesystem was corrupted. Only part that actually annoyed me is that everything looked fine until I attempted to use it, so there was no warning.