Rsync time backup

This script offers Time Machine-style backup using rsync. It creates incremental backups of files and directories to the destination of your choice. The backups are structured in a way that makes it easy to recover any file at any point in time.

It should work on Linux, OS X and Windows with Cygwin. The main advantage over Time Machine is the flexibility as it can backup from/to any filesystem and works on any platform.

On OS X, it has a few disadvantages compared to Time Machine - in particular it doesn't auto-start when the backup drive is plugged (though it can be achieved using a launch agent), it requires some knowledge of the command line, and no specific GUI is provided to restore files. Instead files can be restored by using Finder, or the command line.

##NOTES:

1. I have forked this from https://github.com/laurent22/rsync-time-backup.git

Installation

git clone https://github.com/JohnKaul/rsync-time-backup.git

Usage

sudo rsync_tmbackup.sh -s <source> -d <destination> -e <excluded-pattern-file>

Argument Flags

The arguments can be given in any order

• -s|--source The source location.
• -d|--destination The desination location
• -x|--dry-run Designates a dry-run should be made (no actual folders created, backup made, or links updated).

Examples

• Backup the home folder to backup_drive

    sudo rsync_tmbackup.sh -s /home -d /mnt/backup_drive
  

• Same as above but with exclusion list:

    sudo rsync_tmbackup.sh -s /home -d /mnt/backup_drive -e excluded_patterns.txt
  

• Dry-run of above example:

    sudo rsync_tmbackup.sh -s /home -d /mnt/backup_drive -e excluded_patterns.txt -x
  

Excludes

An exclude file can be provided as a parameter with the -e flag. It should be compatible with the --exclude-from parameter of rsync. See [this tutorial] (https://sites.google.com/site/rsync2u/home/rsync-tutorial/the-exclude-from-option) for more information.

A sample exclude file has also been added to this project for you to use in your backups. Please, read through this sample file and remove/add the entries you wish. A section header entitled local stuff has purposely been added the bottom of this sample-exclude-file so that you can use a simple echo <ADDITION> >> sample-exclude-file command from the command line.

A simple pattern can also be provided as a parameter with the -e flag. This is useful when a separate file isn't needed.

If no exclude parameter is given at all, the script looks for a specific file called IgnoreList which resides in a .sync folder in your source directory. This will allow you to use a regularly updated excludes file for your backups, a file that is hidden from day-to-day use of the source folder. The diagram below will help show the folder structure:

            SRC_FOLDER
                |
                + .sync
                |    |
                |    + Ignorelist
                + file
                |
                + file...

Features

• Each backup is on its own folder named after the current timestamp. Files can be copied and restored directly, without any intermediate tool.

• Backup to remote destinations over SSH.

• Files that haven't changed from one backup to the next are hard-linked to the previous backup so take very little extra space.

• Safety check - the backup will only happen if the destination has explicitly been marked as a backup destination.

• Resume feature - if a backup has failed or was interrupted, the tool will resume from there on the next backup.

• Excludes - support for pattern-based exclusion via the --exclude-from and --exclude rsync parameters.

• Automatically purge old backups - within 24 hours, all backups are kept. Within one month, the most recent backup for each day is kept. For all previous backups, the most recent of each month is kept.

• "latest" symlink that points to the latest successful backup.

TODO

• Check source and destination file-system. If one of them is FAT, use the --modify-window rsync parameter (see man rsync) with a value of 1 or 2.

• Minor changes (see TODO comments in the source).

CHANGELOG

• Added root only operation.

• Added the use of `getopt' so argument flags can be used.

• Added the ability to handle a default exclustion list found in a .sync\IgnoreList in the source directory.

LICENSE

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2013-2016 Laurent Cozic

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.