Ned Slider wrote: > Ray Leventhal wrote: >> >> I'm looking for common practices for backing up user data to disk. >> My user data is all in /home. I'm also interested in what folks are >> doing for things backing up os and configs. > <snip> > In a mixed Linux/Windows environment, I deployed a Linux backup server > and mounted users data directories on the backup server using smb/cifs > and then did a "local" rsync of the mounted dirs to the backup dir > (easy to run as a cron job each night). Further backups may then be > written to removable storage for off site storage or additional disks > in case of drive failure. I like rsync for backing up changing data > sets such as users data. > > To negate the risks/downtime associated with hard drive failure, I > cloned the original OS setup using dd to spare HDs and locked them in > the safe. Primary drive failure would require replacement of the > drives (and a system update) and restoring data from the latest > backups, although there's no reason one couldn't run 2 near identical > backup servers side by side if the hardware is available. > > There are simply so many different ways one could implement a backup > strategy depending on hardware available, what software you're > comfortable with, whether you want to script your own or use a backup > package, the type of data you need to back up etc. The *important* > thing is that you're comfortable with your backup procedure, it meets > your needs, it's performed regularly, it's tested and it works. > Hi Ned, Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I've cloned the OS drive already and it is safely locked away. We're an entirely off-internet system, so updates aren't even a problem. The issue is the user data and with what you and others have written, I'm considering doing a local rsync to a second set of mirrored drives already in the box (but as of now disused). Kind regards, -Ray