Restoration

Various tools for full or partial backup are described in the Software -> Backup section of this wiki. Suggested techniques include:

Data

• rsnapshot or dirvish
  • provides freqent, space-efficient, reverse-delta incremental backups
• snapshot
  • generally requires that data be on a BTRFS filesystem and uses inbuilt snapshotting function within that filesystem
  • can require huge storage space
• rsync
  • simple implementations synchronise files in a backup repository with those in a working system
    • does not provide incremental, historic view
    • rsnapshot/dirvish are a simpler way to provide incremental backups

Operating System

Minimal Approach

a backup of the folder /etc can assist restoring settings to a fresh installation of the same distribution and release.

Reverse Delta

rsnapshot or dirvish can be configured to do frequent backups of system as well as data files

• frequency could vary between data & system files

Snapshot

this function within BTRFS can produce system and/or data snapshots, at various trigger points

Cloning

This is an "off-line" technique:

• does not lend itself to repetitive, incremental backups
• might be the best approach for replacing HDD/SSD containing system files

Clonzilla is the widely used tool