poor-mans-time-machine

A simple tool for performing local incremental backups.

Usage

Usage: poor-mans-time-machine [-c NAME] [-e PATH]... [-l LIMIT] [-p PREFIX] [-r PATH] SRC DEST

  -h --help           Show this help
  -c --canary NAME    Name of a file stored in the rotated backup directory to
                      signify a successful run [default: .poor-mans-time-machine-ok]
  -e --exclude PATH   Exclude paths [default: /dev /media /mnt /proc /sys]
  -l --limit LIMIT    Number of rotated backup directories to keep
  -p --prefix PREFIX  Name prefix of the rotated backup directory [default: backup]
  -r --rsync PATH     Path to rsync command [default: rsync]

Example

poor-mans-time-machine / /media/usbdisk

The above will:

1. rename /media/usbdisk/backup to /media/usbdisk/backup.1,
2. create /media/usbdisk/backup
3. synchronize / to /media/usbdisk/backup using rsync.

The synchronization uses --link-dest=/media/usbdisk/backup.1 to copy only the files that were modified or added since the previous run.

Each successful backup is marked with a "canary" file. No directory rotation is performed if the file is missing from the latest backup directory. This allows to resume interrupted backups and guards against removal of older backups after a failed run (when --limit is applied).

Installation

apt install rsync
pip install git+https://github.com/neuroid/poor-mans-time-machine.git