I have been using macOS on the laptop for a few years, but recently I switched back to Ubuntu. It has several advantages for my usage pattern: the environment which my programs use in production, Docker with fast FS and without imposed updates, and a lot more control over the system.
One thing that I miss is Time Machine. Having up-to-date backups is extremely important. It helps when your computer stops working normally, or it has been stolen, or you just want to move from one laptop to another.
Of cause, there are a lot of different backup solutions on Linux. I’d found articles like The 10 Best Linux Backup Tools, The 15 Best Backup Software For Linux Desktop, or even 25 Outstanding Backup Utilities for Linux Systems in 2020. All Linux backup utilities can be divided into two groups.
The utilities from the first group allow you to make incremental backups, data encryption and you
don’t have to stop working during the backup creation, but you have to select a directory to backup.
Usually, it’s a home directory because there are some pitfalls that stop me from selecting /. That
is why when you need to restore from the backup you have to install fresh Linux distribution
yourself with all your programs and only then restore your data like documents or photos from the
backup.
The second group includes the utilities that make the backup of the entire hard drive and you can restore the entire system from such a backup. Unfortunately, you can’t use the computer during the backup creation process and I’m not sure that it’s possible to make incremental backups in this case. When you need to restore from such a backup you can restore only all or nothing. It can be inconvenient.
I want to find a tool that can backup my data from the home directory but also saves the system configuration somehow. When I need to restore from the backup the tool should help me to install the system with all settings and then restore the user data. Unfortunately, I’ve not found such a tool yet, so I have to use Gnome’s default backup solution — Déjà Dup.