A while back we wrote about backing up a Gmail account using Thunderbird. That doesn't work for restoring but you could at least have access to all your old emails.

Sparkleshare is a tool to synchronize your files in the cloud - like Dropbox or SpiderOak - but unlike these, Sparkleshare is open source and allows you to use your own server. Sparkleshare uses GIT so if you delete/modify some files by accident, you can easily revert the changes. You can use it with your own server, GitHub or Gitorious.

Gmail had some issues a few days ago and reseted some email accounts so many people now want to backup their Gmail account(s). I got this request by email so I though I'd suggest a very simple way to backup your Gmail account: using Thunderbird.

Grsync is an open source rsync GUI (Graphical User Interface) which you can use for file and directory synchronization (for backups, etc.). Grsync 1.1.0 was released 2 days ago and it adds some small new features as well as some bugs fixed:

Grsync is an open source rsync GUI (Graphical User Interface) which works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Rsync is the well-known and powerful command line directory and file synchronization tool.

You can use it for easily data backup alongside Dropbox.

We already covered SpiderOak, but only on a quick test, because back then, I didn't see the need for another tool like Dropbox. Read on to see why Dropbox might actually not be enough!

Mound Data Manager is a tool that can manage data in the context of other applications. You can take snapshots, delete, and move data from many of your favorite applications. As an example: one day, Firefox starts crashing due to a bad add-on or script. With this application, you could restore everything to a previous configuration which didn't encounter these problems.

fwbackups is a feature-rich user backup program that allows you to backup your documents anytime, anywhere. It is completely free to download and use without any sort of trial or restrictions.

A graphical tool to make file backup simpler. Provides a user-friendly interface which allows you to back up your files easily to an archive, to a CD/DVD or to a remote location using SSH.

Firefox Environment Backup Extension, better known in the community as FEBE is a Firefox extension that has served me well for a long time now. It does as its name would suggest, you are given the option to selectivly backup elements of your profile, or the entire thing. Mine has been scheduled to do so every evening, keeping at least a weeks worth.

Timevault is an automatic backup utility that takes a snapshot of your current filesystem or directory for pre-defined amount of time, which can be used later to retrieve damaged files or folders. Timevault is in beta stage of development and can be downloaded from https://launchpad.net/timevault. After installation you need to logout and log in back to finish installation and you will find timevault icon on the systray:

There are some desktop backup tools available for Linux, but most of them are not developed anymore. Areca however is under constant development and also provides a user friendly GUI.

FlyBack is a snapshot-based backup tool based on rsync It creates successive backup directories mirroring the files you wish to backup, but hard-links unchanged files to the previous backup. This prevents wasting disk space while providing you with full access to all your files without any sort of recovery program. If your machine crashes, just move your external drive to your new machine and copy the latest backup using whatever file browser you normally use.

Good systems administrators know that implementing a robust backup procedure is one of their most important duties. Unfortunately, it's also one of the most complex and least fun. When the phone rings and there's a panic-stricken user on the other end who has just lost a crucial document, you need to be confident that you can promptly recover his missing files. Failure to do so can bring about a speedy end to a promising career in systems administration. So what's a budding sysadmin to do? Download the latest release of Bacula and watch those backup woes disappear into the dark of night.

HUBackup is short for Home User Backup System. As the name implies, this is a very simple, concise and easy to use backup application that uses the renowned and proven dar (Disk ARchive) to do the actual archiving. Emphasis has been on providing true and reliable progress indication throughout all operations, as well as the ability to cancel any operation at any given point. HUBackup mainly concerns with backing up your home folder data, allowing you to restore it in case of data loss.

So you just bought an external hard drive for backups. Now, with what filesystem should you format it? Ext2? FAT32? No matter which one you choose, there are trade-offs to consider.

Earlier last week I was reading some posts in a web hosting forum “Site Backup - Virtual Private Servers (VPS)“, within the post a forum member was trying to facilitate an automated backup system for his important files. In this case they were web based files.