Re: [gentoo-user] Backup program that compresses data but only changes new files.

[Dale]

J. Roeleveld wrote:
> On Monday, August 15, 2022 12:44:11 AM CEST Dale wrote:
>> Howdy,
>>
>> With my new fiber internet, my poor disks are getting a work out, and
>> also filling up.  First casualty, my backup disk.  I have one directory
>> that is . . . well . . . huge.  It's about 7TBs or so.  This is where it
>> is right now and it's still trying to pack in files.
>>
>> /dev/mapper/8tb            7.3T  7.1T  201G  98% /mnt/8tb
> <snipped>
>
>> Thoughts?  Ideas?
> Plenty, see below:
>
> For backups to external disks, I would recommend having a look at "dar" :
> $ eix -e dar
> * app-backup/dar
>      Available versions:  2.7.6^t ~2.7.7^t {argon2 curl dar32 dar64 doc gcrypt
> gpg lz4 lzo nls rsync threads xattr}
>      Homepage:            http://dar.linux.free.fr/
>      Description:         A full featured backup tool, aimed for disks
>
> It's been around for a while and the developer is active and responds quite
> well to questions.
> It supports compression (different compression methods), incremental backups
> (only need a catalogue of the previous backup for the incremental) and
> encryption.
>
> The NAS options others mentioned would also work as they can compress data on
> disk and you'd only notice a delay in writing/reading (depending on the
> compression method used). I would recommend using one that uses ZFS on-disk as
> it's more reliable and robust then BTRFS.
>
> One option that comes available for you now that you are no longer limited to
> slow ADSL: Cloud backups.
>
> I use Backblaze (B2) to store compressed backups that haven't been stored on
> tape to off-site locations.
>
> But, you can also encrypt the backups locally and store the
> encrypted+compressed backupfiles on other cloud storage.
>
> --
> Joost
>


Dar does sound interesting.  It sounds a lot like what I used way back
in the 90's.  I'm sure it is different software but could work on
floppies then like it does on USB sticks etc today.  Same principal. 

I looked into ZFS as well.  Google helped me find a interesting page.  I
notice it is also used on some NAS setups as well.  It seems to be
advanced and maintained well.  It sounds a little like LVM but may have
more features, such as compression maybe?  I haven't read that far yet. 
I notice it mentions snapshots which LVM also uses. 

Getting plenty of ideas.  I just wish I had a separate building to put a
NAS in that would be safe and climate controlled.  I got a out building
but it gets plenty hot in the summer.  No A/C or anything.  I only heat
it enough to prevent freezing but computers would likely like that anyway. 

Dale

:-)  :-)