backup software recommendations?

[der.hans]

Am 12. Jul, 2008 schwätzte Alex Dean so:

> I need backup software for a home network.  Mix of Linux and OSX machines. 
> Will be using an external HDD for backup media.  The backup server will run 
> on one of the OSX machines, since it's the only non-laptop I have.  I'm 
> mainly looking for something that's easy to configure and has minimal 
> resource consumption.

I don't know if BackupPC works on OS!X. Maybe you can run it on GNU/Linux
in VirtualBox or something :).

> I've read a bit about BackupPC and Bacula.  So far, BackupPC seems preferable 
> because it looks much simpler.  (No client software to install.  Cool!)  I'm 
> interested in any opinions about these 2 packages, or recommendations on 
> other programs I ought to have a look at.

I'm using BackupPC. It works well. It was a bit of a pain to setup, but
some of that was definitely self-induced. I'm using it to backup on local
networks as well as across the Net. I'm also not allowing it to connect as
root. That's the self-induced pain. Then again, it shouldn't require
connecting as root!

BackupPC will keep only one copy of a distinct file, even across multiple
machines[0]. That can save a lot of space when backing up multiple
machines.

It does a pretty good job of keeping various daily, weekly, etc snapshots.

I haven't tested what happens if you change the timestamp without changing
the file.

[0] That might be a policy violation in some environments.

ciao,

der.hans
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