[Resolved] Anyone here familiar with Restic backup? Newbie needs help

Newbie using Ubuntu 21.04 on a laptop. See pics below first. I installed Restic. I want to use Restic to backup files from my main internal drive (MID) to an external USB connected hard drive (EUD).

  1. For my very simple needs is it better for the Restic Repository (RR) to reside on my MID or on the EUD with the backed up data?

My EUD is located at /dev/sda1/

So, based on the answer to 1., what is the Restic command to initialize the RR? The EUD is mounted at /media/advait/Nisgad500GB.

Also, what is the Restic command to backup my /home folder to my EUD?

I want to perform incremental backups after the first full backup.

Let me know if you need further details. Thanks.

PS: I tried some commands but they all failed. I was able to create a repo at /srv/

PS. I don’t know the details, but from what I’ve read Restic is better than rsync. You agree?
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I cover restic here if you like videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DjNjqLuLSs&pp=sAQA

Either works, do you plan to have your EUD plugged in 24/7? just backup there. otherwise you can just copy the repo in its entirely over to the EUD when its plugged in.

A folder on the filesystem of the disk you want to do. on my NAS I use /tank/backups/restic, but this will be entirely up to you,

based on your screenshots…
restic -r media/advait/Nisgad500GB/rr backup ~

Not exactly, thats comparing apples and oranges, Rsync will work well if you just need to copy files from one place to another, Restic will take your data, split it into equal sized chunks, index them, encrypt them, and place them on your backup target.

This allows you to save yourself from duplicated backups from each snapshot.

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(My comments here only pertain to the very simple use case of using Restic to backup data from a desktop pc to a USB connected external hard drive. I know Restic can do much more complicated backup scenarios.)

@rwaltr Thanks for the details. Very helpful. I finally got it figured out (at least a little bit). I initialized the repo at /media/advait/drive-name/repo-name. It took a while before I realized that creating the repo here is actually putting the repo on the hard drive itself, and not on my internal drive.

Then I had to realize that the Restic backup command backs up the data to the same location as the repo (in my case, on my USB connected external drive). So, for my simple use case, it seems the repo must exist on the same drive as the backup.

I don’t see a way for the repo to reside on my internal hard drive while sending the backup data to an external drive. If there is, let me know.

These two points were not made clear in the Restic tuts (at least for me). After finally realizing this basic stuff, I was able to successfully do some small test backups. So I’m all set. Thanks again for your help.

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Thanks. This is helpful. From what I’ve read, Restic is better than rsync at handling backups that involve incremental backups where some of the files change with each incremental backup.

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Could you mark this thread as resolved? Thanks!

If you’re unable to edit or delete something use @Ulfnic or PM me. Most users don’t have that capability, it’s assigned automatically based on account usage.

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Ok, thanks! Will do. :slight_smile: Cheers.