Backups

Keep Your Data Safe

There are many backup tools for Linux-based operating systems, as found in the Kubuntu Focus Suite. BackInTime and System Rollback are pre-configured and ready to use immediately. Other tools are useful for different situations.

• BackInTime
• System Rollback
• Back Up to an External Drive
• Backup for Clean Install
• Restore After Clean Install
• Other Backup Solutions
• Revisions
• Disclaimer

Backup and restore personal files with BackInTime.

Please read the disclaimer before proceeding. We review and update guided solutions regularly. If you have suggestions or requests, please write support@kfocus.org.

BackInTime

BackInTime is installed, pre-configured, and ready-to-run on the Kubuntu Focus. You may use this tool to restore an earlier version of a file. By default, it only backs up files in users' home directories below a minimum size. It also ignores cache and temporary directories that would otherwise be useless. Examine the BackInTime settings to see and change what files are backed-up. BackInTime stores backups under /home/backintime by default.

The default setup helps recover from human errors on small text and configuration files, but it does not protect against drive failures because the backups are stored on the same home disk. It also does not safeguard larger files because they are configured to be skipped. For these reason, we highly recommend you use an external or remote drive to store backups instead and, under BackInTime > Settings > Exclude, change or disable Exclude files bigger than .... To learn more, please see the official BackInTime documentation. Please make sure you adjust the backup filter to allow larger files and test your backups to ensure you capture all the data you need.

Adjust which files are included in or excluded from backups.

System Rollback

System Rollback is available on systems that run Kubuntu 24.04 LTS with KFS and use the default or recommended BTRFS filesystem. It is not available for other filesystems or prior versions of Kubuntu. Use it to create coherent snapshots of the root and boot filesystems that may be restored later. System Rollback does not take snapshots of user home directories.

See the System Rollback documentation to learn how to create and restore snapshots.

Snapshot and restore the system with System Rollback.

Back Up to an External Drive

You can back up data to an external drive:

• Select an external drive connected via USB. You may use a thumb drive, SD card, or external drive enclosure with an NVMe or SSD installed.
• To minimize copy time, use a USB 3.0 connection for faster transfer rates. The quality of the can also greatly increase speed. We use the SanDisk Extreme Pro thumb drive, which offers capacities up to 1TB and transfer speeds up to 420/380 MB/s read/write. External NVMe drives can achieve up to 1250 MB/s; however, we have found the thumb drives to be most reliable.
• Format the external drive with a Linux-native filesystem, preferably EXT4 with a GPT partition table. This ensures the best speed and compatibility. Non-native filesystems, such as exFAT, FAT32, and NTFS DO NOT SUPPORT all Linux data and features, and their use may cause data loss or system hangs.
• Open the Dolphin file manager. It will show a panel on the left and a file area on the right.
• Ensure the drive is large enough to accommodate your data. You can determine the size of files and directories using Dolphin. For example, navigate to 'Home', then right-click an empty area in the folder view and click 'Properties' to see the disk space used by that directory.
• Click on the path above the file area and select /home. You should now see all user home directories on your system.
• Click on the Split icon at the top right to split the file area in two. Click on an empty space in the right-hand file area to make it active.
• Plug the external drive to the USB port if needed. Within 5 seconds, a drive name should appear on the bottom left side of the Dolphin window, under Devices. Click on this name to show the contents of this drive in the right-hand file area.
• Copy the desired folders from the /home directory to the external drive by dragging them from the left-hand file-area to the right-hand file area. When prompted, select copy. Do not MOVE the directories as this could harm your system!.
• After all the files are copied, take care to safely remove the disk. To do this, move the cursor to the system tray and click on the Disks & Devices icon. This will show an area with a list of mounted devices. Find the disk you just copied to and click [ Safely Remove ] found next to it. Once you see This device may be safely removed, you can physically detach the device.

File permissions may prevent you from copying all files. If so, you will want to use sudo and root to copy between the directories. You may right-click on a pane in the directory and then select Actions > Open Terminal. From there, you can use sudo to copy files as root into the media directory.

Backup for Clean Install

If you decide to clean install the OS, we recommend you back up your data to a cloud drive such as Dropbox or Backblaze, or as described in Back Up to an External Drive, above. We recommend you back up at least the following data:

• A screenshot, desktop-screenshot.png of your desktop. Use spectacle to create this.
• A file, apps-to-reinstall.txt, where you list all the apps you know you want to install again. We recommend you look through the app menu for guidance and use Kate or other editor to enter your picks into this file. This is casual, and you can add other notes there as desired.
• A file, installed-packages.txt, that lists all installed packages. To create, run in Konsole terminal apt list --installed > installed-packages.txt.
• A directory that is a clone of your home directory called home-backup or similar. This can by copied to the drive using the command line (cp -a $HOME /path/to/USB-drive/) or Dolphin. Remember that application configuration data is often stored in hidden files; therefore, you must enable 'Show hidden files' in Dolphin to see them. You can use BackInTime well, but do not use the default configuration, as will omit larger files you will almost certainly want to preserve.
• Advanced users: A file, etc.tgz, which contains all the files from the /etc directory. To create in a Konsole terminal, run sudo tar cvzf etc.tgz /etc.

After all the files are copied, take care to safely remove the disk. To do this, move the cursor to the system tray and click on the Disks & Devices icon. This will show an area with a list of mounted devices. Find the disk you just copied to and click [ Safely Remove ] found next to it. Once you see This device may be safely removed, you can physically detach the device.

Restore After Clean Install

After a Clean Install, you can restore apps and data:

• Review desktop-screenshot.png to help restore your desktop as desired.
• View apps-to-reinstall.txt and installed-packages.txt to help guide what apps you want to install. We recommend installing apps from Curated Apps when available, as this will set up the correct repositories and keys in almost all cases.
• Copy home directory data to the new home disk. You can inspect and merge configurations from the old home directory. For example, using the Konsole terminal, run meld home-backup/.config ~/.config or meld home-backup/.ssh ~/.ssh. Remember that application configuration data is often stored in hidden files; therefore, enable 'Show hidden files' in Dolphin to view, select, and copy them.
• Advanced users: Unpack etc.tgz file and compare it to the new /etc directory, e.g. sudo -E meld ./etc /etc.

Other Backup Solutions

Cloud storage, such as Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, or Google Drive, can often provide multiple versions of files using heuristics. However, we recommend explicitly versioned backups, such as those provided by SCMSs (Source Control Management Systems like Git) for more exact control. Ultimately, one must balance convenience and storage requirements with completeness. And remember, any backup solution is better than none.

Disclaimer

We try hard to provide a useful solution validated by professionals. However, we cannot anticipate every situation, and therefore cannot guarantee this procedure will work for your needs. Always backup your data and test the solution to determine the correct procedure for you.

THIS SOLUTION IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOLUTION, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.