Backup Your Files with rsync and SSH
February 9, 2008
If you have many important files on your computer, you probably save them somewhere, from time to time: usb key, CD, server… the choice is yours. But the problem is to maintain this backup up-to-date. So what about making a backup à la “time-machine” to save your files on a regular basis and be able to access previous versions or the latest one easily. We will realize a backup of the files of the computer to our web hosting / server.
For that, we’ll use the linux tools rsync and SSH. This tools are usually built-in in Linux distributions or you can easily install them otherwise with your favorite packet manager. Under Windows, that’s another story but nothing is completely lost. I will begin to describe how-to install the tools under Windows (sometimes you just don’t have the choice of your OS) and then describe the backup procedure. The procedure applies for both linux and windows.
I make here the assumption that you have an ssh access to your distant server. This will allow you to have an encrypted connection between your computer and the server and and therefore will prevent anyone to intercept your backups when you send them.
