Guide to Managing Backups with BorgBackup

1. Installing BorgBackup

BorgBackup can be installed on Linux, macOS, and other Unix-like systems.

On Debian/Ubuntu

sudo apt update
sudo apt install borgbackup

On RedHat/CentOS

sudo yum install epel-release
sudo yum install borgbackup

On macOS with Homebrew

brew install borgbackup

On QNAP

To install BorgBackup on QNAP, you need to use the QNAP QTS management system with Entware. Follow these steps:

1. Install Entware through the QNAP App Center.
2. Connect to the QNAP via SSH and update Entware:

opkg update

3. Install BorgBackup with the following command:

opkg install borgbackup

4. Verify the installation:

borg --version

2. Creating a New Repository

Before creating a backup, you need to initialize a Borg repository.

borg init --encryption=repokey /path/to/repository

You can also use remote repositories via SSH:

borg init --encryption=repokey user@host:/path/to/remote/repo

3. Creating a Backup

To create a backup, use the create command:

borg create --progress --stats /path/to/repository::archive-name \
    /path/to/backup

Example:

borg create --progress --stats /mnt/backup::bk-2024-01-01 /home/user

4. Verifying a Backup

You can verify the integrity of a backup with:

borg check /path/to/repository

5. Pruning: Managing Retention

To maintain a sensible retention policy, use the prune command:

borg prune --keep-daily=7 --keep-weekly=4 --keep-monthly=6 /path/to/repository

This will keep 7 daily backups, 4 weekly backups, and 6 monthly backups.

6. Extracting a Backup

To restore files or directories, use the extract command:

borg extract /path/to/repository::archive-name

You can extract a single file:

borg extract /path/to/repository::archive-name path/to/file

You can also mount a backup as a disk on a Linux/Debian/Ubuntu system to explore files:

borg mount /path/to/repository::archive-name /mount/point

To unmount:

borg umount /mount/point

7. Listing Archives

To list the backups present in the repository:

borg list /path/to/repository

8. Connecting to a Remote Repository

To connect to a remote repository and create a backup, use the following syntax:

borg create --progress --stats user@host:/path/to/remote/repo::archive-name /path/to/backup

Example:

borg create --progress --stats user@192.168.1.10:/backups/borg::bk-2024-01-01 /home/user

9. Useful Commands

• Repository size:

  borg info /path/to/repository

• Remove a specific archive:

  borg delete /path/to/repository::archive-name

Conclusion

BorgBackup is a powerful tool for managing incremental and compressed backups. It can be easily automated with cron jobs or scripts.