snap2 is an advanced yet easy-to-use rsync-based backup program for all Linux desktop computers. GNU General Public Licence FREE software.
Jan 03 02:56

Overview, Features, and Screenshots

By: lloyd Tags:

This is the official website of snap2, an rsync-based, open-source, free backup program for Linux.

Snap2 can create and manage a series of rotating backup snapshots.  A backup snapshot is a full backup of your files as they were at a given point in time.  However, thanks to Linux hard links and the fact that rsync only has to transmit changes in files, these backups only take a small amount of disk space and bandwidth.

You can fit gigabytes of full backups on a one-gig USB flash drive, with no file compression!

This program is written in bash (Linux shell script) and uses gtkdialog for the GUI.  There were other similar solutions available several years ago when I wrote the first version of this program, but none of them gave me all the features I wanted:  read more »

Jan 01 21:24

Download and Installation

By: lloyd Tags:

Debian and Debian derivatives such as Ubuntu:

Install the following line into the file /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://files.lstandish.com/  utilities/

You can also add the repository using a Debian package management program such as synaptic or adept.

Adding the repository to your repository list is the best way to install and update this program, because dependencies will automatically be met, and updates will be easy to install.  After adding the new repository, be sure to refresh your package list (apt-get update). 

Once the repository is added, install snap2 using your favorite package manager (such as synaptic or adept), or at the command line as root: apt-get install snap2

You can also download the latest .deb file directly from the repository at:
http://files.lstandish.com/utilities/  In this case, after downloading you would click on the downloaded .deb to install it, or, as root, execute dpkg -i snap2.deb  read more »

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Dec 31 21:27

Backing up using snap2

By: lloyd Tags:

Run snap2 (the GUI) to set up and optionally run your backups.  If running a Debian-based distribution, Look for the snap2 menu entries in the KDE menu, under "Utilities," or in the Debian menu, under "Applications/File Management.

In Puppy Linux, the menu entries will be in 'Utility.'

As indicated by the snap2 program, there are basically 3 steps to setting up your backups:  read more »

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Dec 31 18:20

Snapshot Backup vs Mirror Backup

By: lloyd Tags:

The biggest feature of snap2 is the snapshot type backup.  A backup snapshot captures the state of all files at a given point in time. It is essentially a full backup, but due to the use of Linux hard links, only new and modified files actually take up space on disk as new snapshot backups are made.  read more »

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Jan 03 21:39

Backup Exclusions

By: lloyd Tags:

snap2 has a built-in default list of wildcard patterns.  It is:

- *~
- *.log
- temp/
- tmp

This means the program does not backup files or directories ending '~' and '.log', and ignores all files in directories named temp, and all directories or files named 'tmp'.  This list is stored in the file ~/.snap2/default/exclude/default.  If you ever want to change or add to these default exclusions, click the 'Default Exclusions' button on the 'ADVANCED SETTINGS' tab. (Or of course, you could edit the file directly.)  read more »

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Jan 03 21:29

Backing Up to a Remote Server

By: lloyd Tags:

Snap2 can automatically set up ssh password-less (public key) authentication for you to a remote server running ssh.  ssh public key authentication is much more secure than any password-based authentication system.  snap2 will only back up to remote servers using public key authentication.  read more »

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Dec 30 22:53

snap2 Version History (development branch)

By: lloyd Tags:

4.1beta (released 2/11/2010)  read more »

  • Proper error detection for each step of remote authentication setup.
  • Proper error detection for backup in terminal via snap2 GUI
  • Added: remote backup storage home directory can be specified (for non-standard home directories)
  • Added: rsync compression can be toggled on/off
  • Added: If there are no snapshot backups, snap2 can use mirror backup as hard link reference for a snapshot.  This allows an existing mirror backup to be 'recycled' if the user decides to convert from mirror to snapshot-type backup
  • Fixed: Deleted files report reported changed files.
  • readme.txt rewritten (Thanks Jim1911)
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Dec 29 18:06

snap2 Version History (older more tested branch)

By: lloyd Tags:

(Latest First)

3.2-23beta (released 1/24/2010)  read more »

  • Fixed problem with rotating snapshot backups after maximum number of snapshots is reduced (snap2engine)
  • Fixed detection and upload of missing remoteutils.sh on remote server (snap2engine)
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