What do you think of this?
My backup script seems pretty slow.
Thanks.
a) don't use tar. Tar was designed for the 1990s with tape for backups. It is a terrible backup tool for today.
b) don't use rsync. rsync is for mirroring directories, not backups.
If you want fast backups that are very similar to what rsync provides, use rdiff-backup. The commands are very similar. For most of my systems, the rdiff-backup after the first one is under 2 minutes if more than 10 seconds. For 1 computer that has hundreds of thousands of tiny files, the backup takes about 20 minutes just due to the number of files that need to be compared. rdiff-backup is faster than rsync because the checksums are retained between backups, so that work isn't needed AFTER the first mirror is created. The most recent rdiff-backup looks like an rsync mirror.
BTW, for large files that don't change (music and videos), don't use rdiff-backup. Use rsync with options that don't check block-by-block for differences.
I've posted some simple rdiff-backup command examples in these forums. Look for the most recent on (perhaps a year ago) that shows local, "push" and "pull" examples. Found it: Https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread....9#post14125329
Lastly, if you still have a Maxtor drive, it is passed time to replace it. A 2TB USB drive can be found for less than $50.
#!/bin/bash
#
# BACKUP IMPORTANT FILES TO MAXTOR DRIVE
#
# Don't use ALLCAPS for variable names or begin them with a number.
#
DOG_ATTACKS="home/andy/Dog_Attack/"
Backup_Directory="/media/andy/Maxtor/Backup/Ubuntu_Mate_24.04/"
DOCS="/home/andy/Documents/" # shell variable
SCRIPTS="/home/andy/bin/"
HOME="/home/andy/"
ICONS="/home/andy/Icons"
MY_Sounds="/usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/"
THUNAR="/home/andy/.config/Thunar/"
Music="/home/andy/Music/"
FedEx="/home/andy/FedEx/"
#
cd $THUNAR
tar -cf Thunar_Custom_Actions.tar uca.xml
/usr/bin/rsync --progress -r -u Thunar_Custom_Actions.tar $Backup_Directory
#--------------------------------
cd /home/andy/Dog_Attack/
tar -cf Dog_Attack_Documentation.tar *.png *.pdf *.odt *.jpg *.mp4
/usr/bin/rsync --progress -r -u Dog_Attack_Documentation.tar $Backup_Directory
#-----------------------------------------------
#
cd $DOCS
tar -cf Ubuntu_Documents.tar *.txt *.doc *.rtf *.html *.png *.pdf *.odt *.ods *.odg *.csv *.xls *.jpg *.PDF *.docx *.otg
## ONLY copy file if it's newer than destination file
##
/usr/bin/rsync --progress -r -u Ubuntu_Documents.tar $Backup_Directory
#-----------------------------------------------
cd $SCRIPTS
tar -cvf UM_24_04_Ubuntu_Scripts.tar *.sh *.txt
/usr/bin/rsync --progress -r -u UM_24_04_Ubuntu_Scripts.tar $Backup_Directory
#
# Backup Firefox bookmarks.
#
# Backup my music
/usr/bin/rsync --progress -r -u /home/andy/.mozilla/firefox/t0kduppg.default-release/bookmarks.html $Backup_Directory
#
cd $Music
tar -cvf My_Music.tar *.mp3
/usr/bin/rsync --progress -r -u My_Music.tar $Backup_Directory
#
#
#date +'%m/%d/%Y %I:%M:%S %p' > /home/andy/Downloads/Computer_Backup.txt
gxmessage -fg blue -font 'sans 20' -timeout 2 'Computer has been backed up'
touch /home/andy/bin/Backup_24_04.sh
touch /home/andy/Documents/blank.odt
/usr/bin/geany /home/andy/Documents/Stuff_To_Paste.txt