Restic Backup
Restic is a snapshot-based, git-like, encrypted backup solution. You can use Restic to define repos (vaults, essentially) which can contain broad or specific backups of files/folders. It is an astonishingly effective tool and in combination with resticprofile, a helper utility which lets you define backup configurations as YAML, the system is simple to configure to boot.
My current backups are on an External Drive in a repo labeled "ResticBackup".
TODO:
I need to rewrite this article. I'm no longer using Windows as my daily driver, and I've switched from using resticprofile to autorestic.
Pre-requisites:
- Scoop (Windows only)
- Restic
- Restic Profile
TODO: See if AutoRestic is a better tool than Restic Profile
Windows Only: Manually add resticprofile.exe to path.
Windows Only: Installation is living at D:\Program Files\resticprofile
Backups are defined in profiles.yaml
Restic Documentation
https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/latest/manual_rest.html
ResticProfile
Update ResticProfile:
$ resticprofile self-update
List Available Options
$ resticprofile profiles
Profiles available:
books: (backup, snapshots)
default: (backup)
development: (backup, snapshots)
music: (backup, snapshots)
pictures: (backup, snapshots)
Groups available:
full-backup: music, pictures, development, books
Run a Backup
Run a full backup, using the group:
$ resticprofile --name "full-backup" backup
Alternatively, run for a single item:
$ resticprofile --name "books" backup
Inspecting a Backup
List snapshots:
$ restic -r [backup_path] snapshots
enter password for repository:
ID Date Host Tags Directory
--------------------------------------------------
eeeeeeee 1969-01-01 01:00:00 REVAN documents /documents
ffffffff 1969-01-01 01:00:00 REVAN music /music
Restoring Backup
From a snapshot:
$ restic -r [backup_path] restore [backup_id OR latest] --target [path_to_restore_to]
Restore specific path:
$ restic -r [backup_path] restore [backup_id OR latest] --path "[path_to_restore]" --target [path_to_restore_to]
Removing Snapshots
TODO: add policy rules to resticprofile profiles.yaml to avoid manually managing snapshot history
- See Inspecting Backup to get snapshot IDs.
- Forget the snapshot with:
$ restic -r [backup_path] forget [snapshot_id]
- To clean up unreferenced data:
$ restic -r [backup_path] prune
- OR use an all-in-one and drop all but latest snapshot:
$ restic -r [backup_path] forget --keep-last 1 --prune