2023-08-08

Backups Setup

How my current setup works

I use syncthing on mobile to backup my TachiyomiSy automatic backups, and images currently to my laptop. I wrote a small bash script which uses rclone to upload the following folders on my laptop to google drive.

• Documents (this is where my obsidian notes, mobile backups through syncthing land)
• Downloads
• Pictures
• Videos
• College dir

I then use systemd timers to run this script on boot weekly.(Alternatively you can use chron to setup a chron job).

Setting up Syncthing

This was pretty straight forward. I downloaded on both my android device and laptop(I used to yay to get it and I think it also comes with a systemd unit which you can enable to start it on boot). I added my laptop as a remote device then the folders I wanted to sync uni-directionally except for obsidian which is two-way. On laptop I use my Documents/<folder name> as destination. Later I configured syncthing on android to sync when connected to wifi.

I got to the idea of using syncthing from this video.

Setting up rclone

I used to use rclone for other things earlier so I just defaulted to using this for my script.

1. Setup rclone remote.(https://rclone.org/drive/)
   1. In terminal type rclone config.
   2. Choose new remote.
   3. Enter a name of your choice.
   4. When prompted for storage, enter drive or you can alternatively enter the number.
   5. Leave blank(as in choose the defaults) pretty much everything except for scopes where you add what you think suits your needs. My case I chose 1 giving full access.
2. Test the new remote by running rclone lsf <remote name>:.

The bash script

#!/usr/bin/bash
#backup.sh

sources=("$HOME/Pictures" "$HOME/Documents" "$HOME/Videos" "$HOME/wallpapers" "$HOME/Downloads" "$HOME/College")
remote="remote_name:backups/linux"
backup_dir="remote_name:backups/previous/linux"

for dir in "${sources[@]}"; do
    dir_name=$(basename "$dir")
    echo "Backing up to $remote/$dir_name"
    rclone sync "$dir" "$remote/$dir_name" --backup-dir "$backup_dir/$dir_name" -P -c --transfers 15
    echo ""
done

echo "Backups completed"

The systemd unit

[Unit]
Description=Gdrive backup service

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=%h/.local/bin/scripts/backup.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=gdrive-backup.timer

The systemd timer

[Unit]
Description=Timer running weekly to take backups

[Timer]
OnCalendar=weekly
; Uncomment this if you want some delay
; RandomizedDelaySec=1h
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Update: For android I am using syncthing fork over the official app mainly because in the fork I can set custom sync conditions for each folder. So I set obsidian folder to sync even over mobile data whereas the remaining folders only sync over wifi.