Backup & Restore Your Linux Desktop with CloudBerry Backup

There are several popular ways to create automated backups on your Linux desktop or server.  Many of these options require a decent amount of in-depth knowledge of under-the-hood Linux tools like cron, rsync, and system scripting. Even still, those options don’t integrate well with cloud platforms.

CloudBerry Backup is built for the cloud, and it provides a simple graphical interface that just about anyone can use.  If that sounds like the solution to your backup woes, sit down, relax, and get ready to dive into exactly how to use CloudBerry Backup to backup and restore your files on Linux.

What Does CloudBerry Backup Do?

CloudBerry Backup is a cross-platform automated backup tool. It provides a convenient way to backup and restore files on your desktop or server with a focus on the cloud. For desktops, it provides a simple and intuitive graphical interface to work with.

As its name suggests, CloudBerry Backup focuses on the cloud. It’s built with offsite cloud backups at its core, and on that, it delivers an extensive array of cloud storage solutions across all the top providers.

Installing CloudBerry Backup on Ubuntu

CloudBerry offers their backup solution pre-packaged in .deb and .rpm package formats that are compatible with all the major distributions that employ those packaging methods. CloudBerry Backup is free for home use and available as a trial for enterprise, so you can drop by their website and download the latest version now.

Head over to their Linux download page. Click the big green button to download a free trial copy. You’ll be able to choose your license type during the setup, so if you plan to use it at home, you can just select that option and use CloudBerry Backup free permanently.

That button will take you to a new page with two links. One is for the Ubuntu/Debian package, and the other is for the RPM. This guide will use Ubuntu here, but you can certainly install CloudBerry on an RPM distribution here, too. On Ubuntu click the link to download your package.

When the installation is done, you can either install the package graphically or with dpkg. The choice is entirely up to you.

This guide is going to cover the graphical process. Click on the package file. The Ubuntu Software application will open. Click the “Install” button. CloudBerry Backup will install. When it’s done, you can exit the installer.

Open CloudBerry Backup. The first screen that you see will present you with multiple registration options. Pick the home one, unless you know what you’re doing.

The next screen will ask you to set up an account for registration. CloudBerry will send you a code to register.

After you get the code, enter it into the space on the bottom of the window and continue.

CloudBerry Backup will take you to its home screen from there. When you arrive, you’ll see two menus, one across the top and one down the left. The main body of the screen is devoted to welcoming you to the program and getting you started with its two primary functions: making backups and restoring them.

Set Up Your Storage

Before doing anything, it’s a good idea to set up your storage. CloudBerry Backup gives you the option to use any of a number of cloud storage services or even local storage to back up your data.

Click on the Settings icon at the top of your screen. A new window will open conveniently, already displaying the “Settings” tab. The left side of the window is a blank space that will list your configured storage options. The right lists available storage locations.

Pick the one that you plan on using, or take a look around.

This guide is going to use a local source. That source is actually a NAS drive mounted locally with NFS.  Whichever option you choose, fill out the form provided by CloudBerry Backup and press “OK.”

On the left side of the window you’ll see your new storage option.

Create a Backup Plan

Turn your attention to the top menu, and click on “File.” Then, choose “Create Backup Plan.”

First, select the storage location that you want to back up to.

Name your backup plan. This is a plan and not just a one-time thing. Set a memorable name that reflects what the backup actually does.

The next window has a directory tree with checkboxes. Navigate through the tree and check off the folders that you want included in your backup.

Once you have your folders selected, you can exclude specific files or types of files from the backup.

Encryption isn’t available in the free version of CloudBerry Backup, but the screen still appears.

The following step allows you to set up a retention policy for your backups. You obviously don’t want to fill your storage with redundant backups, so you can choose how long your backups are held before being deleted to be replaced by newer ones.

Set a schedule for your backup plan. You can set up time frames for your backup to run automatically.

Before you finish, you can configure a notification system to let you know how your automated backups went. They’ll sen you an email based on the conditions that you set on this screen.

Finally, CloudBerry Backup will present you with a summary of your backup and allow you to run the backup immediately via a checkbox below the summary. Run it.

After the backup, you’ll see the results prominently displayed in the body of the main window.

Restore Your Backup

Backups aren’t much good if you can’t restore them. CloudBerry Backup’s restoration capabilities are excellent, too. The interface for restoring your backups is essentially the same as creating them in reverse. Go to “File” and “Create a Restore Plan.”

The first screen allows you to select the storage that you’re going to do the restore.

Next, choose a name for your restore plan. Even one-off restores are plans, and CloudBerry Backup saves them all. If it is a one-off restore, just leave that option checked.

Choose the type of restore that you wish to do. You can pick between using the latest backup or picking a specific point in time.

Then, choose the exact source that you want to restore from. Here’s where you can pick which folders you want to restore.

Choose a destination to restore to. The default puts your files right back where they came from. You can also choose to back up your files to a different directory instead.

If your backup was encrypted, you’re going to need to supply the password for that encryption.

Before CloudBerry Backup actually performs the restore, it lets you set up notifications so it can let you know how the restoration process went and provide you with logs of the process.

After the restore is done, you can see the results back in the main screen.

Closing Thoughts

You can easily manage your backup schedule, and you can restore a backup at any time. With the backup schedule that you created, you can be confident that your files are consistently being backed up to your cloud storage provider of choice and can always easily restore them, should something go wrong.

Remember that you’re not limited here to one backup schedule or cloud provider. Make multiple backups. Run different backup schedules for different folders, depending on how often you update them. Backup your files to multiple storage locations. You have the freedom and flexibility to implement and adapt your own backup strategies at home without a ton of effort.