Backup beast

Here is the beast! The backup script that gives options for both tar and fsarchiver! You can backup system, home, partition or directory.

Partition is useful if there is another system to archive, or you want to archive the whole of /home with all users. It will check if mounted or not and mount the partition in the case of using tar. Both archive methods will only work on the file system level, they will not make a disk image (use dd or partclone etc. for that).

See my System backup page for more info.

#!/bin/bash # Quick system backup with tar or fsarchiver, by David Quinton, two days in Dec 2025 # Make Linux not war!! #===================================Variables XZ_OPT="-T0 -9" #option for xz full cpu threading (0) and compression level ZSTD_NBTHREADS=0 #env variables for Zstd with Tar : threading ZSTD_CLEVEL=22 # : compression level FSoption="-j 14 -Z 22" #fsarchiver threading and compression level LOC=/media/Bkp/zsysbkp SNAME=Backupsys HNAME=Backuphome TIME=_`date +"%y%m%d-%R"` #===================================Excludes # set the exclude dir's here, E1 for system backup, E2 for home backup E1=("/proc/*" "/media/*" "/dev/*" "/opt/libre*" "/mnt/*" "/sys/*" "/tmp/*" "/var/cache/apt/archives/*" "$HOME") E2=("Documents/*" "Downloads/*" "Games/*" "Mail/*" "Music/*" "Pictures/*" "Sync/*" "Video/*" "Website/*" ".bcast5/indexes/*" ".cache/*" ".local/share/Trash/*" ".thumbnails/*" ".sword/*" ".dbus/*") #===================================Functions choosePart () { while true; do clear printf '\n%.0s' {1..10}; printf "\n\n BACKUP BEAST.......\n\n Select a partition!\n\n" PS3="Selection (type Q to quit): " options=($(ls /sys/class/block | grep -E '^(sd|hd|vd|nvme)[a-z][0-9]+|[0-9]p[0-9]+')) select opt in "${options[@]}"; do if [[ "$REPLY" == [qQ] ]]; then exit 0 elif [[ -n "$opt" ]]; then Part=/dev/$opt; NAME=$opt break 2 else echo "Invalid option" fi done done #check if part is mounted, needed for fsarchiver option and tar mnt cmd if findmnt $Part > /dev/null; then mounted=true else mounted=false; fi mountpoint=$(findmnt -n -o TARGET $Part) #find its mount point if any, needed for tar } chooseDir () { cd $Browse while true; do clear printf '\n%.0s' {1..10}; printf "\n\n BACKUP BEAST.......\n\n Select a directory! ../ to enter parent directory.\n\tPress C and Enter when correct.\n\n\n" ls -dhl --color=auto "$(pwd)" IFS=$'\n' COLUMNS=1 PS3="Enter choice:" options=(../ $(ls -dhl */ 2>/dev/null)) select dir in "${options[@]}"; do case $dir in ../) cd .. && break ;; *) if [[ "$REPLY" == [cC] ]]; then break 2 elif [[ "$dir" ]]; then dirname=$(echo "$dir" | awk '{print $9}') cd "$dirname"; break else break; fi ;; esac done done dirTopress="$(pwd)" NAME="${dirname//\//}" } chooseTask () { while true; do clear printf '\n%.0s' {1..10}; printf "\n\n BACKUP BEAST.......\n\n Choose a task\n\n 1. Backup system 2. Backup home 3. Backup partition 4. Backup directory on system 5. Backup directory in home q quit \n\n\t" read ans case $ans in 1) TASK=sys; NAME=$SNAME; EX=$E1; break ;; 2) TASK=home; NAME=$HNAME; EX=$E2; break ;; 3) TASK=part; EX=$E1; choosePart; break ;; 4) TASK=directory; Browse=/; chooseDir; break ;; 5) TASK=directory; Browse=/$HOME; chooseDir; break ;; [qQ]*) exit 0 ;; *) continue ;; esac done X=( "${EX[@]/#/--exclude=}" ) } choosePress () { while true; do clear printf '\n%.0s' {1..10}; printf "\n\n BACKUP BEAST.......\n\n Select a compression method\n\n 1. Tar (XZ) 2. Tar (Zstd) 3. Fsarchiver (Zstd) q quit \n\n\t" read ans case $ans in 1) Press="tar"; PressT="tar (xz)"; TARoption=-cvJpf; EXT=xz; break ;; 2) Press="tar"; PressT="tar (zstd)"; TARoption="-I zstd -cvpf"; EXT=zst; break ;; 3) Press=fsachiver; EXT=fsa; Flags=-Avo; break ;; [qQ]*) exit 0 ;; *) continue ;; esac done # if using tar on a partition it needs mounting if [[ $mounted == "false" && $Press == "tar" ]]; then printf "\n\n\tMounting partition $Part to /mnt/$NAME" read -p "hit Enter when ready" sudo "mount $Part /mnt/$NAME" fi # if using fsarchiver on a partition not mounted don't use -A flag if [[ $mounted == "false" && $Press == "fsachiver" ]]; then Flags=-vo; fi } appLabel () { clear printf '\n%.0s' {1..10}; printf "\n\n BACKUP BEAST.......\n\n Appended a label? leave it blank for none.\n\n\t" read ans case $ans in "") break ;; *) Label="_${ans// /_}" ;; esac } confirmTask () { while true; do clear printf '\n%.0s' {1..10}; printf "\n\n BACKUP BEAST.......\n\n Your Task is set to: \n\n Target:\t\t $TASK Compression:\t $PressT Archive:\t $LOC/$NAME$TIME$Label.$EXT \n\n\thit Enter to execute (Q to quit)" read ans case $ans in "") break ;; [qQ]*) exit 0 ;; *) continue ;; esac done } #===================================Archive commands pressTar () { clear $SU tar $TARoption $LOC/$NAME$TIME$Label.$EXT "${X[@]}" $TARG } pressFs () { clear sudo fsarchiver $FScmd $Flags $FSoption $LOC/$NAME$TIME$Label.fsa $TARG "${X[@]}" } #===================================Set archive cmd setPress () { USER=$(awk -F":" '/1000:1000/ { print $1 }' /etc/passwd) if [ $Press == fsachiver ]; then if [ $TASK == sys ]; then TARG=$(findmnt -fn -o SOURCE /); FScmd=savefs pressFs elif [ $TASK == home ]; then TARG=/home/$USER; FScmd=savedir pressFs elif [ $TASK == part ]; then TARG=$Part; FScmd=savefs pressFs else TARG=$dirTopress; FScmd=savedir pressFs fi else if [ $TASK == sys ]; then TARG=/; SU=sudo pressTar elif [ $TASK == home ]; then TARG=/home/$USER pressTar elif [ $TASK == part ]; then TARG=/mnt/$NAME #execute tar on a part mounted at /mnt pressTar else TARG=$dirTopress; pressTar fi fi } #===================================Start chooseTask choosePress appLabel confirmTask setPress