6 The `set' choose method

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The set choose method is the main device for making backups of your hard drive. With this method you can make a backup of a so-called directory set.

A directory set is basically a list of directory names. All files, symbolic links, and so on in these directories and in their subdirectories are part of the set.

With the set choose method, you can make a full backup of a set, which is a backup of the entire set contents, but also an incremental backup, a backup of all files in the set that were created or changed since the last (full or incremental) backup. More about incremental backups later.

It is usually convenient to divide your hard disk into several directory sets, for example one set for the system directories and one for the user directories, or one set for each hard disk partition.

Tbackup does not offer a standard directory set setup, you have to configure the sets yourself. Directory sets are configured by putting files in /etc/tbackup, this will be the subject of the next section.

Here is a sample transcript to show how the set method works.

#tbackup
 ^^^^^^^
 Available choose methods:
    1 set   -- back up a directory set
    2 setrm -- back up a directory set, then remove its contents
    3 one   -- one user specified file or directory and below
 Enter method name or number ---> [set] set
                                        ^^^
On my machine, I have divided the hard disk into 3 directory sets.
Available directory sets:
1    ext        # extended filesystem
2    mystuff    # my stuff in the /root directory
3    system     # root filesystem, without /root dir.
Enter set name or number ---> mystuff
                              ^^^^^^^
Tbackup now lists the dates of the previous backups of mystuff.

The last full backup of mystuff was made on Mon Aug 16 04:14:36 1993,
that was approx. 5 days ago.
 
The last incremental backup of mystuff was made on Tue Aug 17 
                                                         22:57:47 1993,
that was approx. 4 days ago.
 
Choose a backup level.
 f  = full backup of all files
 if = incremental backup of all files changed since last full backup
 ii = incremental backup of all files changed since last incremental
      backup
---> [f] ii
         ^^ 

There are two styles of making an incremental backup. Which one is works best depends on the circumstances. ii generally produces smaller archives, but if allows you to recycle all disks used for previous incremental backups.

If you have never made a full backup before, the if and ii options won't be available. If you have never made an incremental backup, ii won't be available.

After choosing the backup level tbackup proceeds as usual:

Available pack methods:
[etc.]
Information about backups of the mystuff directory set is recorded by tbackup in the file /etc/tbackup/mystuff.log . This information is used when an incremental backup is made.

If the backup is completed tbackup asks:

Please confirm that this backup was successful.

Add information about this backup to the mystuff
backup history logfile?---> (y/n) [y] 
                      (pressed enter)^
Backup log file /etc/tbackup/mystuff.log updated.
Answering y causes the logfile to be updated, so that the current backup is logged as the last (incremental) backup made. You should answer n if something went wrong and tbackup didn't notice it.

Tbackup stores these logfiles in the /etc/tbackup directory. Do not change the log files by hand, tbackup does all updating itself.

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