Thursday, July 20, 2017

Cronopete – An Apple’s Time Machine Clone For Linux

Cronopete – An Apple’s Time Machine Clone For Linux

If you use Mac OS, you certainly have known about or used Time machine. It is a backup software application distributed with the Apple’s Mac OS X. It is used to backup your data to an external drive, so that you can restore them later from the backup. If you are a fan boy/girl of Time Machine, you need to check out “Cronopete”. It is the clone of Time Machine for Linux operating systems. Using Cronopete, we can easily create periodic backups of a Linux system. It supports popular Linux distributions, including Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora, and Ubuntu.

Cronopete – An Apple’s Time Machine Clone For Linux

Install Cronopete

On Arch Linux:
Cronopete is available in AUR, so you can install it using AUR helper programs such as Yaourt or Packer.
yaourt -S cronopete
Or,
packer -S cronopete
On Debian, Ubuntu:
Download the latest version from here depending upon the distribution you use.
For 64bit Debian:
wget http://www.rastersoft.com/descargas/cronopete/cronopete-sid_3.26.0-debian1_amd64.deb
For 32bit Debian:
wget http://www.rastersoft.com/descargas/cronopete/cronopete-sid_3.26.0-debian1_i386.deb
For 64bit Ubuntu:
wget http://www.rastersoft.com/descargas/cronopete/cronopete-zesty_3.26.0-ubuntu1_amd64.deb
For 32bit Ubuntu:
wget http://www.rastersoft.com/descargas/cronopete/cronopete-zesty_3.26.0-ubuntu1_i386.deb
Once downloaded the .DEB file, you can install it as shown below:
sudo apt-get install gdebi
sudo gdebi cronopete*.deb
On Fedora:
Download the RPM file given in the above link.
64bit:
wget http://www.rastersoft.com/descargas/cronopete/cronopete.fedora25-3.26.0-1.x86_64.rpm
32bit:
wget http://www.rastersoft.com/descargas/cronopete/cronopete.fedora25-3.26.0-1.i386.rpm
Then, install it using command:
sudo dnf install cronopete*.rpm

Cronopete Usage

Backup data
Once Cronopete installed, start it by typing the following command from the Terminal:
cronopete
At first launch, you will see the following screen:
cronopete
Click Configure now button. The following wizard will open.
anaCRONOPETE2
As you see in the above screenshot, there is no external drive plugged in to backup. Now, plug your external HDD or USB drive and click Change disk option.
In the next screen, Cronopete will list the available disks. Choose your USB disk and click “Select” option.
cronopete3
Just repeat these steps to add another backup disk. For example, you might use one backup disk while at home, and another backup disk while at work.
Cronopete will format the selected disks to be used for backups. Click Format disk to continue.
cronopete4
Once the format process is completed, you will be redirected to main configuration section again. You will now notice that the USB disk for backups is available.
Once you have selected the backup disk, Cronopete will immediately start to backup your data. By default, it will backup the entire $HOME directory. You can define which folders or files should be backed up from the Options section. Choose Optionsto define the backup parameters.
anaCRONOPETE5
Choose what do you want to include or exclude in your backup. Also, you choose the time interval between backups in hours. Default value is 1 hour.
Cronopete-Options8
Once you launched Cronopete, you will it on your menu bar (task bar). You can define backup policies or stop the backup process by right clicking on the Cronopete icon in the menu bar.
Cronopete menu
Cronopete usually keeps:
  • Hourly backups for past 24 hours,
  • Daily backups for the past month,
  • Weekly backups until your hard disk is full.
Restore data
To restore the data, right click on the Cronopete icon on the menu bar. Choose Restore files.
cronopete restore
Select the folder or files you want to restore from your backup USB drive and click Restore files on the top left corner.
Cronopete restore1
The selected files or folders will be restored to location where you have originally selected them during backup.


And, that’s all. Hope this helps. I will be soon here with another useful guide. If you find this guide useful, please spend a moment to share it on your social and professional networks, so that everyone can benefit.
Cheers!
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