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So far we've looked at music players, photo organizers and video editors for the Linux desktop. Overall, while some of the apps are rough around the corners, there are options to suit nearly everyone.
But all those apps, and all the documents they create are lost if your hard drive crashes, your laptop takes a spill or other catastrophe strikes.
If you have documents, you must have a backup solution -- Mac users have Time Machine and Windows offers Live Drive.
In this fourth installment of our look at at how media and storage applications for Linux, particularly Ubuntu, compare to those on other platforms, I'll be looking at how Linux stacks up against Windows and OS X backup solutions.
To keep things simple we'll divide backup options into two camps -- those that backup to a disk and those that backup to web servers. For the latter there is some degree of trust involved. While all of the options below offer secure encrypted connection, if you still aren't comfortable with the idea, then web-based backup services are not for you.
Also remember that, as any good paranoid can tell you, one backup is never enough. Rather than deciding on one of these options, consider using several in conjunction for an even more fool-proof backup system.
Most Ubuntu users are probably aware of <a href="https://one.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu One</a> by now. The service, launched with the arrival of Ubuntu 9.10 gives Ubuntu fans a simple, cheap way to backup documents to Canonical's servers. In addition to simple backup, Ubuntu One can be used to sync files between your PCs.
Ubuntu One is dead simple to use and nicely integrated into the Ubuntu desktop. Once you set up an Ubuntu One account, your files will be backed up on the web and synced to any other registered Ubuntu computers. In addition to file syncing, Ubuntu One can also track your contacts, Firefox bookmarks and notes.
Ubuntu One is free for the first 2 GBs of data and in our experience, while it's glitchy, it has never lost any data so it's at least worth turning on.
However, web access to your documents -- one of the much-advertised features of Ubuntu One -- has yet to work without some sort of error. So while it's free and worth using, we don't suggest investing in a paid upgrade until Canonical works out some more of the bugs.
In the mean time it's worth investigating some other, similar services like <a href="http://www.dropbox.com/">Dropbox</a>. Dropbox is cross-platform, which means you can easily sync files from Windows or Mac to your Linux machine, and it also offers a web-based interface that gives you access to your files no matter what computer you're using.
Unlike Ubuntu One, Dropbox has never hiccuped in the nearly two years I've been using it.
Dropbox's prices are inline with Ubuntu One, but because Dropbox runs on any platform, you end up getting a bit more for your money (assuming you need to sync across platforms/PCs).
If you're not a fan of Dropbox in particular, but like the idea of automatic web-based backup there are several other options including <a href="https://www.jungledisk.com/">JungleDisk</a> (also cross platform) and <a href="http://www.box.net/">Box.net</a> (a Linux desktop client is in the works, but you can sync manually by mounting the server in Ubuntu).
For those wanting something a bit more Linux-centric, there's also <a href="http://www.sparkleshare.org/">SparkleShare</a>, which hopes to be like Dropbox, but more tightly integrated with the GNOME desktop. So far the project doesn't have any code available, but it's worth keeping an eye on.
If you're not comfortable with online backup services having your data, or if you just want a local backup as well, fear not, local backup software for Linux has a long, storied history.
If you're looking for something like Apple's TimeMachine backup tool there are several options.
The first I tested is <a href="https://launchpad.net/backintime">Back In Time</a>, which is included in the Ubuntu repositories. Back In Time makes versioned backups of your files and, in my testing, worked without issue. There's also a handy GUI for setting up a cronjob to run Back In Time on a regular schedule.
<a href="http://code.google.com/p/flyback/">FlyBack</a> is yet another take on the Time Machine paradigm that uses Git behind the scenes to create versioned backups of you files. While FlyBack worked just fine, it lacks some features of Time Machine -- like automation -- and the issues page in Google Code has a number of reports of FlyBack failing.
While neither app has the visual polish of Time Machine, both accomplish the same thing.
If none of the solutions above quite tickle your fancy there is always the granddaddy of backup tools -- rsync. In fact, some of the apps above use rysnc behind the scenes (others use version control systems like SVn, Git or Mercurial).
RSync by itself isn't pretty, it's just a command line utility, but there are plenty of GUI wrappers that can help you set up regular, scheduled backups and chose which folders to back up and which files to ignore. Just search for rysnc in the Ubuntu software center and try a few until you find something that works for you.
When it comes to backing up your files Linux is every bit as good and, in many cases, much better at the job than anything you'll find for Windows or Mac. Whether you're looking to backup your files on the web, to a local drive or, ideally, both, Linux has you covered.
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