Simple Backup Solution
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The tool was written to be used in Ubuntu so it supposes a few things about your system, but if you install it generically there should be no problems with installing it almost anywhere (not Windows!). If you use the generic installation method (instead of the Debian one) you should make sure you have python and python-gnome2 libraries installed. The next step is to install sudo for the intended user. Then its just the matter of running "make install" in the same directory as the README file. The next step is to run simple-backup-config ("System->Administration->Simple Backup Config" in Gnome) which will set up your backup.
Screen Shot of Simple Backup Solution
With the tool installed all that remains is to configure the settings which are best for your situation. This includes choosing which files/directories/file type are backed up (Include tab) and which are not (Exclude tab). The Destination tab will tell the tool where the backup should be stored. This can be locally ( /var/backup/ is default ) or remotely through either FTP or SSH. The final tab, Time, configures when and at what frequency the backups are done. By default the tool is set for a backup schedule which is perfect for most businesses and users: a daily incremental backup and a complete backup once a week.
There are a few things to note when using this program. The most important ones which many users may not realize are that you must save your backup configuration for it to work and that multimedia files are not backed up by default.
Storing backups means nothing if you can't restore them when needed- the tool can do this as well. To recover data users you use the simple-restore-gnome tool (in GNOME, System -> Administration "Simple Backup Restore"). At this point you simply needed to choose a backup, known as a "snapshot", select which files from it needs to be restored, and then run it. Readers can learn more about the details of the snapshots here.
The stated goal of Simple Backup Solution was to "provide a simple, yet powerful, backup solution for desktop Linux users" and the author did a nice job with it. SBS does the job it is needed to do and is a great choice as a single user's backup solution. Businesses and larger ventures will probably need something more robust because SBS lacks certain important features, like encryption, the ability to back up multiple system, and complete logging. While most users will be OK with these limitations, they may have more trouble with the fact that SBS cannot back up to CD/DVD. This is said to be on in the works though. Other items on the ToDo list are encryption, split master backup file into smaller pieces, backup media management, syslog logging, and a first time wizard.
References: 1. sbackup Homepage