My first experience with any kind of backup solution on Linux was the outstanding Deja Dup (which appears as simply “Backup” in most app menus). I was so impressed with this set-it-and-forget-it software that it was the topic of my second video ever. That was way back in 2019, but Déjà Dup has seen meaningful improvements since then. Maintainer Michael Terry has announced the 4.3 beta release. It includes some notable new features and a visual refresh.
OneDrive + Restic Join The Party
Headlining the update is the addition of Microsoft OneDrive support. You can now choose personal OneDrive accounts added as your backup destination. Business accounts, however, aren’t supported.
A subset of users are going to love the next feature: Restic backup support just joined the party. Restic is a CLI-based backup system that can save your files from Windows, Linux, macOS or BSD. It uses cryptography every step of the way to offer more security, and it uses a delta backup method. This is especially useful when you’re in a hurry since it only backs up the bits of your files that have changed since the previous backup.
I don’t have personal experience with Restic, but System76 employee Aaron Honeycutt (featured on Linux For Everyone #53) swears by it. So I’m eager to give this Deja Dup + Restic combo a shot.
Don’t rely on the Restic option for production machines, though. It’s very early days on that front. But the more people testing, the better the overall production becomes!
Deja Dup Visual Updates
Deja Dup also receives what the developer calls a “welcome visual refresh.” It was recently ported to gtk4 and libadwaita1.
Remember, this is a beta! Maintainer Michael Terry is asking for help identifying any “broken corners” of the UI, and any issues with the OneDrive and Restic integration.
(Got a news tip for us? Send an email to news@openforeveryone.net. Thanks for this one @FishfulPenguin!)
Déja Dup is really awesome. It’s really easy to setup and it works reliably without much fanfare. Great suggestion Jason!