I use restic for all my backups now. It is not a GUI app so it works well within containers, VMs and cloud servers. It is full featured, straight-forward and rock solid.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

I like the idea of other CLI tools, and of course backup my servers using command line rsync. I have been wanting to look into Borg more, but definitely prefer a GUI when it's available.

@sachron3gmail

2 ай бұрын

i also like if there is a gui there , and with all community help really it helps us alot . hope this will continues

@arvindhn036

2 ай бұрын

​@@AwesomeOpenSource for borg you need to setup borg server where as with restic you only need ssh access. I use restic + minio + Backblaze B2

@thebaldmaniac

2 ай бұрын

@@AwesomeOpenSourcei believe Pika is using Borg in the background

@crckdns

2 ай бұрын

​@@thebaldmaniacit does, it's just a gui for borg

You are genuine and humble technocrat. Your contents are priceless. Learned many things. May god bless you for spreading the real asset i.e."Knowledge". From Land of knowledge ( India )

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

I truly appreciate that! Thank you..

I switched from Deja-Dup to Pika Backup ~6 Month ago and i am amazed how well it works and how easy it is to use. The biggest problem i had with Deja-Dup was setting up the same repository after a reinstallation of my PC. I got so annoyed that i found Pika on my hunt for an alternative. With Pika even this just works!

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

That's awesome to hear. I love it when things just work.

Great video! Pika looks to be a great frontend to BorgBackup. I'm using Borgmatic on my servers to configure regular Borg backups, and I also use Vorta on desktops, which provides very similar functionality, but it's from the Qt/KDE family.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

Oh nice! Borgmatic is on my list as well.

You sold me on Pika. Installing now!

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

That's awesome! Hope it works well for you.

Pro tip: Timeshift does work with external hard drives you just have to either format it using ext3 or create a partition and then format it using ext3. (Because it uses hard links to avoid copying the data that didn't change, and NTFS or fat32 don't really support the hard linking that Timeshift would require) However still, nice video I like how this can backup over the network as well and easily encrypt the backups.

@Darkk6969

2 ай бұрын

Why ext3? ext4 supports hard links as well and it's more modern than ext3.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

Interesting. Yeah, TimeShift is a really cool tool when you have BtrFS and do snapshots IMO.

Timeshift not only has the option to make system snapshots via BTRFS subvolumes, (as you say, "local backups"), but it can also do exactly what Pika does, i.e. back up the system in multiple scheduled versions to an external device via RSYNC.

@AwesomeOpenSource

8 күн бұрын

Indeed, but it's not quite the simple setup of Pika IMO.

@Error8x8

Күн бұрын

​@@AwesomeOpenSource SMH, who cares if it's simple to setup, what matters is how it works. Timeshift does everything Pika does and more. I'm sure you can wrap your head around it.

It is a good wrapper, it uses Borg. Pika-backup is great for average joe that wants a simple yet very powerful backup solution. Part of my backup offering, i use Borg extensively for backuping client's servers to my backup hosting servers, controlled by bash script i wrote that takes care of each backup name, automatic pruning, writing to syslog, sending email, etc. (quite simple script scheduled by cron) It supports encrypting backups, de-duplication, compression. Obviously, i use it for my own laptops backups! I love the fact that i can use the borg command to remotely mount one backup and it becomes a local directory that i can run any command on it, like find, rsync, etc.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

That's an awesome setup! Love it! Putting Open Source to work in Business!

Works like a charm on Pop! OS. Works sans scheduler (fails) on latest Linux Mint Cinnamon. Seems to be due to an issue with LM using a very old version of flatpak.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

Could be a flatpak versioning issue. Can't the flatpak version be updated though?

@gregnewton5434

2 ай бұрын

@@AwesomeOpenSource I think it's more the case that the background task scheduler org.freedesktop.portal.Background is only supported on Gnome (also running Cinnamon Mint here, so scheduling fails). Kopia might work better for me but the UI is not in the same class as Pika Backup :(

Backintime has been my goto timemachine alternative on linux

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

BackInTime is good, but last I looked ( a few years now) it hadn't been updated in a long time.

@VassilisKipouros

2 ай бұрын

@@AwesomeOpenSource I am sadly aware of, also annoyed by old gui but... it still does the job pretty good

A Video about miniflux would be great, ttrss or freshrss are also an option, but miniflux seems to be the best.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

I'll look into it.

I can recommend kopia. It's more performant than borg or restic and has an optional (cross platform) gui.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

I've seen Kopia. It's on my list to dig into.

I want to backup to my Unraid server, and I've already set up an NFS share. But it seems that Pika Backup can't just selected that NFS share as a destination?

@AwesomeOpenSource

Ай бұрын

That's interesting. Do you have the NFS share mounted to the machine where Pika BAckup is running, or were you looking to use the NFS URL in pika backup somewhere?

@Thoroughmas

Ай бұрын

@@AwesomeOpenSource Yesterday when I selected a folder on the NFS share, Pika only brought up a temporary path. But I just tried again, and it seems to have found the correct /mnt/nfs/folder. So I might be all set! You can have the credit xD

Except my default editor is vim so I cannot restore my files because when I do a browse in the Pika gui, the directories open in vim as a tree, It appears that this app only works if the OS FM is a gui app, like thunar or pcman.

@AwesomeOpenSource

Ай бұрын

Might be a limitation for sure.

I like your videos

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

Thank you so much!

This is pretty good. Will it run in a container?

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

No container that I know of. This is a full Gnome GTK app as far as I can tell.

I installed this on Debian 12 running XFCE and I got 'Background Process Inactive - this is required for scheduled backups...' any idea what the problem could be?

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

No. Not sure what process may not be starting. Probably a good question to post on their gitlab page (linked in the video description).

Any chance you can put a video about Tactical RMM, thanks

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

No, Tactical RMM is not open source. It uses MeshCentral in the background though.

What I would like to do is have backups that do NOT get deleted when I delete them from my computer. I guess that is an archive? Does this do that?

@AwesomeOpenSource

Ай бұрын

It does, this does archived backups.

I just gave this the once over both in Fedora 39 installation and my Arch (Cinnamon DE) install. What really bothers me is the clumsyness of doing a restore. Unless I'm missing something, I have to go in and copy from my backup archive and manually paste back in to my desired destination. This is cumbersome if say, I have my entire /home directory backed up, I then reinstall my Linux dist and then want to restore the entire /home directory back. I have to individually go through ALL my /home content and copy/paste it manually, including hidden files of course. I just find this clunky. Just wondering out loud why dev didn't include a "Restore/Restore To" button as well.

@AwesomeOpenSource

Ай бұрын

I just copied the entire folder from the backup to the location I wanted to restore the multiple files to. it was pretty simple for me. But, you can always ask the developer on github if they'd be willing to add a restore function.

I would like to see a scheduled integrity check, maybe with a message if something went wrong

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

I can't claim that it doesn't do one after the backup rund, but a great suggestion for their gitlab page (link in the video description).

does it also do pull based backups? edit: aah no... thought this is like a service to backup other servers

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

No, this is really meant to be a backup for your local home directory.

I wish I could get something like this for Mac OS for something more customized than the limited control time machine gives

@oscs4556

2 ай бұрын

You can use Vorta backup. I have on my Mac. Vorta is a gui front end to Borg backup just like pika backup.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

The control in TimeMachine is a bit limited, but also it's meant to be a super simple thing to setup, start, and just let it be.

@MStrong95

2 ай бұрын

@@AwesomeOpenSource the only thing I've come across that is advanced control like is that you can use mac terminal to adjust the priority of the backup process from background to normal priority: sudo sysctl debug.lowpri_throttle_enabled=0

I tried using Pike Backup but the issue with it is actually the maintainer and the lack of some basic features. Even though multiple users requested certain basic features, because the maintainer herself does not use them and find them useful, she just says no and closes your issue. I would probably recommend people use Vorta backup which is made by BorgBase themselves over Pika Backup. The maintainers actually care what their users want and it is more full featured.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

I understand the frustration you feel, and that's part of development. I've seen plenty of closed source applications say 'no' to a feature request. It's not a slight against anyone, but more about not the direction the product maintainer wants to go. That's the great thing about open source too, though. In closed source, you're out of luck, but in open source, you can fork the repo and add the feature yourself, or have someone else add it (maybe via Fiverr, or the like). Vorta sounds cool, so I'll be covering it in the future. I do kind of like the simplicity of PIka though.

@nombable

2 ай бұрын

@@AwesomeOpenSourceThat is essentially the conclusion I came to as well. I forked it and have been using it as a reason to learn rust. Will at some point put up another flatpak with the changes for everyone. That said there are still some things in Vorta I like better. You can actually pick an ssh key on disk vs having to have the host and key configured in your ssh config. You can mount a single archive like Pika but you can also mount all archives at once. Support for '.nobackup' files. Backups also just seem faster but I'm not sure why. The GUI is definitely function over aesthetics but I'm OK with that in backup software. Apparently it has a dark mode but I have yet been able to trigger it. Thanks for your positive response. Can't wait for your video on Vorta.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

Love it! Let me know when you PR the changes too. This is why Open Source is so awesome! It's the opportunity to make improvements to something, and share that with everyone.

restic is great, but this tool about GUI, and nice GUI, Windows like one. Which is cool and good.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

Glad you like it!

🎉

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

Cheers!

can pika be managed from the commandline or a browser inferface?

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

Not browser that I'm aware of, but Pika is a frontend for Borg Backup, so you can use CLI for Borg, and Borgmatic, I believe is a web browser front end for Borg.

@MarloMitchell

2 ай бұрын

thanks u @@AwesomeOpenSource

I'll look into it, but I already have a Time Machine like backup script, which is used by the thousands by Linux and Windows users.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

That's awesome. If what you have is working for you, then keep using it.

I thought, as you wrote "Linux" you meant really a new backup solution, maybe replacement for my BorgBackup.. But Pika Backup is just a GUI for borgbackup basically :(

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

Indeed, it uses Borg backup in the background. It is just a way to lower the barrier to usage for the end user.

Seems only to be able to backup the users home folder. No Restore built in function. Can't backup say /etc folder or any other system folder.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

I show you how to restore, and no it's not like a "Restore" button. You literally open the backup in the file manager, and move / copy the backup to where you want it. It's really designed just to backup the items your user has permissions for (thus the home folder).

@repairman2be250

2 ай бұрын

@@AwesomeOpenSourceSorry, I did not mean to offense you. To me that Pica Backup is an unfinished product.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

Not at all. Never offended. Just trying to provide insight. I'm not always sure my videos give the whole picture. I love comments, and thoughts from others. I will say, you might like URBackup or Duplicati as an alternative to this one. Not sure if you've looked at those.

Great video. no s3 support?

@AwesomeOpenSource

Ай бұрын

No, not with this one. Duplicati would be your tool for that.

for me it is like a GUI for borg backup

@AwesomeOpenSource

Ай бұрын

It is exactly that.

So this is only for Linux? (No Windows client correct?)

@mithubopensourcelab482

2 ай бұрын

You can use it for Windows too, you only need to think out of box. Mount remote windows share and take windows backup from Linux... Nothing can stop you.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

It's not built for Windows, no. But there is a really good alternative, if you haven't looked at it. Duplicati is really nice, and is made for Linux, Mac, and Windows. www.duplicati.com/

@mr.robbotto

2 ай бұрын

​@@AwesomeOpenSource I've been using urbackup for Windows and so far I prefer it to duplicati which is what I used previously. Do you have any thoughts on urbackup?

@Darkk6969

2 ай бұрын

@@mr.robbotto He did a video on urbackup. Look for it on his playlist.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

Yep, URBackup is an awesome tool. I use it to do file backups on a lot of my machines to my TrueNAS system. It's pretty great, and once the agent is installed on clients, the options to manage the backups from one UI is great. Need to cover it again actually.

and it backup using xz tools haha. open source is fun. when it fails

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

I wouldn't really call that a fail. It was a long term planned attack really. 2 years in the making. Luckily their timeline was pushed up because systemd was patching the very thing they were trying to take advantage of. Additionally, had it not been on open source, we likely would have never known about it, not had it patched so quickly. Open Source for the win.

@JarppaGuru

Ай бұрын

@@AwesomeOpenSource is than make it any better xD this is good too use it. everyone use it so popular. now we update it. boom. that boom time. nobody checked code

Unsafe requires full root access

@AwesomeOpenSource

Ай бұрын

To backup the file systems that are owned by root, it will require admin level access. You don't have to use it to backup those files / folders though.

Why do you think that it is better to have a windows device in your home instead of a apple device? The only reason that comes to mind is mild privacy protection, but even that is debatable compared to apple. There a literary hundreds of really important reasons for straight up boicoting apple, so I'm surprised you allow one and not the other. If anyone is curious I can post my list of reasons.

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

So, I have a Windows machine in my home, but it's my work provided device, and it's on it's own VLAN. I'm not a fan of microsoft. Their insistence that you have a microsoft account to login to a device you own. Their constant updates that re-enable all of the non-privacy respecting "features" of their OS. Does Mac have this? Yes, but when you turn nit off, it stays off. Does mac have an online account option? Yes, but it's an option that is evidentin setup, and not something where you have to know a special hotkey combo, command line command, and other stuff to get around it. You simply choose to not use an Apple ID for logging onto your computer. I now use Linux as my daily driver for everything personal. My girls also use Linux, including on their SteamDeck gaming systems. My wife is a Linux user as well, but she does get value from the Mac for her business in the form of specialized printer needs. It's just my personal beef with Microsoft. I hold nthing against anyone who uses Windows, and hope they enjoy every moment of using it, truly.

@toddselby443

2 ай бұрын

@@AwesomeOpenSource So you use both Ubuntu and Fedora desktops? You switch between them based on what your or doing, or just to stay current on both?

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

Distro-hopper. I've historically stuck with Ubuntu, but the past few months have been trying Fedora, and so far like it. Sometimes it's a bit more involved to get certain things to work, but worth it partially as a way to give data to my Linux User Group. Also, just becuase I like to jump around here and there on my desktop.

Veeam Backup and Replication is spectacular, free for 10 Workloads or VMs

@AwesomeOpenSource

2 ай бұрын

If only it were open source.