Ubuntu – Straightforward system and file backup/restore for Linux

_{(If you have three questions, it's better to ask three separate questions. But since the answers are short I'll answer them all.)}

1. Both rsync and rdiff-backup have fairly powerful file selection mechanisms, based on inclusion and exclusion rules. I wrote an rsync filter tutorial. Rdiff-backup's filters are based on the same principles but the details are different, see “file selection” section in the manual.

2. Restore the whole backup (i.e. the root directory of the backup tree) as of now: rdiff-backup -r now /path/to/backup /where/to/restore.

3. There's nothing in the storage format that depends on your hardware. You can save and restore on different machines, it doesn't matter.

You can use ntfs-3g, but make sure you place the mappings file in the right place. Once you do that you should see file ownerships in ../User/name match the unix user.

However, if you just want to use it as backup you should probably just save a big tarball onto the ntfs location. If you also want random access you can place an ext2 image file and loop mount it. That will save you from a lot of these headaches.

Ok, assuming you will mount NTFS under /ntfs

run ntfs-3g.usermap /dev/sdb1 (or whatever your ntfs partition is). Answer the questions. Then mkdir /ntfs/.NTFS-3G. Then cp UserMapping /ntfs/.NTFS-3G/UserMapping. Now put an entry in /etc/fstab:

/dev/sdb1 /ntfs ntfs-3g defaults 0 0

Then mount /ntfs. The command ls -l /ntfs/Users/Carl should show your Linux user as the owner of files there.