Backup directory structure

Normal backup

Each backup run creates a subdirectory in the backup directory, which has the following format: <hostname>.

A further directory is created underneath: <hostname>@<osversion>-<backuptype>-<backupdate>.

If the -M option is used (raspiBackup snapshot), the option value is appended: <hostname>@<osversion>-<backuptype>-<backupdate>.-<-M parameter>.

Examples:

The Raspberry has the hostname "raspberrypi" and an rsync backup is created from a Bookworm OS on 15.04.2016 at 22:29:00. The following directories are then created:

 ├── raspberrypi
 │ └── raspberrypi@debian12-rsync-backup-20160415-222900

If -M "Hello world" is used the directory name will be

 ├── raspberrypi
 │ └── raspberrypi@debian12-rsync-backup-20160415-222900_Hello_world

Enclosed is the directory structure of my backup server, which in this case is also a Raspberry Pi. Different backup types can be combined per Pi. Each backup is stored in a new subdirectory.

Three or five additional files are always created per Raspberry system in addition to the backup and are necessary for the restore if it is not an dd backup. This makes it possible for Linux experts to restore a backup manually. This is described in the chapter Manual restore.

• .img - boot partition
• .mbr - Master Boot Record of the system
• .sfdisk - Partition layout of the system - output of the sfdisk command
• .blkid - (partition oriented mode) - output of the blkid command
• .parted - (partition-oriented mode) - output of the parted command

root@raspiBackup:/mnt/backup/raspberrypi# tree -L 2

 .
 ├── raspberrypi@debian12-dd-backup-20160415-222900
 │ └── raspberrypi@debian12-dd-backup-20160415-222900.img
 ├── raspberrypi@debian12-rsync-backup-20160416-094106
 │ ├─── backup
 │ ├── bin
 │ ├── boot
 │ ├── boot.bak
 │ ├── dev
 │ ├── etc
 │ ├── home
 │ ├── lib
 │ ├── lost found
 │ ├── media
 │ ├── mnt
 │ ├── opt
 │ ├── proc
 │ ├─── raspberrypi-backup.img
 │ ├── raspberrypi-backup.mbr
 │ ├── raspberrypi-backup.sfdisk
 │ ├── raspiBackup.log
 │ ├── raspiBackup.msg
 │ ├── remote
 │ ├── root
 │ ├── run
 │ ├── sbin
 │ ├── selinux
 │ ├── srv
 │ ├── sys
 │ ├── tmp
 │ ├── usr
 │ └── var
 └── raspberrypi@debian12-tar-backup-20160415-204305
     ├── raspberrypi-backup.img
     ├── raspberrypi-backup.mbr
     ├── raspberrypi-backup.sfdisk
     ├── raspberrypi-tar-backup-20160415-204305.tar
     ├── raspiBackup.log
     └── raspiBackup.msg

Partition-oriented backup

root@boockworm:/mnt/backup/raspberrypi# tree -L 2
.

├── raspberrypi-backup.blkid
├── raspberrypi-backup.fdisk
├── raspberrypi-backup.mbr
├── raspberrypi-backup.parted
├── raspberrypi-backup.sfdisk
├── mmcblk0p1
│ ├── bcm2708-rpi-b.dtb
│ ├── bcm2708-rpi-b-plus.dtb
│ ├─── bcm2708-rpi-b-rev1.dtb
│ ├── bcm2708-rpi-cm.dtb
│ ├─── bcm2708-rpi-zero.dtb
│ ├── bcm2708-rpi-zero-w.dtb
│ ├─── bcm2709-rpi-2-b.dtb
│ ├─── bcm2710-rpi-2-b.dtb
│ ├── bcm2710-rpi-3-b.dtb
│ ├─── bcm2710-rpi-3-b-plus.dtb
│ ├─── bcm2710-rpi-cm3.dtb
│ ├─── bcm2711-rpi-400.dtb
│ ├── bcm2711-rpi-4-b.dtb
│ ├── bcm2711-rpi-cm4.dtb
│ ├─── bootcode.bin
│ ├── cmdline.txt
│ ├── config.txt
│ ├── COPYING.linux
│ ├── fixup4cd.dat
│ ├── fixup4.dat
│ ├── fixup4db.dat
│ ├── fixup4x.dat
│ ├── fixup_cd.dat
│ ├── fixup.dat
│ ├── fixup_db.dat
│ ├── fixup_x.dat
│ ├── issue.txt
│ ├── kernel7.img
│ ├── kernel7l.img
│ ├── kernel8.img
│ ├── kernel.img
│ ├── LICENCE.broadcom
│ ├── overlays
│ ├─── start4cd.elf
│ ├── start4db.elf
│ ├─── start4.elf
│ ├─── start4x.elf
│ ├── start_cd.elf
│ ├── start_db.elf
│ ├─── start.elf
│ └── start_x.elf
├── mmcblk0p2
│ ├─── backup
│ ├── bin
│ ├── boot
│ ├── dev
│ ├── etc
│ ├── home
│ ├── lib
│ ├── lost found
│ ├── media
│ ├── mnt
│ ├── opt
│ ├── proc
│ ├── remote
│ ├── root
│ ├── run
│ ├── sbin
│ ├── srv
│ ├── sys
│ ├── tmp
│ ├── usr
│ └── var
├── raspiBackup.log
└── raspiBackup.msg