Pika Backup

Version: 0.6.2 Web: https://apps. gnome.org/PikaBackup

There’s no dearth of apps that help you back up important data, and that’s a good thing. If you have ever lost data, you’ll agree. And if you haven’t, it’s just a matter of time. You can’t prevent data loss, but you can prepare for it. Pika Backup helps keep copies of important files via a simple interface.

It’s available as a distro-agnostic Flatpak and can be installed with flatpak install flathub org.gnome. World.PikaBackup .

Pika Backup is based on the venerable CLI utility

BorgBackup and exposes one of its coolest functions that helps save time and disk space by not copying data that’s already backed up.

To use the app, you have to set up a backup profile, which involves creating a new backup repository. You can take local backups by creating the repository inside a local location on disk or a removable drive, but a better option is to take backups in a remote location. For best performance, the app suggests setting up

Borg on the server side. However, you can take remote backups via SFTP and SMB as well.

After you’ve selected a backup location, you have to enter a password to encrypt your backup. You can optionally choose to keep the backups unencrypted as well. You then have to point the app to files you want to back up, and you’re done. By default, the app selects the Home ~/ directory, excluding the caches, but you can choose to back up specific directories instead, such as Documents and Downloads.

Once the backups are created, you can mount them and then copy any files and folders you want to recover. You can also ask the app to automatically back up your data on a schedule. Furthermore, you can set the app to remove old backups by specifying their lifespan, which helps you save disk space.

1 2 Backup profiles 1 Click here to go the main screen, where you can view all your backup profiles and set up new ones. Backup details 2 View information about the selected backup profile, and add and remove folders you’d like to back up. 3 4 View archives 3 This tab lists all the backup snapshots of the current profile, which you can either browse or delete. Backup schedule 4 Scheduled backups can be enabled from under this tab. Here you can define their frequency and the lifespan of old backups.

Pika Backup isn’t the most feature-rich backup utility out there, but it’s a nifty tool for home users wanting to back up their personal data.