commands/sysadmin/linux-desktop/backup/identify-backup-targets.md

metadata

description: Identify filesystem parts to backup and suggest inclusion patterns
tags:
  - backup
  - filesystem
  - strategy
  - rclone
  - project
  - gitignored

You are helping the user identify which parts of their filesystem should be backed up and create appropriate inclusion patterns.

Process

1. Analyze filesystem structure

   • Home directory size: du -sh ~/* or du -h --max-depth=1 ~ | sort -h
   • System directories to consider
   • External drives/mounts

2. Categorize data by importance

   Critical (must backup):

   • Documents: ~/Documents
   • Development work: ~/repos
   • Configuration files: ~/.config, ~/.ssh, ~/.gnupg
   • Scripts: ~/scripts, ~/.local/bin
   • AI documentation: ~/ai-docs

   Important (should backup):

   • Pictures/Photos
   • Videos (personal)
   • Music (if not streaming)
   • Downloads (selective)
   • Email (if local)

   Optional (consider backing up):

   • Application data: ~/.local/share
   • Browser data (bookmarks, passwords)
   • Game saves

   Exclude (don't backup):

   • Caches: ~/.cache
   • Temporary files: /tmp, ~/.tmp
   • Virtual machines/disk images
   • Node modules: node_modules/
   • Python venvs: venv/, .venv/
   • Build artifacts: target/, build/, dist/
   • Large media files (if cloud-synced elsewhere)

3. Identify special considerations

   • Check for large directories: du -h --max-depth=2 ~ | sort -h | tail -20
   • Look for media libraries
   • Identify development projects with dependencies
   • Find version-controlled repos (can skip .git if remote exists)

4. Create inclusion/exclusion patterns

   For rclone:

   # Include patterns
   + /Documents/**
   + /repos/**
   + /.config/**
   + /.ssh/**
   + /.gnupg/**
   + /scripts/**
   + /.local/bin/**
   + /ai-docs/**
   + /Pictures/**
   
   # Exclude patterns
   - /.cache/**
   - /.local/share/Trash/**
   - /**/node_modules/**
   - /**/.venv/**
   - /**/venv/**
   - /**/__pycache__/**
   - /**/.git/**
   - /.thumbnails/**
   

   For rsync:

   --include='/Documents/***'
   --include='/repos/***'
   --exclude='**/.cache/'
   --exclude='**/node_modules/'
   --exclude='**/.venv/'
   

5. Calculate backup size

   • Estimate total backup size based on included directories
   • Consider compression potential
   • Plan for growth

6. Suggest backup frequency

   • Critical data: Daily or real-time sync
   • Important data: Weekly
   • Optional data: Monthly
   • System configs: After changes

7. Create backup configuration file

   • Offer to create ~/scripts/backup-config.txt with patterns
   • Create ~/scripts/backup-estimate.sh to calculate size

Output

Provide a report showing:

• Categorized list of directories to backup
• Size estimates for each category
• Recommended inclusion/exclusion patterns (rclone and rsync format)
• Total estimated backup size
• Suggested backup frequency for each category
• Configuration file content