Keep Your Data Safe with rsync Backup for Android

Productivity Sauce

Android users who rely on the rsync utility to keep their data safe on Linux will most definitely appreciate the rsync Backup for Android app which endows an Android device with some serious backup powers. Of course, to make use of this nifty app, you need a Linux-based machine running the openSSH server. Also, if you plan to perform backups outside your local network, you need to make the machine accessible from the Internet. Moreover, the rsync Backup app doesn't include the rsync binaries, so during the first run it prompts you to download them to your Android device.

Unlike rsync on Linux, the rsync Backup app offers a simple graphical interface for configuring backup profiles. But before you set up a backup job on your Android device, you have to generate an encryption key pair, and the app comes with a built-in feature that allows you to do that with relative ease. Press the hardware Menu button and tap on Generate Keys. Once the keys have been generated, you need to add the public key to the backup machine. On your Android device, open the /sdcard/dss_key.pub file in a text editor and copy the contents of the file. Next, use the ConnectBot app to connect to the backup server, and use the nano ~/.ssh/authorized_keys command to open the authorized_keys file in the nano text editor. Paste then the public key at the end of the file, then save and close it.

Now you can set up a backup profile. Press the Menu hardware button and tap on Add Profile. Fill out the required fields, including the path to the directory on your Android device you want to back up, user name, server address or host name, the path to the encryption key (/sdcard/dss_key), and the destination directory. In the Additional rsync options field, you can specify other parameters. By default, rsync Backup backs up files from your Android device to the destination machine. But you can change the direction by ticking the rsync in reverse check box. Save the profile, and you are done. To run the configured backup job, tap on it and you can monitor the progress in the log window.

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