A few simple scripts for automated data backup

PowerShell on Windows work computer

Work computers within the hospital network typically restrict administrative rights to install custom tools. Over the years, I have found that PowerShell + robocopy nightly backup to an intranet network share is the most straight-forward method.

First create the following PowerShell script and save it as nightly-backup.ps1 under User Home.

ROBOCOPY C:\Workspace \\INTRANET\UserHome\Backup\Workspace /DCOPY:DA /MT /MIR /FFT /Z /XA:SH /R:0 /TEE /XJD

Then create a task in Task Scheduler to be run every midnight. Technically speaking, this is just synchronizing a nightly snapshot, and not a backup. But network shares are an expensive resource, and storing a separately time-stamped snapshot every day makes little sense.

restic on Linux personal computer

In my experience, restic is hands down the best backup utility. On Windows, this can be installed with scoop. It is packaged with many distros.

First, create a repo with an optional password file

restic init --repo /path/to/repo --password-file /path/to/password-file

Then create a bash script for backing up

#!/usr/bin/env bash
restic -r /path/to/repo --password-file /path/to/password-file --exclude="/path/to/excluded-dirs/*" backup /path/to/original-files

Use anacron to set up regular backup intervals. Place the back up script under ~/.local/etc/cron.daily