Hello there! Here’s the thing: I got some old HDD for my Debian home server, and now that I have plenty of disk space I want to keep a backup of the OS, so that if something accidentally breaks (either SW or HW) I can quickly fix it.

now the question is: which directory should I include and which should I exclude from the backup? I use docker a lot, is there any docker-specific directory that I should back up?

  • CocaineShrimp@sh.itjust.works
    15·
    3 days ago

    I usually only keep documents and media. Programs can be redownloaded and reinstalled (and it might be better to reinstall them in case you move to a new OS anyway to ensure compatibility).

    For docker specifically, only keep stuff that’s specific for your instance; which you normally setup as an external volume anyway. Docker is designed such that you should be able to nuke the container, and all persistent data is restored via an external volume on the host. If you’re not doing that, you should immediately go and set that up now (to get the data out safely, setup a volume connection such that the container path is new - that way you don’t accidentally destroy what’s there, copy the stuff you need out, then readjust the path so it’s correct)

    • tubbadu@lemmy.kde.socialOP
      21·
      3 days ago

      thanks for the reply! Yes for sure I’m backing up all the /home directory, but I’d like to preserve also important configurations like ssh, cronjob etc, but I don’t really know which directories are important for this and which are not