LB seems to take a long time

[Alan Taylor]

Hi Loukas,

My name is Alan and I am relative novice at Linux. I am running Mint 18.1 Cinnamon and have installed the current version of LB, 0.4.8, via Synaptic Packet Manager. As a novice I am struggling a bit, not only with the program itself, but with the manual although that said, your manual is definitely a cut above most instructions that I have read for Linux programmes. It is reading it that is a problem. If I use F1 to open it I get a small box roughly 1/2 the size of my screen and with very small text There is no ‘Enlarge’ button in the top tool bar so all I can do is drag the edges to make it bigger but even that does not proportionally enlarge the text. What is more, having the Manual open steals the focus so I cannot read a bit then refer to the program then go back and read a bit more. I can, of course, go online and open a copy but even then, if I print it out (something I always do so I can read up when I am away from the computer) the text is even smaller and I have to use a magnifying glass to read it. One other thing is that when I use the F1 option I cannot use any search facility to find what I am looking for. All niggles really but I thought they might be worth mentioning.

As far as the programme itself is concerned there are several thing that do not make sense to me. The first of which is understanding the difference between Profiles and Tasks. (Something that does not seem to be defined in the manual). I can use the Default profile to set up a Task and the detail of that task are defined in the Task set up. So what is the profile for?

Second question. All of my Data is on a separate HDD and away from the OS. On that drive I have a directory, called Mozilla, that has a directory for my Firefox and another directory for my Thunderbird profile. Using the ‘Default’ profile, to backup my Mozilla directory and it contents I read in the “Task properties (the simple way)” section of the manual that I can create a new task and select the Type as either ‘Backup source inside destination’ or ‘Synchronize source & destination’. However, I do not see a ‘do NOT create extra directory check box’. Am I missing something here please?

My data drive is called 015data, my backup drive, another separate HDD, is called 015backup. Both are 2TB drives. I have set up a task to backup the Mozilla directory in 015data to 015backup. It verified okay so I ran it. Despite specifying the Mozilla folder LB took well over three hours to complete the task. It searched through the entire source drive and once complete, produced a log file that was 1602 pages long (viewed in Open Office Reader). A second run did the same thing and despite the fact that there were no changes as the second run immediately followed the first still took ‘Elapsed time : 02:21:12
Total files transferred : 0 (0 bytes)’. As others on this forum do not appear to have these problems it must be something I have done. I just do not know what.

[Loukas Avgeriou]

Hi Alan,

for a start, welcome to the opensource community :)

As far as the manual is concerned, you can always read it from a webbrowser at the following link:
http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/manual.html
I just read that you already tried that. You're right, I should do something to make the "help" window, more readable.

You have already understood what a task is.
Well, a profile is a set of tasks in a specific order.
eg
first run task1: Sync directory "/home/alan/project" with "/media/extUSB/project"
then run task2: Backup directory "/home/alan/project" to "/media/backups/project"

There is a small reference at the manual at the definitions section:
http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/manual.html#definitions

Here's a screenshot of a profile with 8 tasks:
http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/manual.html#notReady

Remember that when you use the schedule or the email feature, you are refering to profiles (eg you are scheduling a whole profile which is a set of tasks)

The task type "Synchronize source & destination" is a 2 way sync:

1. source -> destination
2. destination -> source

"Backup source inside destination" is a normal one way backup:
source -> destination

The "do NOT create extra directory check box" is only visible when you select the 2nd task type (backup). As soon as you select "Synchronize source & destination", the checkbox vanishes.

As far as the fact that it takes so much to time to complete the mozilla backup task, is concerned, you are correct, something does not seem right. The second time you run the task, it should finish in seconds (or minutes).
What LB does in the beginning is that it goes through all files info at the source and at the destination as well (the "calculating" stage) so that it decides which files should it transfer and which files it shouldn't. The time that the "calculating" stage consumes is relevant to the number of files the source and the destination has.
Then the actual transfer of files takes place which takes as much time needed to transfer files (eg usb2 will be slower than usb3 and probably faster than a network transfer).
I suspect, that for some reason, the "calculating" stage for the task you mentioned takes over 2 hours to complete which is not normal, no matter how many files the mozilla folder contains.

As a first step, I would like you to make sure you have selected "Backup source inside destination" as task type so that the process will not happen both ways (015data -> 015backup->015data) but only one (015data->015backup).
To avoid data transfering again, check the box "do NOT create extra directory". Make sure your destination is something like "/media/015backup/mozilla" and not "media/015backup/"
Then, let me know of the size and number of files of the Mozilla folder at the 015data HDD (just right click at the folder and select "properties", using Mint's file browser).

[Alan Taylor]

Hello again Loukas,

Please excuse the long time between your answer and this update. Your very helpful suggestions you caused me to look with much more clarity, not only at my LB settings, but also at my disk drives. Your question about the size and number of files in my Mozilla directory did the trick, and the question came at a very opportune moment as I found that my 2TB backup drive was virtually filled. I had been trying different things out with LB and, as a result, had backed up my entire data drive inside a backup of itself several times as well as inside the Mozilla directory - also several times. No wonder LB was taking so long.

Anyway, as a result of your post I now understand a lot more. First, a ‘Profile’ is a container for the various ‘Tasks’ within it. Not only that, but also ‘Cron’ runs on the ‘Profile’ rather than the individual ‘Tasks’. Secondly, I had, as you obviously suspected, set all of my ‘Tasks’ with the type setting ‘Synchronise source and Destination’. As a result of this new found knowledge I have deleted everything I had set up in LB as well as all the preciously saved backups on my 015backup drive and started again, setting up and running several ‘Tasks’ under the default profile. GParted now reports that I have 1.78 GiB free space on 015backup rather than the 356 MiB I saw when I first looked. The only thing that you suggested that I have not done is left the ‘do NOT create extra directory’ box unticked. It works for me.

With any new software, of for that matter anything else I acquire, I am one of those people that does actually “read the flipping manual” (RFM) before diving in. As far as possible I like to have a printed copy, (I bind them as that is another one of my hobbies) that I sit in a comfortable chair away from the computer and concentrate on. Frequently instructions are part of my bed time reading. Yes, I read your excellent manual on the screen - both the HTML version as well as the one from the ‘Help’ menu. At least the HTML version does not steal and hog the focus and is searchable, something that is sadly missing from the ‘Help’ version. However, the text in the printed version is so small I have to use a magnifying class. A personal plea, if nothing else can you enlarge it - PLEASE?

That was a light hearted comment although heartfelt. I am though, very grateful for your assistance. Your one post put me on the straight and narrow path and has enabled me to get my head around your excellent programme. In the days of Windows XP Pro I used Acronis True Image which was fantastic. LuckyBackup is the only Linux backup software I have found that not only measures up, but surpasses Acronis. Well done and “Thank you”

Alan

[Alan Taylor]

A post script.

Can LB be run while various programmes are in use? As a for instance, does it matter if a snapshot is taken while, say there is a Libre Office file open and being worked on or a download is taking place. I am thinking that a snapshot is exactly that, a snapshot, and that it will reflect ‘Exactly’ what the state of play is when it is taken but would appreciate the confirmation.

Alan

[Loukas Avgeriou]

thank you for the kind words Alan.
I'm glad, things finaly worked out :)

Yes, LB can run with no problem during a live session.
Just have in mind that it will decide on which files to transfer during the "calculations" stage. If a file is deleted, added or modified, after this stage (if you're fast enough !), the change won't affect the backup. You might also get an error in the end (eg if a file is deleted and was to get transfered you'll get a "file has vanished" message)

PS
Please note that LB is great for file-oriented backups.
If you are looking for something similar to acronis, you can always try disk mirroring software like clonezilla (under gpl licence)

[Alan Taylor]

Thank you for the confirmation.

At the moment LB seems to do everything I want with my data so that is great. I will look at disk mirroring as well. Another learning curve. Ah well!

Thanks again.

Alan