Deja-dup, a great Backup utility

We all need to take backups from time to time. A few months ago I wrote an article about doing so using Rsync. This was a command line way and didn't have any provision for data encryption. So, while looking for a tool that would let me encrypt as well as backup data, I found this really cool GUI application deja-dup which does far more than I was looking for.

Some of the noticable features of Deja-dup are its ability to backup on Amazon S3 and to automate the backup daily, weekly or monthly. Take a look at its features list.

Deja-dup Features

 • Support for local or remote backup locations, including Amazon S3
 • Securely encrypts and compresses your data
 • Incrementally backs up, letting you restore from any particular backup
 • Schedules regular backups
 • Integrates well into your GNOME desktop

Currently, deja-dup is available only for Ubuntu and Debian. No rpm package is available so I will just show you how to install it in Ubuntu.

Install Deja-dup on Ubuntu

The version available as default in the Karmic repos is 10.2 so if you want to go for the latest stable release, you will have to add the PPA. Either run this command

[shredder12]$  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deja-dup-team/ppa

or, open the file /etc/apt/sources.list

[shredder12]$ sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

and add these 2 lines at the bottom of the file

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/deja-dup-team/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/deja-dup-team/ppa/ubuntu karmic main 

Now, run update.

[shredder12]$ sudo apt-get update

The stable version you will get currently by adding this ppa is 11.1. So, if you want the latest release then go for the development packages, but I should warn you that they are under testing so could be a little buggy. In order to install those development packages. Do the procedure mentioned above using this ppa.

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/deja-dup-team/testing/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/deja-dup-team/testing/ubuntu karmic main 

or just run this command.

[shredder12]$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deja-dup-team/testing

and now run the update and once its done run the following command to install it.

[shredder12]$ sudo apt-get install deja-dup