Backup strategies in Linux CLI - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Backup strategies

📖 Scenario: You are managing important files on your Linux computer. To keep your data safe, you want to create a simple backup script that copies files from one folder to another. This way, if something happens to your original files, you have a copy saved.

🎯 Goal: Build a small script that copies files from a source directory to a backup directory using Linux command line commands.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a variable for the source directory path

Create a variable for the backup directory path

Use a command to copy all files from the source to the backup directory

Print a message confirming the backup is complete

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Backing up files regularly is important to avoid data loss from accidents or hardware failure.

💼 Career

System administrators and IT support staff often write backup scripts to automate data protection tasks.

1

Set up source directory variable

Create a variable called source_dir and set it to "/home/user/documents".

Linux CLI

# Create a variable called source_dir and set it to "/home/user/documents"
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use the syntax variable_name="value" to create a variable in bash.

2

Set up backup directory variable

Create a variable called backup_dir and set it to "/home/user/backup".

Linux CLI

source_dir="/home/user/documents"
# Create a variable called backup_dir and set it to "/home/user/backup"
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use the same variable assignment style as in Step 1.

3

Copy files from source to backup

Use the cp command with the -r option to copy all files and folders from $source_dir to $backup_dir.

Linux CLI

source_dir="/home/user/documents"
backup_dir="/home/user/backup"
# Copy all files and folders from $source_dir to $backup_dir
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The cp -r command copies directories recursively. Use quotes around variables to handle spaces.

4

Print backup completion message

Write a echo command to print "Backup completed successfully!".

Linux CLI

source_dir="/home/user/documents"
backup_dir="/home/user/backup"
cp -r "$source_dir"/* "$backup_dir"/
# Print "Backup completed successfully!"
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use echo "Your message" to print text in bash.