Build a Raspberry Pi-based backup device
Tiny Backup Box

With some creativity and a little scripting, you can easily turn your Raspberry Pi into an effective backup device.
Backup is crucial, especially when you are traveling. This is particularly true for photos: To keep your snaps safe, you ought to have at least one backup set of your precious photos. That's why a light, flexible, and inexpensive backup tool can be an indispensable tool in your travel bag. Several backup solutions are available on the market, but with a Raspberry Pi, you can build your own backup device and learn a few useful tricks and skills in the process.
Required Components
To begin, you will need a Raspberry Pi along with the Raspbian Linux distro installed on an SD card. Although you can use a standard micro-USB charger to power Raspberry Pi, you might want to invest in an external battery pack to make the solution more portable. Finally, you need a high-capacity USB key for storing backups. In theory, you could use a USB hard disk, but, because it must be connected to Raspberry Pi through a powered USB hub, this approach would make the setup unwieldy.
Going the Software Route
The easiest way to transform Raspberry Pi into a backup device is to use the excellent gPhoto2 [1] software available in the Raspbian software repository. To install it, you use the
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Ubuntu 25.04 Coming Soon
Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) has been given an April release date with many notable updates.
-
Gnome Developers Consider Dropping RPM Support
In a move that might shock a lot of users, the Gnome development team has proposed the idea of going straight up Flatpak.
-
openSUSE Tumbleweed Ditches AppArmor for SELinux
If you're an openSUSE Tumbleweed user, you can expect a major change to the distribution.
-
Plasma 6.3 Now Available
Plasma desktop v6.3 has a couple of pretty nifty tricks up its sleeve.
-
LibreOffice 25.2 Has Arrived
If you've been hoping for a release that offers more UI customizations, you're in for a treat.
-
TuxCare Has a Big AlmaLinux 9 Announcement in Store
TuxCare announced it has successfully completed a Security Technical Implementation Guide for AlmaLinux OS 9.
-
First Release Candidate for Linux Kernel 6.14 Now Available
Linus Torvalds has officially released the first release candidate for kernel 6.14 and it includes over 500,000 lines of modified code, making for a small release.
-
System76 Refreshes Meerkat Mini PC
If you're looking for a small form factor PC powered by Linux, System76 has exactly what you need in the Meerkat mini PC.
-
Gnome 48 Alpha Ready for Testing
The latest Gnome desktop alpha is now available with plenty of new features and improvements.
-
Wine 10 Includes Plenty to Excite Users
With its latest release, Wine has the usual crop of bug fixes and improvements, along with some exciting new features.