Turn Your Chromebook into a Lightweight Backup Station

Productivity Sauce
A Chromebook excels at all things that require an Internet connection, but its usability is somewhat limited when it comes to mundane computing tasks like backup. Say, you want to use a Chromebook to back up SD cards from your camera to a USB drive when you travel. On a regular Linux machine, this task would be easy to accomplish using good old rsync. On Chromebook, however, your only option is to copy files using the Files app, which is both excruciatingly slow and impractical. A combination of Crouton and Crouton Chrome extension provides an elegant solution to the problem. Install the extension, and grab the latest version of Crouton using the https://goo.gl/fd3zc link. Press Ctrl+Alt+T, type shell, and press Enter to launch the shell. Run the sudo sh ~/Downloads/crouton -t extension command to install the minimal version of Ubuntu that provides integration with Chrome.
Enter the chroot environment using the sudo enter-chroot command and install rsync using the sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install rsync command. That's all there is to it. You can now use rsync to perform backups between external storage devices connected to the Chromebook.
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe 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
-
PipeWire 1.0 Officially Released
PipeWire was created to take the place of the oft-troubled PulseAudio and has finally reached the 1.0 status as a major update with plenty of improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Rocky Linux 9.3 Available for Download
The latest version of the RHEL alternative is now available and brings back cloud and container images for ppc64le along with plenty of new features and fixes.
-
Ubuntu Budgie Shifts How to Tackle Wayland
Ubuntu Budgie has yet to make the switch to Wayland but with a change in approaches, they're finally on track to making it happen.
-
TUXEDO's New Ultraportable Linux Workstation Released
The TUXEDO Pulse 14 blends portability with power, thanks to the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU.
-
AlmaLinux Will No Longer Be "Just Another RHEL Clone"
With the release of AlmaLinux 9.3, the distribution will be built entirely from upstream sources.
-
elementary OS 8 Has a Big Surprise in Store
When elementary OS 8 finally arrives, it will not only be based on Ubuntu 24.04 but it will also default to Wayland for better performance and security.
-
OpenELA Releases Enterprise Linux Source Code
With Red Hat restricting the source for RHEL, it was only a matter of time before those who depended on that source struck out on their own.
-
StripedFly Malware Hiding in Plain Sight as a Cryptocurrency Miner
A rather deceptive piece of malware has infected 1 million Windows and Linux hosts since 2017.
-
Experimental Wayland Support Planned for Linux Mint 21.3
As with most Linux distributions, the migration to Wayland is in full force. While some distributions have already made the move, Linux Mint has been a bit slower to do so.
-
Window Maker Live 0.96.0-0 Released
If you're a fan of the Window Maker window manager, there's a new official release of the Linux distribution that champions the old-school user interface.