[rdiff-backup-users] Advice on using rdiff-backup for home backup solution

[taltman]

Hello,

I'm looking to get feedback on a proposed home backup solution using rdiff-backup. I'm new to backups, and I'm trying to strike a balance between simplicity and adequate protection. I've read the rdiff-backup webpage, documentation, and wiki, and I've been working through the "Backup and Recovery" O'reilly book.

I basically have two laptops (one Mac and one Linux), one Linux virtual web server, and one Linux workstation in my home setup. My current plan involves:

1. Using 'unison' to sync between the machines, using the workstation as the hub.
2. Using two 1 Tbyte externally enclosed hard drives.
3. Performing an initial rdiff-backup of the data partition on the workstation to each of the external hard drives.
4. Taking one of the hard drives to an off-site location.
5. Using the remaining hard drive at home for daily/weekly rdiff-backups
6. Periodically switching the two external hard drives between my home and the off-site location.

I'm not quite sure what's the best way to do #6. Should I mirror the two external hard drives using a tool like rsync or unison? Or should I just use rdiff-backup between the workstation and each individual external hard drive?

Also, just to confirm my impression from reading the docs: currently, rdiff-backup doesn't handle monthly/weekly/daily backup schedules "out-of-the-box", though I think there are a few ways to approximate that. And I further realize that with rdiff-backup, there's less of a need for those different levels of backups due to the compression/delta scheme.

Any help that you can provide to a newbie would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

taltman