Ubuntu 12.04: Restoring Files

One of the biggest and most important steps to a new installation is to restore files.  I found that grsync is a great tool that will help.  Of course, this also requires a good backup.

This post will go through what I did to restore files from my backup.

Installing/Using grsync

I installed grsync using Ubuntu Software Center:

Once installed, I copied my files from my external drive to my local drive like this:

On the advanced tab, I chose to do a checksum to ensure no mistakes.

To start the process, you simply click on the Gears icon in the top right.  Then, it will give you a processing status for the current file and for overall:

Restoring Files

There are several just plain directories of files that I restore (of course, with grsync):

  • ~/Documents
  • ~/app (my application development stuff: Eclipse workspaces, etc.)
  • ~/MIS (work-related stuff)
  • ~/Pictures & ~/.shotwell  (all of my photos)

Configuration Files

For Google Chrome, I restored my profile by copying this directory from my backup:

  • ~/.config/google-chrome

For the passwords in Chrome and passwords in other applications, I restored passwords with this directory:

  • ~/.gnome2/keyrings

Skype stores all of the contacts on their servers, so it is probably just as easy to just enter the user account information after a new install for that.  The key is if you want history.  The history is stored in the .Skype directory on your computer rather than on Skype’s servers.  So, I restored that folder.

  • ~/.Skype

Remmina configuration:

  • ~/.remmina
  • ~/.ssh

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