BASH

Create Timestamped Backups of Files and Directories

Learn to create reliable timestamped backups of your important files and directories using Bash with `tar` and `gzip` for easy recovery.

#!/bin/bash

# Directory to backup
SOURCE_DIR="/var/www/html/myapp"

# Directory to store backups
BACKUP_DIR="/backups/myapp"

# Name for the backup file prefix
BACKUP_PREFIX="myapp_backup"

# Get current date and time for timestamp
TIMESTAMP=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

# Create backup directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Define the backup filename
BACKUP_FILE="$BACKUP_DIR/$BACKUP_PREFIX-$TIMESTAMP.tar.gz"

echo "Starting backup of '$SOURCE_DIR' to '$BACKUP_FILE'...

# Create a compressed tar archive
tar -czf "$BACKUP_FILE" -C "$(dirname "$SOURCE_DIR")" "$(basename "$SOURCE_DIR")"

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
  echo "Backup successful: $BACKUP_FILE"
else
  echo "Backup failed!"
  exit 1
fi

# Optional: Remove old backups (e.g., older than 30 days)
# find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "*.tar.gz" -mtime +30 -delete

How it works: This script creates a compressed `tar.gz` archive of a specified source directory, including a unique timestamp in the filename. It ensures the backup destination directory exists and then uses `tar -czf` for compression and archiving. It also includes error checking for the `tar` command and an optional commented-out line to clean up old backups, making it suitable for automated backup routines.

Create Timestamped Backups of Files and Directories

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