Hi LQ'ers. I am new to Linux and I would like to ask a question.

I used FreeFileSync to make a copy of my /home directory, which I compressed and stored in an external drive. In the event my system's drive malfunctions and I need to buy a new computer/repair with a new drive, how would I restore my operating system using the copied /home folder?

Other questions I would like to ask:

Is a /home directory sufficient to restore my operating system, or would I need something more to make a full backup? How different would it be if I didn't include that for my backup?

Is there any other way I can backup using means of software or other methods?

And probably more..

I just backup /home using a Perl file that I wrote. In my ~/admin folder I keep track of any OS customizations that I've made so I can apply them to a clean install of the OS if I have to restore. Not sure what FreeFileSync does that rsync doesn't, but if it makes a proprietary backup format, then you should keep a copy of its installer along with your backup.

Essentially the /home directory is just your docs, photos and downloads. Simple as that - nothing to do with the operating system. You cannot create a runable system from it. Gross over-simplification, but will do for this discussion.

You will need to re-install Linux, restore the /home, then re-install any manually installed packages. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems.
As for backups, there are innumerable, and depends on needs - see this for a start of your journey. There is no universal "use this" answer.

Meant to rephrase my question; I will get a clean new operating system from Xubuntu, but how can I restore my /home folder?

Also smallpond, I heard of rsync, but I don't know how it is good to use as a backup tool. I'll google it, but if possible, can I get some information on the benefits of rsync?

The obvious answer is to uncompress the backup and use FreeFileSync to synch it back in the opposite direction. Never used it, but theory says (to me) it should work ok.
Else if the files are "just files" and not a special format, any copy tool should work - cp, rsync, GUI filemanager, whatever. Best done from a liveUSB to ensure no clashes.

Why would you google? Open a bash shell and type man rsync

"Else if the files are "just files" and not a special format, any copy tool should work - cp, rsync, GUI filemanager, whatever. Best done from a liveUSB to ensure no clashes." But what about things like my config, local file, etc? I'm no Linux expert at all, but I think that users are connected with /home/user directories. So considering that I get a clean new Xubuntu install on a new PC, how would I make it so that my /home/user/ directory is replaced with the other /home/user/ directory from my old computer,if my assumption is right? I would like it so that my new Xubuntu OS would feel like my old one, with all the config and local folder stuffs saved and everything like desktop apps working just as they did before the breakdown. How would this be achieved?

All the files that you (as a user) care about are under /home/${USER}/ - all the configs you have modified are there; most as hidden files. If you restore it after re-installing the system, everything will magically appear as it was. Hopefully. If all the hidden files were backuped up appropriately.

The only way to be really sure is to take a more comprehensive backup as per above. Regularly.

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