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Yes—you can automate encrypted, versioned backups without a proprietary service. For most desktop users, KopiaUI or Duplicati provides the clearest setup: create an encrypted repository on a USB drive, NAS, or supported cloud destination, select important folders, set a schedule and retention policy, then verify a real restore. Borg UI is a good alternative when you already use Borg on a server or NAS. Automation only starts backup jobs; it does not prove that files can be recovered. Keep the repository passphrase in a password manager, monitor job results, and periodically restore files to a separate location.
Which open-source backup app should you choose?
Kopia, Duplicati, and Borg UI can all create encrypted, scheduled backups, but they target different workflows. KopiaUI and Duplicati are the easiest starting points for a general desktop. Borg UI is most natural for people already managing Borg repositories on Linux servers or NAS systems.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kopia/KopiaUI | CLI and KopiaUI GUI using the same binary | Local directories, USB filesystem repositories, NAS/SMB, SSHFS, S3-compatible services, Backblaze B2, Azure Blob, and Google Drive | Snapshot Frequency in policies; policies also control compression and snapshot retention | Restore is a core KopiaUI function; select a snapshot and restore files to a chosen location | Desktop users who want a modern GUI plus broad local, network, and cloud choices |
| Duplicati | Guided web-style interface | Many remote destinations, plus local and network storage configured as a destination | Built-in scheduler; retention is configured in the setup flow | Choose a backup and restore selected files or folders through the interface | Readers who prefer a step-by-step wizard and incremental, compressed, encrypted backups |
| Borg UI | GUI Quick Start for Borg repositories and plans | Destinations depend on the Borg repository you configure, including server or NAS locations | Cron expression and timezone; plans can run prune, compact, and check after a successful backup | Select files or folders and choose Restore | Borg users managing Linux servers, NAS devices, or cron-based operations |
All three require you to protect the encryption passphrase. A lost passphrase can make an otherwise intact repository unusable, so the choice of interface should not influence how carefully you store it.
What should you prepare before creating a backup?
Prepare the destination, estimate the data you will protect, and decide how much history you need before opening the setup wizard. This prevents a first run from failing because a drive is too small or a network account is not ready.
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Choose a destination that matches the failure you are planning for
- USB external drive: Attach a drive and create a filesystem repository on it for a simple local setup. A USB copy is convenient, but it can be lost, stolen, damaged, or encrypted by the same incident that affects the computer.
- NAS or another computer: A network repository keeps the backup separate from the desktop. Kopia supports NAS/SMB and SSHFS destinations; verify that the account has permission to create and modify repository files.
- Cloud or object storage: Kopia supports S3-compatible services, Backblaze B2, Azure Blob, and Google Drive. Provision the account, credentials, bucket or storage area, and network access before creating the repository.
For important data, consider two destinations with different failure modes—for example, a local USB repository for quick restores and an off-site repository for theft, fire, or hardware-loss scenarios. The software can automate both, but each destination needs its own connectivity and storage check.
Estimate capacity instead of buying only the size of today’s files
Measure the current source data, then add room for retained versions, temporary repository work, and future growth. A repository that holds one copy today may not hold several daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly recovery points. Choose capacity after deciding the retention policy, not before.
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Gather the information the wizard will ask for
- The folders containing irreplaceable documents, photos, projects, and application data.
- The destination path, network share, or cloud account details.
- A long, unique repository passphrase and a secure place to store it.
- Your preferred backup frequency and the oldest version you may need to recover.
- A separate location where you can perform a test restore without overwriting originals.
How do you create an encrypted repository?
Create the repository before selecting a schedule. Encryption is normally established at repository creation, and the passphrase is required later to read or restore the data.
KopiaUI: create a repository and policy
- Open KopiaUI and choose the option to create or connect to a repository.
- Select the destination type: a local directory, USB filesystem, NAS/SMB share, SSHFS location, or one of the supported cloud and object-storage services.
- Enter the destination-specific path or credentials. Make sure the USB drive is mounted or the network share is reachable before continuing.
- Set a strong repository password. Save it in a password manager and in another durable, protected location. Kopia requires this password to restore data.
- Complete repository creation, then open the policy settings. Repository creation alone does not schedule snapshots.
Kopia uses the same underlying binary for its CLI and GUI, so a repository created in KopiaUI can be managed with the command line later if your workflow changes.
Duplicati: follow the guided configuration sequence
- Start a new backup and enter a descriptive name.
- In Basic configuration, choose the encryption method and create or enter the encryption passphrase.
- In Storage destination, select the local, network, or remote destination and provide its connection details.
- In Source data, select the folders to protect and remove unnecessary paths.
- In Schedule, enable the built-in scheduler and choose the run frequency and start time.
- In Retention and miscellaneous, define how many historical versions to keep and review the remaining options before saving.
Duplicati’s documentation warns that the chosen or generated passphrase cannot be recovered if it is lost. Treat it as a recovery key, not as a setting you can safely recreate later.
Borg UI: create the repository and a scheduled plan
- Open Borg UI’s Quick Start and choose the repository location accessible to the Borg process.
- Create the repository and set its encryption passphrase.
- Select the source paths to include in the plan.
- Enter a cron expression and the correct timezone for the machine running the plan.
- Enable post-backup maintenance such as prune, compact, and check when the plan offers those actions.
- Save the plan and run it once manually before relying on the cron schedule.
Which files should an automatic backup include?
Start with data that would be expensive or impossible to recreate. A smaller, deliberate source set is easier to restore and less likely to fill the destination than a blind copy of every folder.
Include irreplaceable and frequently changing data
- Personal documents, scanned records, photos, videos, and creative work.
- Source code, design projects, virtual-machine definitions, and configuration files that are not stored elsewhere.
- Application data such as mail stores, catalogs, and local databases when the application provides a supported backup or export method.
- Encryption keys, recovery codes, and other account information only when storing them in the repository does not undermine your security plan.
Exclude data that can be recreated
Browser caches, operating-system caches, temporary build folders, and reproducible downloads usually add size without adding recovery value. Exclude them with each app’s filter or source-selection controls, but review exclusions after software updates because a path that was temporary can later contain important user data.
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Make databases application-consistent
Do not assume that copying a live database file produces a usable backup. Use the database’s dump or export feature, stop the service for a file-level copy, or use an integration explicitly supported by the application. Back up the resulting dump file along with the rest of your source data.
How do you schedule backups to run automatically?
Set a frequency that matches how quickly your files change and how much data you can afford to lose between runs. Then confirm that the computer, destination, and credentials are available at the scheduled time.
Kopia: set Snapshot Frequency in a policy
Open the repository’s policy settings in KopiaUI and set Snapshot Frequency. When a value is set, Kopia automatically takes snapshots at that frequency. If you leave it unset, snapshots must be started manually, so a repository can appear healthy while receiving no new versions.
Choose a frequency that leaves time for a run to finish before the next one begins. For a laptop, also consider whether the destination is connected when the job is due; a USB drive that is usually unplugged will produce missed runs unless you reconnect it.
Duplicati: enable the built-in scheduler in the Schedule step
In Duplicati’s Schedule section, enable the built-in scheduler, select the days or interval, and choose a start time. Save the configuration, then check the task history after the first scheduled run. If the destination is remote, schedule large jobs when the network is stable and avoid shutting down the machine before the task can complete.
Borg UI: use a cron expression and timezone
Borg UI plans accept a cron expression and timezone. Enter the schedule in the timezone of the host that runs the plan, not necessarily the timezone of the person who created it. If enabled, prune, compact, and check can run after a successful backup, keeping repository maintenance tied to a known-good backup event.
How should retention and repository maintenance be configured?
Retention is a recovery decision: keep enough points to cover accidental edits, undetected corruption, and the date you discover a problem. A policy that keeps only the newest copy cannot recover a file deleted weeks ago.
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Use several time scales
A practical pattern is to retain recent daily points, fewer weekly points, several monthly points, and at least one yearly point when long-term records matter. Adjust the pattern to your change rate and storage capacity. A photo archive that changes monthly needs less daily history than an active project folder.
Borg UI’s documented Quick Start defaults
Borg UI’s documented Quick Start defaults are 7 daily, 4 weekly, 6 monthly, and 1 yearly recovery points, according to the Borg UI project’s 2026 documentation crawl. Treat these as starting values, not a universal recommendation: increase them for regulated records or long-running projects, or reduce them when capacity is constrained.
Kopia policies and Duplicati retention
Kopia policies control snapshot retention and compression. Duplicati exposes retention in the Retention and miscellaneous part of its setup. Compression can reduce storage use but consumes processing time; test the first run on the machine that will perform backups and avoid settings that make the computer unusable during working hours.
Why prune, compact, and check are different
- Prune removes versions that fall outside retention rules.
- Compact reorganizes repository storage after old data is removed, where the app supports that operation.
- Check verifies repository structures or chunks according to the app’s integrity checks.
Maintenance does not replace a restore test. A repository can pass an integrity check and still contain a file you never selected for backup or a version that does not meet your recovery needs.
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The first run is usually the largest because it must process all selected source data. Let it finish, then inspect the result instead of assuming that a scheduled task succeeded.
- Confirm the job reports success rather than merely starting.
- Check the destination’s used space and verify that new snapshot or backup data has appeared.
- Review warnings for unreadable files, excluded paths, authentication failures, and disconnected drives.
- Keep the computer awake and the destination mounted until the initial run completes.
- Configure failure notifications where the application provides them, and decide how you will review logs when notifications are unavailable.
- Run a second backup after changing a test file so you can verify that a new version is created.
Do not treat a green scheduler icon as proof that data is protected. A job may have run with an unavailable source path, an expired cloud credential, or a filter that excluded the file you care about.
How do you verify that a backup can actually be restored?
Perform a restore test immediately after setup and repeat it periodically. Restoration is the only practical way to verify that your passphrase, destination access, source selection, and recovery procedure work together.
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- Create a temporary restore directory on a different disk or in a clearly separate folder.
- Choose a small snapshot containing several file types, such as a document, image, and project file.
- Use KopiaUI or Duplicati’s restore workflow, or in Borg UI select the files or folders and choose Restore.
- Enter the repository passphrase and restore without overwriting the originals.
- Open the restored files with their normal applications and check names, sizes, and recent edits.
- Record the date, repository location, app version, and any steps that were confusing.
Periodically rehearse a larger recovery, such as restoring an entire project folder. A full rehearsal reveals practical issues that a one-file test misses, including insufficient free space, forgotten credentials, long transfer times, and missing application exports.
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Yes. The destination changes the setup details and the failure you are protected against, but the workflow remains repository creation, source selection, scheduling, retention, and restore testing.
USB external drive
Connect the drive, create a filesystem repository, and leave enough capacity for retained versions and growth. Eject it safely after a run if it is not needed continuously. A disconnected drive cannot receive scheduled snapshots, so reconnect it on the schedule and check for missed jobs.
NAS or SMB share
Use a dedicated account with the minimum permissions needed to write the repository. Confirm that the share is mounted before the first run and test a restore while the network is available. A NAS protects against a failed desktop drive but not necessarily against theft, fire, ransomware reaching the share, or a mistake that deletes both the source and backup.
SSHFS and cloud storage
Kopia supports SSHFS and several cloud or object-storage destinations, including S3-compatible services, Backblaze B2, Azure Blob, and Google Drive. Create the account or bucket first, restrict credentials where possible, and test both upload and restore paths. Cloud storage adds network dependency and may add transfer or storage charges, so monitor usage and retention.
What are the most common setup failures?
The schedule runs but no new backup appears
Check that a frequency was actually set, the scheduler is enabled, and the machine was running at the scheduled time. In Kopia, an unset Snapshot Frequency means snapshots are manual. In Duplicati, verify that the built-in scheduler was enabled in the Schedule step. In Borg UI, validate the cron expression and timezone.
The destination is unavailable
For USB, reconnect and mount the drive before the next run. For NAS or SSHFS, verify the share, host, and account permissions. For cloud storage, recheck credentials, endpoint settings, and network access. Run a manual job after correcting the problem and inspect the result.
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The repository fills faster than expected
Review source folders for caches, virtual-machine images, and duplicated exports. Reduce retention only after deciding which historical points you can lose. Compression and pruning can reduce growth, but deleting old versions removes recovery options.
A restore fails because of the passphrase
Stop guessing and locate the password-manager entry or other durable copy you created at repository setup. Encrypted repositories are designed not to provide a bypass; Duplicati explicitly warns that a lost passphrase makes recovery impossible, and Kopia requires its repository password for restoration.
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A backup completes with warnings
Read the log and identify every skipped or unreadable path. Fix permissions, close applications that lock files, export databases correctly, or add an intentional exclusion. Do not mark the job healthy until you know whether the warning affects a file you need.
How do you make an automated backup dependable?
Reliability comes from layers rather than a single setting. Use a short checklist when you deploy the system and whenever you change computers or storage.
- Keep the repository passphrase in a password manager and a second durable location protected from the computer being backed up.
- Use at least one destination that is not permanently attached to the source computer.
- Separate local quick-restore copies from an off-site copy when the data justifies it.
- Set retention before the repository fills, and review capacity as the source grows.
- Enable notifications or inspect logs on a fixed cadence.
- Restore test files after the first run and perform larger recovery rehearsals periodically.
- Document the destination, passphrase location, schedule, exclusions, and restore steps so another trusted person can recover the data.
With those controls in place, an open-source app can provide repeatable encrypted backups without surrendering the repository to a proprietary service. KopiaUI and Duplicati are the most approachable starting points for a desktop; Borg UI is the better match when your environment already revolves around Borg and cron.
Frequently Asked Questions
How large should my backup drive be?
Add the size of the selected source data, the space required for retained versions, and expected growth over the period you want the drive to remain useful. If you keep daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly points, a drive only slightly larger than today’s source will fill quickly.
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Should I leave the USB backup drive connected all the time?
Leaving it connected makes scheduling easier, but it also exposes the backup to theft, accidental deletion, malware, and electrical damage affecting the computer. Disconnecting it after successful runs lowers those risks but requires a routine to reconnect it and verify missed jobs.
Can an integrity check replace a restore test?
No. Integrity checks examine repository structures or stored chunks, while a restore test confirms that you can authenticate, locate the required version, recreate files, and open them. Use both checks for different failure modes.
What should I document for someone else to recover my files?
Record the app name, repository destination, source folders, schedule, retention policy, exclusions, and where the passphrase is stored. Include a short restore rehearsal so a trusted person can follow the same path without experimenting on the original files.
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