Little Backup Box

Little Backup Box is a software that transforms a Raspberry Pi (or any single-board computer running a Debian-based Linux distribution) into an inexpensive, fully-automatic, pocketable backup appliance. While the primary purpose of Little Backup Box is to serve as a photo backup device, it's not limited to this specific usage scenario.

Little Backup Box features

• Back up data from one USB storage device to another. Little Backup Box supports all types of USB solid-state storage devices and all mainstream formats.
• Transfer photos and RAW files directly from a camera to an external USB storage device. If your camera is supported by gPhoto2 software, it will work with Little Backup Box.
• Use multiple source devices. Little Backup Box assigns a unique ID to each source device and create a separate folder for it on the backup drive.
• Perform backup automatically, without any user interaction.
• Manage Little Backup Box via a web UI.
• Stream the backed up contents to DLNA-compatible clients.
• Access the backed up contents from other machines on the network.
• Manage the backed up contents using a web-based file browser.
• Push the backed up contents to a cloud storage service.
• Perform user-defined actions using custom buttons.

Installation

1. Create a bootable SD card with the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS Lite for use with Little Backup Box.
2. Make sure that your Raspberry Pi is connected to the internet.
3. Run the following command on the Raspberry Pi: curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dmpop/little-backup-box/main/install-little-backup-box.sh | bash

Little Backup Box supports three backup modes:

• Source backup Automatically backs up the contents of a source device (e.g., a storage card) to an external storage device.
• Camera backup Transfers photos, RAW files, and videos from the camera connected directly to the Raspberry Pi. The transferred files are saved in the [CAMERA MODEL] directory of the backup storage device. Important Make sure that the camera is set to the MTP USB connection mode.
• iOS backup Automatically backs up the data on iOS dive to the external storage.

During the installation, choose the desired mode from the selection dialog.

When prompted, reboot the Raspberry Pi.

Usage

The exact steps depend on the backup mode.

web UI

The web UI allows you to control and manage Little Backup Box using any device with a browser.

1. Point the browser to http://127.0.0.1:8000 (replace 127.0.0.1 with the actual IP address of the Raspberry Pi).
2. Start the desired action by pressing the appropriate button.

• Use the System info navigation link to access basic system information, such as a list of storage devices and memory usage.
• To edit the configuration file, use the Settings navigation link.
• Use the Upload navigation link to switch to the upload form.

Source backup mode

1. Boot the Raspberry Pi.
2. Connect in a backup storage device.
3. Connect the source device.
4. Wait till the Raspberry Pi shuts down.

Note: To differentiate between different source devices, the backup script creates a datetime-based .id file in the root of each source. The name of the .id file is also used as the destination backup folder on the storage device.

Camera backup mode

1. Boot the Raspberry Pi.
2. Connect a backup storage device.
3. Connect the camera.
4. Turn the camera on.
5. Wait till the Raspberry Pi shuts down.

iOS backup mode

1. Boot the Raspberry Pi.
2. Connect a storage device.
3. Connect the iOS device.
4. Wait till the Raspberry Pi shuts down.

Uninstall Little Backup Box

To uninstall Little Backup Box, run the following command:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dmpop/little-backup-box/main/uninstall-little-backup-box.sh | bash

By buying the book, you are supporting the Little Backup Box project.

Problems, comments, ideas, updates?

To discuss Little Backup Box-related topics and get the latest updates, visit the official forum at PIXLS.US.

Please report bugs and issues in the Issues section.

Contribute

If you've found a bug or have a suggestion for improvement, open an issue in the Issues section.

To add a new feature or fix issues yourself, follow the following steps.

1. Fork the project's repository.
2. Create a feature branch using the git checkout -b new-feature command.
3. Add your new feature or fix bugs and run the git commit -am 'Add a new feature' command to commit changes.
4. Push changes using the git push origin new-feature command.
5. Submit a pull request.

Author

Dmitri Popov

Special thanks

• Stefan Saam (numerous improvements and fixes)
• Kerry Staite (STL files)

License

The GNU General Public License version 3