Little Backup Box

A collection of scripts that transform a Raspberry Pi (or any single-board computer running a Debian-based Linux distribution) into an inexpensive, fully-automatic, pocketable photo backup device.

IMPORTANT Little Backup Box is designed to work with USB sticks as backup media. Theoretically, it's possible to make Little Backup Box work with an external hard disk, but this setup is not officially supported.

Installation

1. Create a bootable SD card with the latest version of Raspbian 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://is.gd/littlebackupbox | bash

Little Backup Box supports four backup modes:

• Remote control Provides a simple web interface to manually choose one of the two modes described above.
• Card backup Automatically backs up the contents of 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 /home/pi/BACKUP/[CAMERA MODEL] directory on the system storage card. Important Make sure that the camera is set to the MTP USB connection mode.
• Internal backup Automatically backs up the contents of a storage card to the internal 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.

Remote control mode

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.

Card backup mode

1. Boot the Raspberry Pi
2. Plug in a backup storage device
3. Insert a storage card into a card reader and plug it into the Raspberry Pi
4. Wait till the Raspberry Pi shuts down

Note: To differentiate between different storage cards, the backup script creates a datetime-based .id file in the root of each storage card. 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 the camera to the Raspberry Pi
3. Turn the camera on
4. Wait till the Raspberry Pi shuts down

Internal backup mode

1. Boot the Raspberry Pi
2. Insert a storage card into a card reader and plug it into the Raspberry Pi
3. Wait till the Raspberry Pi shuts down

The System info link gives you access to basic system information, such as a list of storage devices and memory usage.

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 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

License

The GNU General Public License version 3

Linux Photography

The Linux Photography book provides step-by-step instructions on building a Raspberry Pi-based photo backup device running Little Backup Box. Get your copy at Google Play Store or Gumroad.

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