MBU - Efficient Linux Backup with Instant Recovery

Efficiently create and update bootable backup disks from your running system.
Switch instantly to your backup disk if your main system fails - losing only work since your last backup.
Free and open source!

What makes MBU different?

Lightning Fast Recovery

Boot directly from your backup disk - no restore process required.

🔄

Efficient Updates

Only changed files are copied, making routine backups quick and painless.

🛠️

Zero Configuration

Just set partition names once and go.

How MBU Works

  1. 1

    One-time setup: Partition your backup disk(s), set partition names

    One-time setup using simple partition naming convention

  2. 2

    Connect backup disk

    Hot-pluggable, no shutdown needed

  3. 3

    Run MBU

    GUI or command line, your choice

  4. 4

    Disconnect backup

    Store safely until needed

Watch the tutorial to see MBU in action

Ready to secure your system?

Getting started with MBU takes just minutes:

Download MBU Now

And, assuming you downloaded to your home directory:

cd
tar xzvf mbu-*.tgz
cd mbu
./mbu-install

Why I Created MBU

I'm Ted Merrill, a retired software engineer. I created MBU because I needed a way to backup my Linux systems that just worked. I couldn't find anything that did exactly what I wanted, so I built it myself.

My particular use case: I have two homes that I go back and forth between, with desktop computers at both locations. I needed a way to carry my system with me on a USB SSD and keep reliable backups at each location. Maybe you'll find this useful too.

Technical Details

I wrote this to professional standards because that's how I worked for decades.
The code is uncopyrighted - you can do whatever you want with it as long as you don't claim ownership of what I wrote.
While I can't provide any guarantee of support, I'm interested to hear about your experiences.

MBU has the following features:

MBU works with: