mtoohey.com

Backing up Android Photos using Termux and Rsync

posted: 
tags: [Termux, Rsync, Photos, Backup, Android]

The Plan

  • Install the Termux and Termux:API apps.
  • Set up SSH from Termux to your target backup location with key authentication so it can log in automatically.
  • Install rsync and termux-api on Termux, then schedule the sync job.

Note: if you’re in a hurry, jump straight to my automated scripts here, and here. Some modifications will be necessary because your paths and hostnames will be different than mine.

Installing Termux

There are a variety of different installation methods, including from F-Droid or GitHub. Note that the Google Play Store has been deprecated as of the posting of this article, see the notice in the README for more information.

Whichever method you choose, don’t forget to install Termux:API while you’re at it, as we’ll need it to schedule the job.

Setting Up SSH

This isn’t a guide on SSH, so I won’t go too in depth on this step, but most servers should have key authentication enabled in their configuration by default. Then you just need to copy your key (after generating one if necessary) to the server with the ssh-copy-id command. See this guide in the DigitalOcean community for more detailed instructions.

Installing Required Packages

The following command should install everything we’ll need:

pkg install termux-api rsync

You’ll also need to run the following after installing termux-api to give it access to your phone’s storage:

termux-setup-storage

Creating the Script

Create the following script (with variables replaced or set somewhere) and make it executable with chmod +x:

#!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/sh

rsync -av "$LOCAL_PATH" "$USER@$HOSTNAME:$REMOTE_PATH" && curl "$PING_URL"
  • Local path should begin with storage/, for example: storage/dcim/Camera in my case. To determine what it will be for you, use cd and ls to explore the contents of storage/ until you find the directory containing your pictures.
  • The && curl "$PING_URL" section is optional, and can be used with a service such as Healthchecks.io to send you notifications if the backup starts failing. I strongly recommend this, you don’t want to find out after you loose your phone that backups haven’t been working for the past few months!
  • I’d also recommend testing the script manually before setting it up as a termux job, since the first sync will take much longer.
  • The parameters given above for Rsync will result in all pictures within the specified directory being uploaded each time the script is run. Old pictures, or pictures deleted from your phone will not be deleted from your server, so id you’d like this behaviour to be different, look into Rsync’s different options with the man rsync command.

Setting up the Task

We’re almost there! The following command will create the task, and then we’re done! Again, don’t forget to change or set the environment variables, and feel free to tweak the --period-ms argument:

termux-job-scheduler --script "$PATH_TO_SCRIPT" --period-ms 3600000 --network unmetered