pibackup – Raspberry Pi Backup & Restore Tool

pibackup is a portable 64-bit backup and restore tool with a simple graphical user interface (GUI),
specially designed for Raspberry Pi and Linux systems.

It can create, shrink, compress (Zstandard) and restore images of SD cards, SSDs and HDDs.
Backups are safe, flexible, and can be restored directly from .img or .img.zst files.

👉 Unlike typical SD card tools, pibackup works with large storage devices (SSD/HDD) as well as smaller SD cards.

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Main Features

• Simple graphical user interface (GUI)
• No installation required – runs directly
• 64-bit Linux application
• Automatic backup of the first two partitions (typically /boot and /root)
• Configurable exclude file to remove unnecessary data
• Optional removal of SSH and DHCP configurations
• Image shrinking to optimize storage
• Efficient compression with Zstandard (.zst)
• Option to save backups on other partitions of the same drive
• .img and .img.zst backups supported (restore without manual decompression)
• Supports SD cards, SSDs, HDDs, and other block devices
• Empty sectors filled with 0xFF → better compression & prevents residual recovery

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Restore Features

• Restore directly from .img or .img.zst
• Target device selection via drop-down list
• Adjustable partition size via slider
• Partition preview in grid view (updates dynamically)
• Existing partitions remain intact by default
• Optional selective partition deletion
• Filesystem auto-resized to fit partition (manual override possible)

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Graphical Interface

• Clear, intuitive GUI
• Device selection via drop-down list
• Partition preview in grid view
• Progress indicators for backup & restore
• Clear status and error messages

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Exclude File

The exclude file lets you remove unnecessary or temporary files from the backup image.

Format:

• Each line = path (absolute from root of partition)
• Comments and empty lines are ignored
• Use raspberry.exclude as a starting point

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Usage

Start Script

/path/to/pibackup/start_pibackup.sh

Options to start:

• From terminal
• By double-clicking the script (must be executable)
• Via .desktop launcher

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Desktop Launcher Example

PiBackup.desktop:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=PiBackup
Comment=Start the PiBackup tool
Exec=/home/pi/PiBackup/start_pibackup.sh
Icon=utilities-terminal
Terminal=true
Type=Application
Categories=Utility;

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Output

• Full .img backup file
• Compressed .img.zst backup file (if enabled)
• Uncompressed .img is kept if compression is disabled or fails

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Requirements

• No installation required
• zstd must be installed (sudo apt install zstd)
• Root privileges required (sudo)

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Build Information

• Developed with CodeTyphon
• GUI: Qt5 widgetset
• Target: 64-bit ARM Linux

Build from Source

• Open CodeTyphon IDE
• Set widgetset to Qt5
• Compile as 64-bit ARM Linux application

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License

MIT License – see LICENSE.

⚠️ Disclaimer:
This tool directly operates on storage devices and filesystems.
Improper use may result in data loss. Use at your own risk.

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Author

RaspberryFpc

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Feedback & Issues

Please open an issue on GitHub.

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📥 Download and Use

• Clone via Git:

  git clone https://github.com/RaspberryFpc/pibackup.git

• Or download as ZIP (⚠️ set execute permissions afterwards):

  chmod +x pibackup/start_pibackup.sh
  chmod +x pibackup/pibackup

Precompiled binaries are in the bin/ folder.

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💡 Note on Live Backups:
Live backups work reliably but for maximum consistency a fresh boot or inactive system backup is recommended.

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🛠️ Emergency Recovery System

💡 Tip: Prepare an emergency SD card
Create a small SD card with a Linux desktop system (e.g. Raspberry Pi OS Desktop or another lightweight desktop distribution) and copy pibackup onto it.

Alternatively, you can simply clone your existing working system with pibackup by creating an image and restoring it to a smaller SD card.
This way you always have a ready-to-use recovery environment with GUI available.

In case your main system no longer boots, you will have a ready-to-use recovery environment with GUI,
allowing you to restore your backups to any SD card, SSD or HDD.

Other Projects by the Author

• raspberry-udp_audio_receiver
  Network audio receiver (UDP) with direct ALSA output and very low latency.

• DS18B20-FPC-Pi-GUI
  GUI tool to read DS18B20 temperature sensors with linearization for high accuracy.

• RaspberryPi-BME280-GUI
  Complete GUI application for accessing the BME280 I²C sensor using Free Pascal.

• RaspberryPi-GPIOv2-FPC
  Simple and fast Pascal unit for controlling GPIO pins via the Linux GPIO character device interface.