Incremental Backup (incbackup)

Hi everyone,

I'd like to introduce a new plugin I've been working on: Incremental Backup (incbackup).

I was looking for a very simple, lightweight, and fully automated way to create true incremental backups of specific user shares directly from the Unraid WebUI, without having to rely on heavy Docker containers or complex scripts.

This plugin uses standard Linux rsync with hardlink technology --link-dest). This means:

* Only newly added or modified files consume physical disk space.

* Unchanged files are hardlinked to the previous backup run.

* Every single backup folder acts as a full, explorable snapshot of your files!

### Features

* Hardlink Efficiency: Drastically reduces storage requirements for repetitive backups.

* Background Cron Automation: Choose your retention policy (e.g., keep the last 7 backups) and your schedule (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly). The plugin runs silently in the background.

* Live AJAX Logging: Watch the backup progress in real-time directly from the Unraid settings page.

* Smart Directory Picker: Easily browse and select source/destination paths through a built-in UI modal.

* True Disk Usage Check: A built-in button that executes du -shc to show you the actual physical size of your backup folders (since Windows Explorer doesn't understand network hardlinks and will falsely show 3x the size).

### Installation

You can install the plugin manually via the Unraid Terminal:

plugin install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Blacksoul87/unraid-incbackup-plugin/main/incbackup.plg

(Note: Please ensure that "Permit Hardlinks" is enabled in your Global Share Settings if you are backing up across /mnt/user/ directories!)

### GitHub Repository

https://github.com/Blacksoul87/unraid-incbackup-plugin

I would love to hear your feedback, suggestions, or bug reports here in this thread.

Special thanks to the Unraid community for all the inspiration!

Cheers,

Blacksoul87