Glossary¶

The words used on this site, each with one meaning.

Administrator helper: The small program that does the few tasks needing administrator rights, after you give your password. See Administrator access.
Administrator password: The password Ubuntu asks for administrator tasks: usually your own login password, if your account is an administrator.
Backup: The copy of your files and system recipe on the backup drive, in the Deucalion-Backup folder.
Backup drive: The external drive (or the encrypted part, or the encrypted folder on it) where Deucalion keeps your backup. In the command line also called a target.
Backup password: The password of an encrypted backup drive. It can't be recovered.
Batch: One dated folder in Removed Files: what one backup moved there.
Default drive: The backup drive backups go to when you don't choose one (★ on the Drives page).
Dry run: A run that shows what would happen and changes nothing (--dry-run).
Encrypted folder: A layout where the backup lives in one encrypted file on a drive that keeps its other files.
Encrypted part, normal part: The two partitions of the encrypted part + normal part layout.
Encryption: Scrambling data so that it can only be read with the password. Deucalion uses VeraCrypt or LUKS.
exFAT: A drive format readable and writable on Linux, Windows and macOS. Deucalion's default for unencrypted drives and inside VeraCrypt.
Exclusion, pattern: A rule that leaves files or folders out of the backup. See Exclusion patterns.
Extra folder: A folder outside your home folder that full backups include.
Full backup: A backup of everything: home folder, extra folders and system recipe.
Home folder: Your personal folder, /home/<your name> (~ for short).
Layout: How a drive is prepared: whole drive encrypted, encrypted part + normal part, encrypted folder, plain exFAT, or as it is. See Choosing a drive.
Lock, unlock: Close or open an encrypted backup drive. In the terminal: deucalion close, deucalion open.
LUKS: The disk encryption built into Linux. Readable only on Linux.
Manifest: The small database on the drive that records original names, permissions, links and checksums. See The manifest.
Mirror: One up-to-date copy of your files. The backup is a mirror; older versions go to Removed Files.
Mount, unmount: Make a drive's files available in a folder (such as /media/<you>/<name>), or stop that before unplugging.
Partial backup: A backup of only the folders or files you choose. See Full and partial backups.
Profile: A saved list of folders for partial backups (command line only).
Protected settings: Settings only the administrator can read: Wi-Fi/VPN connections, some /etc files, root's crontab.
Rebuild: Setting up a computer from a full backup, in eight steps. See What a rebuild restores.
Register: Tell Deucalion to use a drive (or folder) for backups.
Removed Files: Old versions of changed files and files deleted from your computer, kept on the drive in Deucalion-Backup/_removed until you empty them.
Restore: Copy files or folders from the backup back to your computer.
System recipe: A readable description of your apps, software sources and settings, saved with each full backup and used by a rebuild. The app calls it system settings. See The system recipe.
Terminal: A window where you type commands. Open one with Ctrl+Alt+T.
Undo folder: ~/Deucalion-before-restore, where Deucalion keeps what a restore or rebuild replaced.
VeraCrypt: Free encryption software for Linux, Windows and macOS. Deucalion can create VeraCrypt drives and open them on Ubuntu without the VeraCrypt app.