Backup Guardian

by mrachcore

Local backup validation & file integrity dashboard built with Python and Streamlit.

Professional sysadmin-style tooling for backup verification, integrity checks, duplicate detection and reporting.

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📌 Overview

Backup Guardian is a lightweight local dashboard designed to help analyze backup folders, validate backup freshness, verify file integrity, detect duplicate files, and generate reports.

The project was created as part of my learning journey during my Ausbildung as a Fachinformatiker für Systemintegration.

The application runs completely locally and does not require:

• cloud services
• paid APIs
• databases
• Docker
• external infrastructure

All file analysis is performed directly on the local machine.

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✨ Features

🖥 Dashboard

• Modern overview page
• Quick backup validation overview
• Clean sysadmin-style UI
• Simple workflow explanation

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📂 Folder Scanner

• Recursive folder scanning
• File statistics
• Largest file overview
• File extension analysis
• Modified date tracking

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🕒 Backup Age Checker

• Detect outdated backups

• Configurable backup age threshold

• Status indicators:

  • OK
  • WARNING
  • CRITICAL

• Backup freshness validation

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🔐 Integrity Checker

• SHA256 checksum generation
• File integrity validation
• Single file or folder hashing
• CSV checksum export

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🧬 Duplicate Finder

• Duplicate file detection using SHA256 hashes
• Duplicate grouping
• Wasted storage estimation
• CSV duplicate reports

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📑 Reports

• Generate local backup reports
• Plain text export
• Folder summaries
• Backup health overview

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🛠 Tech Stack

Technology	Purpose
Python	Core language
Streamlit	Dashboard UI
pathlib / os	File handling
hashlib	SHA256 hashing
pandas	Tables & reports
datetime	Backup age calculations

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🎨 UI Design

The interface is inspired by:

• modern internal IT dashboards
• backup operation panels
• sysadmin workflows
• cybersecurity-inspired tooling

Design Highlights

• Dark mode only
• Professional dashboard layout
• Clean sidebar navigation
• Modern metric cards
• Soft borders and spacing
• Status badges
• Terminal-inspired report sections
• Responsive layout

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🚀 Installation & Setup

Requirements

• Python 3.10 or newer recommended
• Local laptop or desktop
• Internet access only for installing Python packages

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Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/mrachcore/backup-guardian.git

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Open Project Folder

cd backup-guardian

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Create Virtual Environment

python -m venv .venv

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Activate Virtual Environment

Windows

.venv\Scripts\activate

Linux/macOS

source .venv/bin/activate

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Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

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▶ Run The App

streamlit run app.py

Streamlit will print a local URL, usually:

http://localhost:8501

Open that URL in your browser.

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📂 Project Structure

backup-guardian/
│
├── app.py
├── requirements.txt
├── README.md
│
├── assets/
│   └── logo.png
│
├── screenshots/
│   ├── dashboard.png
│   ├── folder-scanner.png
│   ├── backup-age-checker.png
│   ├── integrity-checker.png
│   ├── duplicate-finder.png
│   └── reports.png
│
└── utils/
    ├── file_scanner.py
    ├── checksum_tools.py
    └── report_generator.py

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📸 Screenshots

Dashboard

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Folder Scanner

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Backup Age Checker

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Integrity Checker

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Duplicate Finder

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Reports

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🎯 Purpose of This Project

This project was built to:

• improve Python skills
• learn practical file handling
• understand backup validation workflows
• practice SHA256 integrity checks
• create realistic sysadmin tooling
• build a professional portfolio project

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📚 What I Learned

• Recursive file scanning
• SHA256 checksum generation
• File integrity validation
• Duplicate detection logic
• Report generation
• Streamlit dashboard development
• Error handling
• Beginner-friendly project organization

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🔮 Future Improvements

Possible future additions:

• ZIP backup inspection
• JSON report export
• Backup schedule tracking
• Backup comparison system
• File change history
• Multi-folder monitoring
• Cleanup assistant for duplicate files

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📝 Notes

• All checks are performed locally.
• No files are uploaded anywhere.
• Large folders may take longer to scan.
• Some files may be skipped because of permission restrictions.
• Duplicate detection uses SHA256 hashes for accuracy.

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👨‍💻 Author

mrachcore

Code. Connect. Control.

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🌐 GitHub

Repository:

https://github.com/mrachcore/backup-guardian

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⚠ Disclaimer

This tool was created for educational and portfolio purposes.

Use responsibly and only on files and backup folders you are authorized to analyze.