MythTV .22 has introduced a new script to automate backups and restores of the database. The script will work with earlier versions of mythtv also. Get the backup script here and the restore script here.
I saved the scripts to /usr/local/bin and made them executable so that I do not need the full path to call them. Basic setup was completed by issuing this command to define the backup location:
echo “DBBackupDirectory=/store/backups/database” > ~/.mythtv/backuprc
From there I ran a manual backup with the verbose option to see what is done for the backup:
mythconverg_backup.pl –verbose
More information, and procedures for the restore can be found here: MythTV Wiki