Re: Recommendation sought how to maintain off-site backups/mirrors

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I had 3 4TB drives, the backuppc data store was on the first drive. On
Mondays, at 8am (all driven by cron) backuppc was shutdown and I dd'ed the
first drive to the second drive, it took 7 hours, then auto mounted, and
started backup pc. On Wednesday drive two and three were umount and a dd
from two to three ran for 7 hours, and at the end mounted and the cycle
repeated weekly. The advantage of this was should a hard disk failure
happen on the source disk during the dd, you always had one drive with a
fully intact backuppc data store, aged a few days.

Rsync as much as I like and use this tool, is not effective for copying the
backup datastore, perhaps if you have a very small days store, not my case
however.

Good luck,
Ron

On Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 08:32 martin f krafft via BackupPC-users <
[email protected]> wrote:

> Folks,
>
> I nearly lost my BackupPC machine the other day and it made me realise
> that I have no backups of my backups.
>
> Hence, I would like to set up a mirroring of the BackupPC (v4) pool to a
> remote store, client-side encrypted.
>
> I checked out rclone <https://rclone.org/> and it seems like the way to
> go, but it does not do incremental transfers. The first backup took nearl=
y
> 10 days, and subsequent runs, which I thought would happen daily, take
> longer than 24 hours, so this is not really sustainable.
>
> Rclone can mount a locally-encrypted, remote share, as a file system, and
> I guess I could use rsync on top of that, but even rsync takes forever,
> and it seems it updates existing files, which really should not be, right=
?
> The way I understand BackupPC is that a file like
> cpool/de/f0/dff07ca9d2829bc8cbfd3dcee9cad007, once written, doesn=E2=80=
=99t
> change, until it=E2=80=99s garbage-collected.
>
> Running rsync against a local mount also means that files have to be
> retrieved first before a delta can be computed.
>
> I wish BackupPC just kept track of files it created and deleted and then =
I
> could asynchronously follow that file and copy/remote-delete away, but
> there seems to be no such option.
>
> Hence, the way to do things would be to just send over the new files alon=
g
> with their refs, and ignore everything else. And then to run a prune ever=
y
> now and then and delete files that are no longer in existence.
>
> Is there a tool that is optimised for this task?
>
> What do you use to mirror your BackupPC pool to an off-site location?
>
> Thanks,
> --
>
> martin krafft | https://matrix.to/#/#madduck:madduck.net
>
> =E2=80=9D=E2=80=A6 doch warum sollte nicht jeder einzelne
> aus seinem leben ein kunstwerk machen koennen?=E2=80=9D
> =E2=80=93 michel foucault
>
> spamtraps: [email protected]
> _______________________________________________
> BackupPC-users mailing list
> [email protected]
> List:    https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users
> Wiki:    https://github.com/backuppc/backuppc/wiki
> Project: https://backuppc.github.io/backuppc/
>

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<div dir=3D"auto"><div>I had 3 4TB drives, the backuppc data store was on t=
he first drive. On Mondays, at 8am (all driven by cron) backuppc was shutdo=
wn and I dd&#39;ed the first drive to the second drive, it took 7 hours, th=
en auto mounted, and started backup pc. On Wednesday drive two and three we=
re umount and a dd from two to three ran for 7 hours, and at the end mounte=
d and the cycle repeated weekly. The advantage of this was should a hard di=
sk failure happen on the source disk during the dd, you always had one driv=
e with a fully intact backuppc data store, aged a few days.=C2=A0</div><div=
 dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">Rsync as much as I like and use t=
his tool, is not effective for copying the backup datastore, perhaps if you=
 have a very small days store, not my case however.</div><div dir=3D"auto">=
<br></div><div dir=3D"auto">Good luck,</div><div dir=3D"auto">Ron<br><br><d=
iv class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_quote_container" dir=3D"auto"><div dir=3D"ltr=
" class=3D"gmail_attr">On Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 08:32 martin f krafft via Back=
upPC-users &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">back=
[email protected]</a>&gt; wrote:<br></div><blockquote class=
=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padd=
ing-left:1ex"><u></u>






<div style=3D"font-family:Lato,Calibri,Tahoma,sans-serif;max-width:32em">
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto">Folks,</p>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto">I nearly lost my BackupPC=
 machine the other day and it made me realise that I have no backups of my =
backups.</p>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto">Hence, I would like to se=
t up a mirroring of the BackupPC (v4) pool to a remote store, client-side e=
ncrypted.</p>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto">I checked out <a href=3D"=
https://rclone.org/" target=3D"_blank" rel=3D"noreferrer">rclone</a> and it=
 seems like the way to go, but it does not do incremental transfers. The fi=
rst backup took nearly 10 days, and subsequent runs, which I thought would =
happen daily, take longer than 24 hours, so this is not really sustainable.=
</p>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto">Rclone can mount a locall=
y-encrypted, remote share, as a file system, and I guess I could use <code>=
rsync</code> on top of that, but even rsync takes forever, and it seems it =
updates existing files, which really should not be, right? The way I unders=
tand BackupPC is that a file like <code>cpool/de/f0/dff07ca9d2829bc8cbfd3dc=
ee9cad007</code>, once written, doesn=E2=80=99t change, until it=E2=80=99s =
garbage-collected.</p>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto">Running <code>rsync</code=
> against a local mount also means that files have to be retrieved first be=
fore a delta can be computed.</p>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto">I wish BackupPC just kept=
 track of files it created and deleted and then I could asynchronously foll=
ow that file and copy/remote-delete away, but there seems to be no such opt=
ion.</p>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto">Hence, the way to do thin=
gs would be to just send over the new files along with their refs, and igno=
re everything else. And then to run a prune every now and then and delete f=
iles that are no longer in existence.</p>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto">Is there a tool that is o=
ptimised for this task?</p>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto">What do you use to mirror=
 your BackupPC pool to an off-site location?</p>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto">Thanks,</p>
<div id=3D"m_7865628497009725183signature" style=3D"font-family:Lato,Calibr=
i,Tahoma,sans-serif;max-width:32em"><span style=3D"display:none">-- </span>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto">martin krafft | <a href=
=3D"https://matrix.to/#/%23madduck:madduck.net" target=3D"_blank" rel=3D"no=
referrer">https://matrix.to/#/#madduck:madduck.net</a></p>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto;padding:0 0.5em;margin:0;f=
ont-style:italic;border-left:2px solid #666">=E2=80=9D=E2=80=A6 doch warum =
sollte nicht jeder einzelne<br>
  aus seinem leben ein kunstwerk machen koennen?=E2=80=9D<br>
                                                   =E2=80=93 michel foucaul=
t<br></p>
<p style=3D"text-align:justify;text-justify:auto;display:none">spamtraps: <=
a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"_blank" rel=3D"norefe=
rrer">[email protected]</a><br></p>
</div>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br>
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el=3D"noreferrer">[email protected]</a><br>
List:=C2=A0 =C2=A0 <a href=3D"https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/=
backuppc-users" rel=3D"noreferrer noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://lis=
ts.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users</a><br>
Wiki:=C2=A0 =C2=A0 <a href=3D"https://github.com/backuppc/backuppc/wiki" re=
l=3D"noreferrer noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://github.com/backuppc/b=
ackuppc/wiki</a><br>
Project: <a href=3D"https://backuppc.github.io/backuppc/" rel=3D"noreferrer=
 noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://backuppc.github.io/backuppc/</a><br>
</blockquote></div></div></div>

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