Re: FYI: backup hint

On 8/7/26 23:06, Eric Johnson wrote:
> One issue with using rsync as a "backup" solution is that you get a
> copy of what is currently on the server.  If you have to go back even
> just a week, much less several months, to get some specific version
> of a file from months before, you can't do that with rsync.

That's partially a difference between openrsync(1) and rsync(1) but more 
about how you have scripted their use.  Point the destination at a 
different target directory each day (or other interval) and you can go 
back at least a little, depending on how deep that stack is and how much 
space you have on the storage device being used for backup.

In old rsync(1) you also have --link-dest which allows you to save space 
on the destination partition by using hard links on the target partition 
for files in a new backup directory which have not changed relative to 
the reference directory.  The big tradeoff with --link-dest is that 
there ends up being only a single copy on that particular partition. 
But if you're only using openrsync(1) then --link-dest is not relevant.

However, since you do have multiple backup media anyway, those multiple 
devices should be part of the rotation strategy / calculations.

/Lars