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Re: Simple backups



hi ya jason

> > Backups in general:
> > rsync --verbose --archive --delete SRC DST
> > e.g. rsync ... ~ /backups
> >
> > Filesystem-level backups:
> > /etc/fstab: /dev/hda4 /backups ....
> > mount /backups
> > rsync --one-file-system --archive -H --delete / /backups
> > umount /backups
> >
> > Or dd, or tar, or cpio.
> 
> What are the benefits of using rsync instead of one of the above?


dd --  uses bit-by-bit copy...
	- copies everything, possibly including bad blocks, etc
	- copies the entire ( /usr ) partion even if its mostly empty...
 
others are file based... good for copying just the files in the
directory or partitions ...
	- if you use only 10% of the /usr partition... you dont
	need to waste time copying the rest of the 90% of unused disk
	of that partition... 

tar -- my preference.. easy, fast, compressible, fast to recover files,
	easy to view and extract contents of backup.foo.tgz file
	easy for daily, weekly, monthly incrementals and full backups, etc

rsync  -- good cause it can delete copies of foo.c  on its backup
	when the master foo.c was deleted...
	( good and bad practice to automatically delete backup files )

cpio -- donno ... i never used it... or rarely used it in 20 yrs...
	- forced to use it when some other admin used it in the past

which method you use/accustomed to using would probably dictate which
method you use to backup files...

c ya
alvin 
http://www.Linux-Backup.net 



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