Re: rsync backup question

[Ivan Shmakov <ivan@gray.siamics.net>]

>>>>> Alan Chandler <alan@chandlerfamily.org.uk> writes:
>>>>> On 22/07/11 00:39, Thomas H. George wrote:

 >> I partitioned a 1 TG usbdrive as ext3, mounted it as /usbmem and
 >> entered the command rsync -r / /usbmem.

	BTW, there's a convention of using /mnt for temporary mounts.

[…]

 > Isn't this going to go recursive?

 > Since usbmem is another file system the -x flag should prevent this.

	It will prevent it from descending into /media, /sys/, /proc/
	and /tmp/ just as well.  Unfortunately, it will also prevent
	rsync(1) from descending into /usr/, /var/ & /home/, if these
	are on separate filesystems.  If it's the case, I'd recommend to
	use --exclude= instead, like:

# rsync -a -rH --exclude=/{media,mnt,sys,proc,usbmem}/ -- / /usbmem/ 

 > Also as another poster has said you need the -a and -H flags to
 > maintain file ownership and copy hardlinks

[…]

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