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Re: Backup ideas



On 2020-04-28 [TU] at 14:18 EDT, Bob Weber <bobrweber@gmail.com> said:

> According to the manual the -x option is:
>
> -x, --one-file-system       don't cross filesystem boundaries
>
> I use that option all the time to keep from backing up my large home > directory when I only
> want the system directories under root.  It even > keeps rsync from copying system directories
> like /proc /dev and
> /sys.

> Before I do a system update/upgrade I run rsnapshot (debian
> package) on the root system directories so I can get the system
> back in case of major failure in some of the updates (I run testing so > I have to be careful).  I do > run this on a live system and on 3 or 4
> occasions I have had to restore from the snapshot successfully
> getting my system back alive.

> Do you have another system you could backup to?  I can get around > 50 mega bytes per
> second transfer over 1Gb Ethernet so you might > try that.

> My main backup is done by backuppc on a dedicated server .  I
> have 4 or 5 systems that get unattended daily backups with versions > going back about a year. > All my systems use a 2 drive raid1  array >
> so I can survive a single disk crash without having to resort to restoring a backup.  Every few
> months I install an extra drive in the backuppc server and have raid sync it to the 2 drives in the > server.  After syncing I pull the drive and put it in my barn for offsite storage.  Since it is a raid1
> full copy you can take that drive and mount it on another system and get the files back if you
> need to (running the raid array in a degraded mode).


Hi, Bob!

I don't recall the specific error code I got; just that it refused to
do a sync using the -x option.  And I can't try it now, as I am now
into the 11th or 12th hour of rsyncing one external usb drive to
another.  At this rate it could take days to complete!  I had no idea.

Unfortunately, I only have one computer.  I am not on a LAN and have
no NAS, etc.  And raid setups are "above my pay grade" anyway.

Question:

When you use rsync, do you ever do it on a live, mounted filesystem
from within said machine/filesystem (that is, using the same machine)?

Or do you do it on a "dormant" unmounted filesystem, either from
another machine or from a "live [usb or .iso] utility distribution or
boot disk from which you have booted the same machine?

Most references to rsync I have seen just seem to accept as a given,
that you are doing it remotely, from across a LAN (or across the
world).

And don't seem to address whether the machine/filesystem they are
rsyncing to/from is "live" (mounted), or can/should be unmounted (like
it would be when imaging a disk with dd or Clonezilla, for example.


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