One thing I might point out though is that you (Betty) said you did the backup about once a month and your example shows rsyncing to a directory named for the month (October). That's fine but some people use rsync to update a single backup destination so they don't keep each backup separately. You choice which best suits you, but I thought it worth mentioning. Larry On Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 11:56 PM, Steve Holmes wrote: > Yes, I commend you for going for the command line tools like that. > Tackling rsync is no slouch by any means. Frankly, I can rarely > remember all the command line options for rsync and have to either > constantly look at the man page or previous working examples. I would > also create little one or two line shell scripts with these commands > in them and then just run the script each month or whenever. That's > why Joseph's script example had the '$1' and '$2' thingies in there. > those can then be substituted by just putting in the names of the > paths and run the script. Also, I believe Joseph's example included > the --delete option. However, I don't recall what is actually being > deleted at that point. Might wanna check to be sure there. > > Also, if you get more adventuresome in the future, you might wanna > look at a program called rdiff-backup. It uses rsync under the hood > and allows for optional inclusions and exclusions like rsync does but > allows for staging different backup sets over time and yes, each > subsequent backup is just the differences. Plus then if you need to > restore a file from the most recent backup, it is merely a mirror of > your current environment so you can just copy the desired item to be > restored. But rsync is a good start and an excellent way to sync up > two computers over a network too. > > On Wed, Dec 08, 2010 at 10:18:01PM -0700, Alan Dayley wrote: > > Do not think yourself stupid! I know software developers who are > > afraid of anything on a command line. The fact that you are using > > rsync is a long ways from anything close to stupid! > > > > Excellent work. > > > > Alan > > > > On Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 10:05 PM, betty > wrote: > > > ok, great, so do i just do this; > > > > > > stormy@stormy-desktop:~$ rsync -avEHh /home/stormy/ /media/october > > > > > > or do i do this : > > > stormy@stormy-desktop:~$ rsync -avEHh --delete-after --progress > > > /home/stormy/ /media/october > > > > > > sorry to be so stupid, but i rely on you guys for this ;) > > > thank you!! > > > betty > > > > > > > > > On 12/08/2010 08:32 PM, Joseph Sinclair wrote: > > >> > > >> You're pretty close to ideal there. > > >> I use > > >> rsync -avEHh --delete-after --progress $SOURCE $DESTINATION > > >> Generally no need to sudo for your own homedir, and "-z" is really > only > > >> useful for network copying (it compresses in-transit, not on disk). > > >> > > >> That will only copy over changes between the source and destination, > and > > >> will remove anything in destination that's no longer in source. > > >> > > >> Make sure the external drive is formatted EXT3 or XFS so you can > preserve > > >> things like access controls and ownership. > > >> > > >> When you look at the final output of the command, there's usually a > ratio > > >> listed. > > >> That's the amount that could be copied vs. the amount actually copied. > If > > >> that's much larger than 1, then you're only copying changes. > > >> > > >> ==Joseph++ > > >> > > >> betty wrote: > > >> > > >>> > > >>> I have an ext hdd that i copy my stuff to every few months. I think > that > > >>> i am copying everything all over again each time. > > >>> What I'd like to do is just copy files that have changed. > > >>> This is the command i have been using > > >>> > > >>> stormy@stormy-desktop:~$ sudo rsync -azvH /home/stormy/ > /media/october > > >>> > > >>> please don't suggest that i use dd or whatever else there is because > i > > >>> am not good at trying new things. i think i'm doing a lot just to do > the > > >>> backup every few months. > > >>> > > >>> any rsync suggestions greatly appreciated. if i am already using the > > >>> correct command for just copying things that have changed, please let > me > > >>> know. > > >>> > > >>> THANKS, Merry Christmas to all pluggers ! > > >>> > > >>> > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > > > -- > > > betty i. > > > www.webcanine.com > > > information for people > > > who care for dogs. > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------- > > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > > > --------------------------------------------------- > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > -- Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive. - Thomas Jefferson