It works fine, my issue with that it’s just not efficient. If you want a “time travel” feature, your only option is to duplicate data. There, compression, and encryption for off-site backups is where other tools shine.
mesamunefire@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Ive personally used rsync for backups for about….15 years or so? Its worked out great. An awesome video going over all the basics and what you can do with it.
eager_eagle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I have it add a backup suffix based on the date. It moves changed and deleted files to another directory adding the date to the filename.
It can also do hard-link copied so that you can have multiple full directory trees to avoid all that duplication.
No file deltas or compression, but it does mean that you can access the backups directly.
koala@programming.dev 3 weeks ago
Thanks! I was not aware of these options, along with what other poster mentioned about
–link-dest. These do turn rsync into a backup program, which is something the root article should explain!(Both are limited in some aspects to other backup software, but they might still be a simpler but effective solution. And sometimes simple is best!)
suicidaleggroll@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
If you want a “time travel” feature, your only option is to duplicate data.
Not true. Look at the --link-dest flag. Encryption, sure, rsync can’t do that, but incremental backups are fine and compression I handle at the filesystem level anyway.
eager_eagle@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Isn’t that creating hardlinks between source and dest? Hard links only work on the same drive. And I’m not sure how that gives you “time travel”.
BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Snapper and BTRFS. Its only adjusts changes in data, so time travel is just pointing to what blocks changed and when, and not building a duplicate of the entire file or filesystem. A snapshot is instant, and new block changes belong to the current default.
nekusoul@lemmy.nekusoul.de 3 weeks ago
Agree. It’s neat for file transfers and simple one-shot backups, but if you’re looking for a proper backup solution other tools/services have advanced virtually every aspect of backups it pretty much always makes sense to use one of those instead.
confusedpuppy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
I use rsync for many of the reasons covered in the video. It’s widely available and has a long history. To me that feels important because it’s had time to become stable and reliable. Using Linux is a hobby for me so my needs are quite low. It’s nice to have a tool that just works.
I use it for all my backups and moving my backups to off network locations as well as file/folder transfers on my own network.
I even made my tool (codeberg.org/taters/rTransfer) to simplify all my rsync commands into readable files because rsync commands can get quite long and overwhelming. It’s especially useful chaining multiple rsync commands together to run under a single command.
I’ve tried other backup and syncing programs and I’ve had bad experiences with all of them. Other backup programs have failed to restore my system. Syncing programs constantly stop working and I got tired of always troubleshooting. Rsync when set up properly has given me a lot less headaches.
Eldritch@piefed.world 3 weeks ago
And I generally enjoy Veronica's presentation. Knowledgable and simple.
mesamunefire@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Her https://tinkerbetter.tube/w/ffhBwuXDg7ZuPPFcqR93Bd made me learn a new way of looking at data. There was some tricks I havent done before. She has such good videos.
Eldritch@piefed.world 3 weeks ago
Yep, I found her through YouTube. Her and action retro's content is always great.with some Adrian black on the side.
overload@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Veronica is fantastic. Love her video editing reminds me more of the early days of YouTube.