rsync problem

[Nadav Har'El]

On Mon, Mar 21, 2011, Shlomo Solomon wrote about "Re: rsync problem":
> OK - that makes sense - I'll try adding --ignore-errors. I'm not worried about 
> risking a massive deletion since my script checks for an "unusual" change in 
> the size of my backed up directories, so I guess I'd catch that. 
> 
> I'm not sure I understand what the --backup option does or why it would solve 
> the massive deletion problem. What does --backup do that isn't done by the 
> params I already use (-rlvtogS)? I looked at the man page and it's not really 
> clear on that point.

The --backup option means that files on the destination system which are about
to be lost (because they were either deleted or modified on the source system)
are instead saved (with a new name, or under a different directory if you also
use the --backup-dir). I use this option as a sort of "incremental" backup -
I have a useful snapshot of the last full backup, but also copies of all
files as they were at each intermediate change, in case I want to recover
a file that I deleted or modified a month ago, for example. When you do use
--backup, massive deletion is not a terrible problem, because all the deleted
files are saved in the destination filesystem anyway.

Nadav.

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Nadav Har'El                        |    Tuesday, Mar 22 2011, 16 Adar II 5771
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