From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Mar 31 19:21:20 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E235D16A503 for ; Sat, 31 Mar 2007 19:21:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kelly.terry.jones@gmail.com) Received: from ug-out-1314.google.com (ug-out-1314.google.com [66.249.92.170]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4F33F13C45B for ; Sat, 31 Mar 2007 19:21:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kelly.terry.jones@gmail.com) Received: by ug-out-1314.google.com with SMTP id 71so1183999ugh for ; Sat, 31 Mar 2007 12:21:19 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition; b=F5do9qJdzS1tKsLKKkoe94KklzP/VIwPJqspZxzfGTpm6bVkWLTBERyiqBTRK8GwOEtSLNcd2jm9xZwuh5qwUbQwS5BAg/a5Yu5axuNwrnQHwybeQwOENwx1tsRMnKVvaIzqxUsN+IcGULkuSeYjIE++qkRzoEyCKSt3kY8T0MI= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition; b=n5KodCuq6I3UCf8vOx2K+EtVwRDXXGHVaNjExG+hUf9YhGENduizJc0QPVG/78Pg9679EDq+DFKprpPSJchwe5VtDoikgExEI3L35C1ljwQdVPxFDbI8DusGLTM3spqDOAIU4+c2UoNF9EnCnzDNgvebgaQF755kgmEUwYEFNcc= Received: by 10.78.201.2 with SMTP id y2mr1238738huf.1175368879204; Sat, 31 Mar 2007 12:21:19 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.78.39.10 with HTTP; Sat, 31 Mar 2007 12:21:19 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <26face530703311221k71bd0b4dudcc89139b267e0ec@mail.gmail.com> Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2007 12:21:19 -0700 From: "Kelly Jones" To: nmlug@nmlug.org, nmosug-l@mailman.swcp.com, linuxusersgroup@googlegroups.com, techtalk@linuxchix.org, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Cc: Subject: Using weekly backup disk to store partial full backup as well? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2007 19:21:21 -0000 I currently backup important files to DVD weekly. These files are 2G in size total, so I "waste" ~2.7G on each DVD (these are DVD-Rs, so I can't wipe/re-use them). How can I use this wasted space to do a complete backup? Example: first week, backup the "first" 2.7G of my HD; second week, backup the "second" 2.7G of my HD, and so on. Once the full HD is backed up (over a number of weeks), roll over and backup the "first" 2.7G again, etc. My question here: given that the contents of my HD change constantly, is there a program that will tell me WHICH 2.7G to backup each week? In other words, a program that will tell me one of the following: % "Here are 2.7G of files that you've never backed up to weekly DVDs. Some of these are files that were created/changed in the last week. Others are old files that you've just never backed up. I'm choosing these files in a specific way and keeping track of them. Once you've backed up these files, I'll choose a different 2.7G of files next week (unless some of the files you backup today change between now and next week)". % "There are only 1.0G of files that you've never backed up to weekly DVD, and here they are. I've chosen an additional 1.7G of files that you HAVE backed up, but they were backed up a long time ago, so it's a good idea to back them up again". Obviously, 2.7G is an arbitrary number here, and it may vary week to week. If my important files suddenly grow to 3G, I'll have only 1.7G left for the partial complete backup files. Improvements would include compression, an exclude list, not backing up two files w/ the same content, etc. I do make regular complete backups, but it'd be nice to have this extra layer of protection. I considered writing something myself using find/ctime, but am too lazy! -- We're just a Bunch Of Regular Guys, a collective group that's trying to understand and assimilate technology. We feel that resistance to new ideas and technology is unwise and ultimately futile.