From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Aug 24 04:30:29 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EAFB6106568D for ; Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:30:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jeffrey@goldmark.org) Received: from out1.smtp.messagingengine.com (out1.smtp.messagingengine.com [66.111.4.25]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BC0B88FC2C for ; Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:30:29 +0000 (UTC) Received: from compute1.internal (compute1.internal [10.202.2.41]) by gateway1.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1074E34E18; Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:30:29 -0400 (EDT) Received: from heartbeat2.messagingengine.com ([10.202.2.161]) by compute1.internal (MEProxy); Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:30:29 -0400 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=messagingengine.com; h=cc:message-id:from:to:in-reply-to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:mime-version:subject:date:references; s=smtpout; bh=r+zmB/gF2K0pHm6PAGpF/zlMC9Y=; b=Gd94Vd3NN6xmk1L6S2hPDeA/tAUa8YYkkiwwL7tOF958dVoE9juRdiXFT3RMwWF6AM0gvG8SuxCPMFGvUgSXvDkQHcJzLzw/MtsjKphdll2a+443McJ9HadaLAvbG5Q9hrt7PXIFOV8sxTxuHNFL93nucWIkFbTziEOZ8lJLYEY= X-Sasl-enc: 06yVguWBCpFLfYKHMOzSXDM3rSD0TvEcokDNCh3gHJSE 1251088228 Received: from olympe.ewd.goldmark.org (n114.ewd.goldmark.org [72.64.118.114]) by mail.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id A362D13BCE; Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:30:28 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <97E0413B-E738-4731-BBEC-5A044E8C3D06@goldmark.org> From: Jeffrey Goldberg To: vogelke+unix@pobox.com In-Reply-To: <20090824001441.93892B7C4@kev.msw.wpafb.af.mil> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v936) Date: Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:30:27 -0500 References: <20090824001441.93892B7C4@kev.msw.wpafb.af.mil> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.936) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: What should be backed up? 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: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:30:30 -0000 On Aug 23, 2009, at 7:14 PM, Karl Vogel wrote: > Touching a timestamp file and backing up stuff newer than that works > fine for things you modify, but I frequently copy over source > tarballs > and the timestamp method won't work for those. This is one of the several reasons that I use rsync (via rsnapshot). At each increment, it backs up the minimum that is need. With the cost of having a complete backup which duplicates what you would find in a reinstall, you have a complete system. Suppose you accidently trash something from the original installation. It may be easier to restore it from your backups than going to original installation media. Disk space is cheap, so having a complete back-up (under most circumstances) makes sense. With -- link-dest you can maintain many snapshots with the minimal of copying, transmitting, and writing files. Of course everyone's back up needs are different, and what works for me isn't necessarily the best for others. But if you haven't looked at rsnapshot, I'd recommend that you do before writing your own scripts. Even if you don't use rsnapshot itself, look at what it does with rsync. Cheers, -j -- Jeffrey Goldberg http://www.goldmark.org/jeff/