Difference between revisions of "Rdiff-backup"

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{{lowercase|title=rdiff-backup}}
 
 
 
'''rdiff-backup''' is a [[:Category:Linux Command Line Tools|command line tool]] that backs up one directory to another, possibly over a network. The target directory ends up a copy of the source directory, but extra reverse diffs are stored in a special subdirectory of that target directory, so you can still recover files lost some time ago. The idea is to combine the best features of a mirror and an incremental backup. <code>rdiff-backup</code> also preserves subdirectories, hard links, dev files, permissions, uid/gid ownership, modification times, extended attributes, acls, and resource forks. Also, <code>rdiff-backup</code> can operate in a bandwidth efficient manner over a pipe, like [[Rsync (command)|rsync]]. Thus you can use <code>rdiff-backup</code> and [[ssh]] to securely back a hard drive up to a remote location, and only the differences will be transmitted. Finally, <code>rdiff-backup</code> is easy to use and settings have sensical defaults.
 
'''rdiff-backup''' is a [[:Category:Linux Command Line Tools|command line tool]] that backs up one directory to another, possibly over a network. The target directory ends up a copy of the source directory, but extra reverse diffs are stored in a special subdirectory of that target directory, so you can still recover files lost some time ago. The idea is to combine the best features of a mirror and an incremental backup. <code>rdiff-backup</code> also preserves subdirectories, hard links, dev files, permissions, uid/gid ownership, modification times, extended attributes, acls, and resource forks. Also, <code>rdiff-backup</code> can operate in a bandwidth efficient manner over a pipe, like [[Rsync (command)|rsync]]. Thus you can use <code>rdiff-backup</code> and [[ssh]] to securely back a hard drive up to a remote location, and only the differences will be transmitted. Finally, <code>rdiff-backup</code> is easy to use and settings have sensical defaults.
  
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will backup <code>dir1</code> to <code>dir2</code> on a different system (provided <code>rdiff-backup</code> is installed on both systems). <code>rdiff-backup</code> also comes with a lot of up-to-date [http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup/docs.html documentation].
 
will backup <code>dir1</code> to <code>dir2</code> on a different system (provided <code>rdiff-backup</code> is installed on both systems). <code>rdiff-backup</code> also comes with a lot of up-to-date [http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup/docs.html documentation].
  
== See also ==
+
==See also==
* [[Rsync (command)|rsync]]
+
*[[rsync]]
  
 
== External links ==
 
== External links ==

Latest revision as of 02:09, 26 April 2007

rdiff-backup is a command line tool that backs up one directory to another, possibly over a network. The target directory ends up a copy of the source directory, but extra reverse diffs are stored in a special subdirectory of that target directory, so you can still recover files lost some time ago. The idea is to combine the best features of a mirror and an incremental backup. rdiff-backup also preserves subdirectories, hard links, dev files, permissions, uid/gid ownership, modification times, extended attributes, acls, and resource forks. Also, rdiff-backup can operate in a bandwidth efficient manner over a pipe, like rsync. Thus you can use rdiff-backup and ssh to securely back a hard drive up to a remote location, and only the differences will be transmitted. Finally, rdiff-backup is easy to use and settings have sensical defaults.

Installation

  • Step 1: Make sure you have librsync installed on your system. If not downlaod the package, extract the contents, and then execute the following commands:
./configure
make
make install
ldconfig
  • Step 2: Install rdiff-backup (you will need Python v2.2 or later)
python setup.py install

That's it! You are ready to start making regular backups.

Using rdiff-backup

  • In most cases, the command
rdiff-backup dir1 dir2

will work out-of-the-box to backup dir1 to dir2.

rdiff-backup dir1 user@system::/dir2

will backup dir1 to dir2 on a different system (provided rdiff-backup is installed on both systems). rdiff-backup also comes with a lot of up-to-date documentation.

See also

External links