Etienne Robillard <robillard.etienne () gmail ! com> wrote > i kinda like cpio for fast backup of filesystems... for large media > files (think anime movies) -- I think its generally best to just > burn them on a iso..
I have found rsync to an external usb hard disk to work very nicely; these are now cheap and readily available up to over a terabyte. Here are a few notes from my experience using this strategy for the past several years: * With rsync, the initial backup does a full copy, but then future backups automatically only copy changed files. * I found that performance went from "painfully slow" to "ok" when I switched my external disks from ext2fs to ffs mounted softdep,noatime. * I have had no problems with single files as big as 5 GB. * For extra disaster-insurance I actually use a pair of external disks, one at home and one at my office. I swap them every week or so. * Backups can be a security risk, since anyone who steals the backup medium has instant access to all the files stored there. This is a great use for encrypting filesystems, eg svnd, raidctl, or cfs (ports). * Backups need to be hassle-free and as tired-system-administrator--proof as possible, so it's good to script the process. I use scripts like the following: #!/bin/sh set -x rsync -aHESvv --delete \ --exclude '/home/jonathan/crypt/*' \ --exclude '/mnt/oxygen/home/jonathan/crypt/*' \ /home/jonathan/ /mnt/oxygen/home/jonathan/ This works fine except that the --exclude options are not honored (files under those directories are still copied). I don't know what's wrong there... -- -- "Jonathan Thornburg [remove -animal to reply]" <jth...@astro.indiana-zebra.edu> Dept of Astronomy, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA "Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." -- quote by Freire / poster by Oxfam