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On Sat, 29 May 2010 10:01:39 +0100 |
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Mick wrote: |
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> Hi All, |
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> |
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> I run: |
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> |
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> rsync -a -l --delete -v /mnt/Business_dir /media/sdf1 |
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> |
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> to back up a directory from a PC to a USB stick. However, from a |
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> cursory look this *seems* to copy the complete directory (every time |
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> I run it) and overwrites the USB stick. Carrying on like this it |
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> will life-expire the USB stick in no time, plus it takes ages to |
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> complete as it copies over every single file again and again. |
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> |
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> Is there a cleverer option I can add to rsync so that it only copies |
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> new files, overwrites older versions of the same and only deletes any |
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> files or directories that have been deleted from the source directory? |
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> -- |
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> Regards, |
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> Mick |
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For years I've used "rsync -Cavzu ..." to do updates. That's been my |
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mantra for so long I don't recall what each option does do know that it |
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updates (rather than copies everything). |
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Indeed flash drives _do_ have a lifetime. My recollection is that it's |
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in the thousands of writes if not the hundreds of thousands of writes. |
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Assuming a life of 1,000 writes and you backup once daily, that's 3 |
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years of backups. 10,000 writes would be 30 years. Of course if you |
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backup every hour, 10,000 writes is a year (or so). |
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Honestly, I've stopped worrying about manual copies to flash drives. |
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Of course if you have a program that writes to a flash drive |
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frequently, that's a very different story ... |
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HTH, |
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|
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David |