Thread

1. bnegreve · 1789618345 · focus · HN ↗

   I have a cron script that rsync my entire home directory every day with a remote server. Since rsync doesn't remove remote files, I re-create a backup from scratch the first day of each month and store a copy of the previous one.

   Using old standardized open source tools means it survives system updates without having to fix anything for years. I got my laptop stolen/lost 3 times over the past 15 years, and I have always been able to restore everything the next day on a new laptop, in the time it takes to transfer the files over the network.

   I haven't given much thought, I'm sure there is a realistic scenario where this strategy would fails but I haven't found it yet.

   1. graemep · 1789624048 · focus · HN ↗

      rsync can delete remote files with --delete or --delete-after

      What is missing is recovering accidentally deleted or corrupted data.

      1. bnegreve · 1789657724 · focus · HN ↗

         > rsync can delete remote files with --delete or --delete-after

         Yes but I don't use it precisely because that lets me recover files that I have accidentally deleted. I assume it's the intended default behavior of rsync.

         1. graemep · 1789662360 · focus · HN ↗

            What if that happens after your monthly creation of a new backup.

            1. bnegreve · 1789668552 · focus · HN ↗

               I keep the previous backup for one month and then delete it. So eventually the file is lost yes, but this is inevitable if you assume finite amount of storage.

               1. graemep · 1789673807 · focus · HN ↗

                  In that case I think its a good system. Its very similar to an incremental backup in what it achieves.

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