9.3. Using rsync

9.3.1. Introduction

The rsync program is a fast and flexible tool for remote backup. It is common on UNIX and UNIX-like systems, easy to configure and use in scripts. While the r in rsync stands for "remote", you do not need to take this all too literally. Your "remote" device might just as well be a USB storage device or another partition on your hard disk, you do not need to have two separated machines.

9.3.2. An example: rsync to a USB storage device

As discussed in Section 3.1.2.3, we will first have to mount the device. This is done as root:

root@theserver# mkdir /mnt/usbstore

root@theserver# mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbstore

Note that this guideline requires USB support to be installed on your system. See the USB Guide for help if this does not work. Check with dmesg that /dev/sda1 is indeed the device to mount.

Then you can start the actual backup, for instance of the /home/karl directory:

karl@theserver:~> rsync -avg /home/karl /mnt/usbstore

As usual, refer to the man pages for more.