README.md | ||
rsync_tmbackup.sh |
Rsync time backup
Time Machine style backup with rsync. Should work on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows with Cygwin.
Installation
git clone https://github.com/laurent22/rsync-time-backup
Usage
rsync_tmbackup.sh <source> <destination> [excluded-pattern-path]
Examples
-
Backup the home folder to backup_drive
rsync_tmbackup.sh /home /mnt/backup_drive
-
Backup with exclusion list:
rsync_tmbackup.sh /home /mnt/backup_drive excluded_patterns.txt
Exclude file
An optional exclude file can be provided as a third parameter. It should be compabible with the --exclude-from
parameter of rsync. See [this tutorial] (https://sites.google.com/site/rsync2u/home/rsync-tutorial/the-exclude-from-option) for more information.
Features
-
Each backup is on its own folder named after the current timestamp. Files can be copied and restored directly, without any intermediate tool.
-
Files that haven't changed from one backup to the next are hard-linked to the previous backup so take very little extra space.
-
Safety check - the backup will only happen if the destination has explicitely been marked as a backup destination.
-
Resume feature - if a backup has failed or was interrupted, the tool will resume from there on the next backup.
-
Exclude file - support for pattern-based exclusion via the
--exclude-from
rsync parameter. -
"latest" symlink that points to the latest successful backup.
-
The application is just one bash script that can be easily edited.
TODO
-
Manage the backups in a way similar to Time Machine - hourly backups for the past 24 hours; daily backups for the past month; weekly backups for the previous months.
-
Other minor changes (see TODO comments in the source).