Re: Using Command Line For Backups

Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:42:46 +0100, Chris Ridd <chrisridd@xxxxxxx>
wrote:

On 2011-06-28 11:25:47 +0100, Jeff Gaines said:

I want to back up my home directory to my NAS, I'm running:

cp -r /Users/jeff/* /Volumes/share/MacMini

in a terminal window and it seems to be working, although I think it's
copying the various links like Applications as well which isn't
necessary.

Is there a command that will just copy updated files? I've looked at
man cp and couldn't see it there. Perhaps there's an alternative
command that would be better?

The "best" one is rsync, though it is a bit unfriendly. There's a
Mac-friendly wrapper for it.

No more unfriendly than cp, I'd say!

rsync -vaE /Users/jeff /Volumes/share/MacMini/

would be sufficient. Or if the NAS supports rsync, then

rsync -vaE /Users/jeff NAS::rsyncshare/MacMini/

Alternatively, can you use TimeMachine with your NAS? It makes life
*much* simpler.

And is loads better since it (a) gives you versioned updates, (b) a
visual way of retrieving old files as well as commandline, (c) you can
use it to restore your user and settings from after a reinstall in an
Apple supported way.

I use rsync to update my TM backup to a third location.

I use rsync to sync my laptop iTunes to a firefly server. It's excellent
for when you need to clone one directory hierarchy into another. Not really
backup, more like what we refer to as "business copy" in my working life.

More efficient than cp for use as a general purpose copying tool.
.

Relevant Pages

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