On 01/11/2013 12:36 PM Les Mikesell wrote: > On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 11:29 AM, ken<gebser at mousecar.com> wrote: >> Considering using rsync on a couple systems for backup, I was wondering >> if it's possible, and if so how difficult is it, to delete files which >> have been backed up (in order to save space on the backup media). >> >> Anyone with experience doing this? > > Can you be more specific about the problem you are trying to solve? > Backuppc normally expires/deletes backups at a specified rate by > itself and it only stores one copy of any identical file regardless of > how many times it is backed up. You aren't going to save any space > by deleting old copies of something that is still on any target you > are backing up. > Les, thanks for replying. Yeah, I guess I need to clarify. I've got a system which is due for an upgrade and, at the same time, would like to clean up (delete) files and, in some instances, entire directories. Insurance against sudden disk failure is one other concern. If I delete files and entire directories on that (source) machine, will rsync then subsequently automatically delete them on the destination (backup) system? Or would I need also to run an rsync command to delete the same on the destination system? And, if yes, what rsync command would do that? I remember you speaking well of Backuppc previously and so am open to using that in future. At the moment though, I'm looking for the simplest possible solution for those three current concerns. Thanks again.