On 01/11/2013 02:33 PM m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote: > ken wrote: >> 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? > <snip> >> 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. > > We use rsync here. Actually, we've got a home-rolled system. We created > timestamped backups, which also removes them after a configuration file > item of how many days or weeks. Note that we *heavily* use rsync's parm to > use hard links, which saves a lot of space. > > mark Cool. Thanks for mentioning time-stamps. I've been assuming that rsync would maintain the source files' original permissions and timestamps. (Heck, even tar from decades past would do that.) I hope that wasn't an unwarranted assumption. It's good to hear too that I can configure how long to keep files on destination which have been deleted from the source (if that's what you meant). Mark, maybe you could explain what a "parm" is and how using hard links saves space. tia, ken