Comments on: Trouble Free Backups, Part One - rsync and Strongspace http://www.magpiebrain.com/blog/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/ Sam Newman's blog Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:02:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Daryl http://www.magpiebrain.com/blog/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-16443 Daryl Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:48:15 +0000 http://www.magpiebrain.com/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-16443 So, I still have not had a consistent answer on what happens if you *do* use rsync to try and backup to Strongspace (which I have by dint of my Joyent textdrive account). Basically, an rsync backup of my Mac would kick a** (particularly as my flat was burgled and drive stolen few months back). So, let's say I rsync my entire Users folder to Strongspace and then need to restore the entire thing back to a new machine because of a complete hard drive failure on the PB. Has anyone actually tried to see what would happen ? with or without the -E flag ? (in particular, mail archives, documents, photos, sites and sources directories and perhaps a compressed automated mysql dump) Basically, I just want to know that I'd be able to reconstruct critical data in the event of catastrophic loss. let me know, Daryl. So, I still have not had a consistent answer on what happens if you do use rsync to try and backup to Strongspace (which I have by dint of my Joyent textdrive account).

Basically, an rsync backup of my Mac would kick a** (particularly as my flat was burgled and drive stolen few months back).

So, let’s say I rsync my entire Users folder to Strongspace and then need to restore the entire thing back to a new machine because of a complete hard drive failure on the PB.

Has anyone actually tried to see what would happen ? with or without the -E flag ? (in particular, mail archives, documents, photos, sites and sources directories and perhaps a compressed automated mysql dump)

Basically, I just want to know that I’d be able to reconstruct critical data in the event of catastrophic loss.

let me know,
Daryl.

]]> By: Oliver http://www.magpiebrain.com/blog/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-994 Oliver Thu, 02 Mar 2006 13:08:18 +0000 http://www.magpiebrain.com/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-994 What I've done to back up several machines on a staff network is: 1. Create a central server which uses rsync to back up each Mac 2. That central server nfs-mounts a Unix box (but you could do it with sftp virtual drives if nfs is not available or desirable) 3. The central server then saves the data to a disk image using hdiutil on the unix server. Voila: resource forks preserved, and all you have to do is download a handy disk image when you want to restore :) What I’ve done to back up several machines on a staff network is:
1. Create a central server which uses rsync to back up each Mac
2. That central server nfs-mounts a Unix box (but you could do it with sftp virtual drives if nfs is not available or desirable)
3. The central server then saves the data to a disk image using hdiutil on the unix server. Voila: resource forks preserved, and all you have to do is download a handy disk image when you want to restore :)

]]> By: Rob Bevan http://www.magpiebrain.com/blog/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-993 Rob Bevan Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:27:46 +0000 http://www.magpiebrain.com/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-993 Apparantly, the version of rsync that ships with Mac OS X 10.4 includes an -E option to include "extended attributes" of files (such as resource forks). There are issues with Spotlight though: see this hint: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051104185525439&lsrc=osxh Apparantly, the version of rsync that ships with Mac OS X 10.4 includes an -E option to include “extended attributes” of files (such as resource forks). There are issues with Spotlight though: see this hint: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051104185525439&lsrc=osxh

]]> By: Sam Newman http://www.magpiebrain.com/blog/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-992 Sam Newman Fri, 04 Nov 2005 09:17:46 +0000 http://www.magpiebrain.com/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-992 They _are_ deprecated according to Apple - they've been trying to get people to move away from them for a while, but I guess they had to keep them for backwards compatibility. For the moment it looks like I'll have to use a local full backup to either an external drive or another mac, and use my strongspace stuff for things like my documents, code and the like. They are deprecated according to Apple – they’ve been trying to get people to move away from them for a while, but I guess they had to keep them for backwards compatibility.

For the moment it looks like I’ll have to use a local full backup to either an external drive or another mac, and use my strongspace stuff for things like my documents, code and the like.

]]> By: Jon Tirsen http://www.magpiebrain.com/blog/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-991 Jon Tirsen Thu, 03 Nov 2005 22:34:54 +0000 http://www.magpiebrain.com/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-991 Yeah, it's a bit of pain in the backside those resource forks. Please do blog if you come up with a good solution for using rsync to a non-OSX machine that preserves resource forks. (Sometimes I just wish Apple would've dropped resource forks when they switched to Unix.) Yeah, it’s a bit of pain in the backside those resource forks. Please do blog if you come up with a good solution for using rsync to a non-OSX machine that preserves resource forks.

(Sometimes I just wish Apple would’ve dropped resource forks when they switched to Unix.)

]]> By: Sam Newman http://www.magpiebrain.com/blog/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-990 Sam Newman Thu, 03 Nov 2005 10:32:19 +0000 http://www.magpiebrain.com/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-990 More googling implies rsync has a bug with resource forks in Tiger: bq. on Tiger, rsync has a critical bug when handling files with resource forks. The bug makes rsync generate a new copy of files and directories with resource forks in each increment. (from "this topic(AppleTalk forum)":http://forums.appletalk.com.au/index.php?s=ba6dc11860726cb374cc170f466d6464&showtopic=11327&st=0&#entry93258) *sigh* - for me this is probably OK though, I really only backup code and my documents to strongpsace. The bulk of my stuff gets backed up to an external drive, so I guess I can use RsyncX (or even Backup 3) for that. More googling implies rsync has a bug with resource forks in Tiger:

on Tiger, rsync has a critical bug when handling files with resource forks. The bug makes rsync generate a new copy of files and directories with resource forks in each increment.

(from this topic)

sigh – for me this is probably OK though, I really only backup code and my documents to strongpsace. The bulk of my stuff gets backed up to an external drive, so I guess I can use RsyncX (or even Backup 3) for that.

]]> By: Sam Newman http://www.magpiebrain.com/blog/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-989 Sam Newman Thu, 03 Nov 2005 09:24:25 +0000 http://www.magpiebrain.com/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-989 Google'd a bit, and found that RsyncX won't work perfectly if the destination server isn't also OSX (apparently suome of the extra metadata can get lost). There is a "patch(rsync+hfsmode patch)":http://www.quesera.com/reynhout/misc/rsync+hfsmode/ for the OSX rsyc which enables the copying of HFS+ resource forks and finder metadata. Some more digging turns up at least one reference to rsync supporting resource forks in Tiger - I'll try and test this tonight - so from the sounds of it you should only need rsyncx/the HFS+ patch if running Panther or earlier. Google’d a bit, and found that RsyncX won’t work perfectly if the destination server isn’t also OSX (apparently suome of the extra metadata can get lost). There is a patch for the OSX rsyc which enables the copying of HFS+ resource forks and finder metadata.

Some more digging turns up at least one reference to rsync supporting resource forks in Tiger – I’ll try and test this tonight – so from the sounds of it you should only need rsyncx/the HFS+ patch if running Panther or earlier.

]]> By: Sam Newman http://www.magpiebrain.com/blog/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-988 Sam Newman Thu, 03 Nov 2005 09:10:42 +0000 http://www.magpiebrain.com/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-988 Ah - I wasn't aware of that, thanks Jon (although I have been using the Fink build of rsync rather than the built in one). I'll get round to updating the tutorial in a day or so. Ah – I wasn’t aware of that, thanks Jon (although I have been using the Fink build of rsync rather than the built in one). I’ll get round to updating the tutorial in a day or so.

]]> By: Jon Tirsen http://www.magpiebrain.com/blog/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-987 Jon Tirsen Thu, 03 Nov 2005 06:07:51 +0000 http://www.magpiebrain.com/2005/10/29/trouble-free-backups-part-one-rsync-and-strongspace/#comment-987 You should probably mention that the built in rsync in Mac OS X doesn't copy the resource fork which means that the files are pretty useless when restored from backup. You need to get RSyncX from here: http://archive.macosxlabs.org/rsyncx/rsyncx.html You should probably mention that the built in rsync in Mac OS X doesn’t copy the resource fork which means that the files are pretty useless when restored from backup. You need to get RSyncX from here:
http://archive.macosxlabs.org/rsyncx/rsyncx.html

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