Folder1 is the original folder, and 2 is the new folder, or existing one to be brought in sync with the first. folder1 and folder2 In the examples above, folder1 and 2 are placeholders for the directories to be synchronized. vv increases the verbosity of the reporting process a preserves the date and times, and permissions of the files (same as -rlptgoD).ĭescend recursively into all directories ( -r), delete deletes files that don't exist on the system being backed up.(Optional) Once you've made sure everything will work as you expect, you have to remove this option, and run the command again to perform the actual backup. It will just write a log of what it would do to the screen. dry-run This tells rsync to not actually do anything. Local Backup sudo rsync -azvv /home/path/folder1/ /home/path/folder2īackup Over Network sudo rsync -dry-run -delete -azvv -e ssh /home/path/folder1/ explanation of above options to commands: This process gets around having to use ssh but is less secure and should only be used in secure private networks, like at your home. It should be noted, that a network sync can be performed locally so long as the folder is shared (say by Samba) and then mounted to the machine with folder1. Below you will find examples of commands that can be used to backup in either case. Local backup only requires rsync and read/write access to the folders being synchronized. Alternatively, you can use the rsync daemon (see Rsync Daemon which requires much more configuration. The simplest method for backing up over a network is to use rsync via SSH (using the -e ssh option). Be sure to check whether the following packages are installed before starting (see Installing a Package): rsync, xinetd, ssh. If you prefer a graphical interface, see the Grsync section of this page. Users attempting to use it should be familiar with the command line (see Using the Terminal). It is efficient because it only transfers files which are different between the source and destination directories. In other words, rsync is a tool for efficiently copying and backing up data from one location (the source) to another (the destination). Rsync is widely used for backups and mirroring and as an improved copy command for everyday use. It is famous for its delta-transfer algorithm, which reduces the amount of data sent over the network by sending only the differences between the source files and the existing files in the destination. It offers a large number of options that control every aspect of its behavior and permit very flexible specification of the set of files to be copied. It can copy locally, to/from another host over any remote shell, or to/from a remote rsync daemon.

Rsync is a fast and extraordinarily versatile file copying tool.More introductory information can be found there. This article is part of the BackupYourSystem series.

Ubuntu sync folders