rsync: --delete not working

J1021

Hi,

I have the following command to backup my entire HDD on my laptop to an external USB HDD.

sudo rsync -va --exclude '/media' --exclude '/proc/kcore' --delete --progress / '/media/TOSHIBA HDD/rsync-backup/'

My laptop HDD is 750GB whilst the external HDD is 1TB. Despite the external HDD only holding the backing, it is currently running at 31GB available. I have taken a look through the files and it appears that files deleted from the laptop are remaining on the backup drive.

Can anyone shed anylight on why deleted files aren't being deleted from the backup copy?

Jack

wych

sudo?

J1021

@wych said:
sudo?

Sorry, I do run under sudo already. I type sudo manually and copy the rest of the command from a text file.

rm_

said: Can anyone shed anylight on why deleted files aren't being deleted from the backup copy?

I think it won't do deletions if it had any error during copy, which it very well might have had, considering you don't exclude things such as /dev and various weird files in /proc and /sys. Just exclude all of these 3 entirely, no need for the "/proc/kcore" b/s.

J1021

rm_ said: I think it won't do deletions if it had any error during copy, which it very well might have had, considering you don't exclude things such as /dev and various weird files in /proc and /sys

It always definitely will have errors. I will try using

--delete-before

.

rm_

kcaj said: always definitely will have errors

Why would that be?

Also forgot to note, for backups like this, check out rdiff-backup, not just rsync.

http://manual.aptosid.com/en/sys-admin-rdiff-en.htm

MarkTurner

It maybe the order of the flags:

rsync -va --delete --progress --exclude '/media' --exclude '/proc/kcore' / '/media/TOSHIBA HDD/rsync-backup/'

J1021

I tried using --delete-before and changing the order of the flags, no luck.

qrwteyrutiyoup

Try adding a trailing slash to the directories.

GoodHosting

I'd try some of the other --delete options from the manpage.

CharlesA

@qrwteyrutiyoup said:
Try adding a trailing slash to the directories.

Might work, but I don't know.

I pulled the rsync command I've been using:

rsync --archive --itemize-changes --delete /home/charles/Steam /backup

Here's one I have with the exclude switch.

rsync --archive --itemize-changes --delete --log-file /tmp/rsync.log /home/charles --exclude /home/charles/Steam --exclude lost+found --exclude virtualbox /backup

GoodHosting

I always just use something simple, like:

rsync -ravP /src /dst --delete-after

EDIT: And add -e when required.

rsync -ravP -e "ssh -l root" /src remote:/dst --delete-after