rsync - Nov 2020 - A strange problem with my daily backups performed via rsync

Hi,

I am facing a strange situation with my daily backups performed via 
rsync. I primarily use Manjaro KDE Linux (LTS kernel), but also have 
FreeBSD and Windows 10 bare-metal installations.

I have an all-OS-writable ext2 partition /dev/sda2 mounted at /mnt/wall

My USB backup device is a Sony SSD mounted at /mnt/sony

This is the relevant line from my script which backs up /mnt/wall :

rsync -aAHXv --delete \
--exclude "lost+found" --exclude "System Volume Information"
\
/mnt/wall /mnt/sony/

Whenever the line above goes into action, it recursively deletes 
/mnt/sony/wall and then copies /mnt/wall all over again.

Any ideas why this might be happening ? Since /mnt/wall is 13GB, it 
costs me time and SSD-wear to have /mnt/sony/wall recreated all over 
again every time I do a backup.


Thanks,
Manish Jain

A few things here...
What filesystem is on /mnt/sony?
Add a --itemize-changes to see what it says is going on.
There really isn't a good reason to exclude lost+found. It should always
be empty and take up no space.  If there is something in it that is a
sign that there is a problem with your filesystem and you may as well
have rsync bring it to your attention.

On 11/2/20 3:30 AM, Manish Jain via rsync wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I am facing a strange situation with my daily backups performed via
> rsync. I primarily use Manjaro KDE Linux (LTS kernel), but also have
> FreeBSD and Windows 10 bare-metal installations.
> 
> I have an all-OS-writable ext2 partition /dev/sda2 mounted at /mnt/wall
> 
> My USB backup device is a Sony SSD mounted at /mnt/sony
> 
> This is the relevant line from my script which backs up /mnt/wall :
> 
> rsync -aAHXv --delete \
> --exclude "lost+found" --exclude "System Volume
Information" \
> /mnt/wall /mnt/sony/
> 
> Whenever the line above goes into action, it recursively deletes
> /mnt/sony/wall and then copies /mnt/wall all over again.
> 
> Any ideas why this might be happening ? Since /mnt/wall is 13GB, it
> costs me time and SSD-wear to have /mnt/sony/wall recreated all over
> again every time I do a backup.
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> Manish Jain
> 
-- 
~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,
	Kevin Korb			Phone:    (407) 252-6853
	Systems Administrator		Internet:
	FutureQuest, Inc.		Kevin at FutureQuest.net  (work)
	Orlando, Florida		kmk at sanitarium.net (personal)
	Web page:			https://sanitarium.net/
	PGP public key available on web site.
~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,

/mnt/sony is ext4. /mnt/wall is ext2.

I think I have spotted the problem. Let me try and work this out myself 
now. If the problem persists, I will post again.


Thanks for your reply,
Manish Jain


On 2020-11-02 15:08, Kevin Korb via rsync wrote:
> A few things here...
> What filesystem is on /mnt/sony?
> Add a --itemize-changes to see what it says is going on.
> There really isn't a good reason to exclude lost+found. It should
always
> be empty and take up no space.  If there is something in it that is a
> sign that there is a problem with your filesystem and you may as well
> have rsync bring it to your attention.
> 
> On 11/2/20 3:30 AM, Manish Jain via rsync wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am facing a strange situation with my daily backups performed via
>> rsync. I primarily use Manjaro KDE Linux (LTS kernel), but also have
>> FreeBSD and Windows 10 bare-metal installations.
>>
>> I have an all-OS-writable ext2 partition /dev/sda2 mounted at /mnt/wall
>>
>> My USB backup device is a Sony SSD mounted at /mnt/sony
>>
>> This is the relevant line from my script which backs up /mnt/wall :
>>
>> rsync -aAHXv --delete \
>> --exclude "lost+found" --exclude "System Volume
Information" \
>> /mnt/wall /mnt/sony/
>>
>> Whenever the line above goes into action, it recursively deletes
>> /mnt/sony/wall and then copies /mnt/wall all over again.
>>
>> Any ideas why this might be happening ? Since /mnt/wall is 13GB, it
>> costs me time and SSD-wear to have /mnt/sony/wall recreated all over
>> again every time I do a backup.
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Manish Jain
>>
>

Problem solved.

But I would like to know for my own sake if --delete can be made to work 
while preventing a certain directory from deletion in the backup :

rsync -av --delete src dst  # but protect dir dst/XYZ from deletion

I tried "--filter 'protect dst/XYZ'" but that does not prevent
the
directory dst/XYZ from being deleted.


Thanks for your reply,
Manish Jain


On 2020-11-02 15:08, Kevin Korb via rsync wrote:
> A few things here...
> What filesystem is on /mnt/sony?
> Add a --itemize-changes to see what it says is going on.
> There really isn't a good reason to exclude lost+found. It should
always
> be empty and take up no space.  If there is something in it that is a
> sign that there is a problem with your filesystem and you may as well
> have rsync bring it to your attention.
> 
> On 11/2/20 3:30 AM, Manish Jain via rsync wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am facing a strange situation with my daily backups performed via
>> rsync. I primarily use Manjaro KDE Linux (LTS kernel), but also have
>> FreeBSD and Windows 10 bare-metal installations.
>>
>> I have an all-OS-writable ext2 partition /dev/sda2 mounted at /mnt/wall
>>
>> My USB backup device is a Sony SSD mounted at /mnt/sony
>>
>> This is the relevant line from my script which backs up /mnt/wall :
>>
>> rsync -aAHXv --delete \
>> --exclude "lost+found" --exclude "System Volume
Information" \
>> /mnt/wall /mnt/sony/
>>
>> Whenever the line above goes into action, it recursively deletes
>> /mnt/sony/wall and then copies /mnt/wall all over again.
>>
>> Any ideas why this might be happening ? Since /mnt/wall is 13GB, it
>> costs me time and SSD-wear to have /mnt/sony/wall recreated all over
>> again every time I do a backup.
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Manish Jain
>>
>