rsync - Jun 2007 - mystery data fills my target disk

Hello,

I'm trying to use rsync to periodically restore a test computer from a
master disk image on a separate partition. The first time I copy the data
from the master partition to the target partition, everything works as
expected. But if I do the operation again, rsync indicates that it is
copying lots of files that have not changed. More significantly, the disk
usage on the target volume gradually increases throughout the operation
until the disk fills up and rsync quits.

I understand the use of the in-place option, but I don't think that would
help in my case. I'm not seeing a temporary increase in disk usage during
copies, which then goes away when the copied file replaces the original.
Rather, I'm seeing a cumulative increase in disk usage that eventually
exceeds the total size of my files.

What's puzzling is that I can't figure out where all this data is going.
After the sync operation quits, I don't see duplicate files anywhere. The
disk is full, but the sizes of my directories are what they should be.

I'm running Mac OS 10.4.8, and I've encountered the same behavior with
the
bundled version 2.6.3, the version 2.6.0 binary included with rsyncx, and
the current version 2.6.9 that I downloaded and compiled today. Here's my
rsync command:

/usr/local/bin/rsync --progress -aEv --delete --recursive --exlude-from
"/Users/compyschool/Library/Scripts/nightly restore - exclusions.txt"
"/Volumes/Compy 1 master/" "/Volumes/Compy 1"

Is this behavior familiar to anyone? Can you see anything wrong with my
command that might be causing it?

Thanks in advance for your help.

-Arlo

_______________________________

Arlo Leach
773.769.6106
http://arlomedia.com

Find. Be Found.
http://www.newwhitepages.com

Hello again,

I figured out the problem: I didn't have /Volumes in my exclude file, so my
rsync command was copying this directory -- including an entire second copy
of my master drive -- to a /Volumes directory on my target drive. There's my
mystery data, then!

I added this to my exclude file and now everything is working great. It's
been quite an adventure setting this up, but I think rsync is going to work
well in my situation.

Cheers,
-Arlo  

_______________________________

Arlo Leach
773.769.6106
http://arlomedia.com

Find. Be Found.
http://www.newwhitepages.com

On 27 Jun 2007, at 02:09, Arlo Leach wrote:
> I'm running Mac OS 10.4.8, and I've encountered the same behavior  
> with the
> bundled version 2.6.3, the version 2.6.0 binary included with  
> rsyncx, and
> the current version 2.6.9 that I downloaded and compiled today.  
> Here's my
> rsync command:
>
> /usr/local/bin/rsync --progress -aEv --delete --recursive --exlude- 
> from
> "/Users/compyschool/Library/Scripts/nightly restore -
exclusions.txt"
> "/Volumes/Compy 1 master/" "/Volumes/Compy 1"
you should not be using -E on 2.6.9 (or earlier I suppose) with  
10.4.8. Upgrade to 10.4.9 (vanilla or with the latest security  
update, as there was a security update which regressed LibC).
Otherwise -E will set corrupt unix permissions of files with  
resources and crash on files with both resources and acls.

Giuliano