Rsync Full Tutorial [ linux terminal ]

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# 2018 TM #
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# RSYNC TUTORIAL #
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Backup Your Entire Linux System Using Rsync

First, insert your backup medium (Pend drive or External hard disk). Then find the drive letter using ‘fdisk -l’ command. In my case, my Pen drive id is /dev/sdb1. Mount your drive to any location of your choice.

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt

To backup the entire system, all you have to do is open your Terminal and run the following command as root user:

sudo rsync -aAXv / --exclude={"/dev/*","/proc/*","/sys/*","/tmp/*","/run/*","/mnt/*","/media/*","/lost+found"} /mnt

This command will backup the entire / directory, excluding /dev, /proc, /sys, /tmp, /run, /mnt, /media, /lost+found directories.

Let us break down the above command and see what each argument does.

    rsync – A fast, versatile, local and remote file-copying utility
    -aAXv – The files are transferred in “archive” mode, which ensures that symbolic links, devices, permissions,  ownerships, modification times, ACLs, and extended attributes are preserved.
    / – Source directory
    –exclude – Excludes the given directories from backup.
    /mnt – It is the backup destination folder.

Please be mindful that you must exclude the destination directory, if it exists in the local system. It will avoid the an infinite loop.