rsync Flags & Options
Fast incremental file transfer.All rsync pages
- rsync --link-dest: incremental snapshots with hard links to the previous backuprsync --link-dest=DIR hard links unchanged files from the previous backup, so each snapshot looks complete but uses space once. Path rules and why links fail.
- rsync -c (--checksum): compare file contents instead of size and timersync -c (--checksum) compares a checksum of same-size files instead of size and modification time. When it is worth the extra disk I/O and what it does not do.
- rsync -P: keep partial files and show progress (--partial --progress)rsync -P equals --partial --progress: keep partly transferred files so a rerun resumes them, and show per-file progress. --partial-dir and local copy caveats.
- rsync trailing slash: rsync src/ dest vs rsync src destrsync -a src/ dest copies the contents of src, while rsync -a src dest creates dest/src. Only the source slash matters. Why it is dangerous with --delete.