Re: [rdiff-backup-users] hardlink-only mode?

[roland]

hi !

> My hope is to create an option in rdiff-backup so that instead of the
> mirror directory containing duplicates of the original data, the mirror
> contains *hardlinks* to the original data.

i had a similar requirement like your`s - i wanted to have rdiff-backups 
from a remote system on which i couldn`t install rdiff-backup onto.
so, i had to mirror it via rsync first and then make rdiff-backup from that 
local copy - so earch file existing twice and taking up unnecessary space.

i save most of that space with some trick:
rsync has some feature "--link-dest" which i point to the rdiff-backup 
repository, i.e. for each backup, i remove the rsync-dir first, then 
re-create it with "rsync --link-dest=/backup/rsdiff-backup-repo..." - so 
rsync is mostly creating hardlinks and thus saving most of the space. after 
this, i run rdiff-backup on that rsync-dir.

not sure if this will help you, but i think it`s an interesting approach....
i can tell more details on request....

regards
roland




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Luke Scott" <address@hidden>
To: <address@hidden>
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 5:43 PM
Subject: [rdiff-backup-users] hardlink-only mode?


> Hi guys, I'm wondering how realistic this wish is, and I'm also
> wondering if you could guide me on where to start coding it:
>
> I am creating a backup appliance using a few different tools to do the
> backups - Novell iFolder, SMB shares, etc. I want to use rdiff-backup to
> keep historical diff's of those backups, but duplicating the data within
> the backup server isn't necessary.
>
> My hope is to create an option in rdiff-backup so that instead of the
> mirror directory containing duplicates of the original data, the mirror
> contains *hardlinks* to the original data.
>
> This option will be used in conjunction with one other feature: The
> original data will be stored in directories with a "copy on write"
> feature, meaning that the hardlinks in the rdiff-backup mirror directory
> are effectively "read only" once they are created.
>
> As files change on the source directories, the shared hardlinks are
> removed and only then do they take up space in both the mirror *and*
> source dirs.
>
> This won't work well for large changing files, like live database files,
> etc. But part of the grand scheme will be to differentiate those files
> from smaller, user-readable files like documents, spreadsheets, etc. It
> can be assumed that database backups already have their own diff scheme
> anyway.
>
> Ideas? Guidance?
> thank you,
> Luke
>
>
>
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