3
I am wondering, does an ext2/ext3/ext4 file system (and Linux) support "archive flags". At Windows it is quite convenient to do an incremental backup because the archive flag is automatically set if a file has been modified or added. How do incremental backups work on Linux-based operating systems? Is there a better way than just comparing an old "full backup" with the current state of the system?
user4811
Posted 2013-12-27T19:29:33.127
Reputation: 175
1
I don't know if the ext filesystems support an archive flag, but I doubt it as I've never come across it and this article appears to imply its a Microsoft thing.
The way incremental backups are done on Linux is typically to use RSYNC (or a program which calls that). RSYNC (by default) looks at the timestamps of the software and updates based on those. If you are wanting "diffs", a good way of doing them is to use "rsnapshot" which uses rsync and symlinks to backup only the new files, but by using symlinks creates the appearance of backing up everything - so you have a full structure. It also rotates the oldest files out.
davidgo
Posted 2013-12-27T19:29:33.127
Reputation: 49 152