Re: [BackupPC-users] Switching backup methods

Hi,

Tino Schwarze wrote on 2009-09-26 13:32:58 +0200 [Re: [BackupPC-users] 
Switching backup methods]:
> On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 05:04:24PM -0400, jingai wrote:
> > Is it OK to switch between backup methods at any time, or do I need to  
> > do something beforehand?
> 
> You might have to adjust your excludes. Have a look at the Wiki for more
> information. Apart from that, there's nothing special to consider.

that's almost true.

1. rsync will copy over *everything* on the first backup (actually upto the
   first *full* backup), which might not be expected. In your case (you were
   doing tar backups anyway), that will not be a problem, but in cases where
   the switch to rsync is done because of bandwidth limitations, it should be
   noted.
   Actually, it also matters in your case, because if you only run one rsync
   incremental after switching, you'll probably observe that it is much slower
   than a tar incremental was before, so you should know why that is :).

2. You should do a full backup after switching transfer methods. There are
   subtle differences (see above), and a full backup will make sure everything
   is as the new transfer method expects.

3. I believe I recall reading that *restoring* a backup *made with rsync* with
   the tar XferMethod produces warnings (or errors?) - probably because tar
   doesn't understand the "deleted file" entries in the attrib files. While I
   can't see that giving incorrect results, it probably won't give you a good
   feeling to read that your restore completed with 579 errors, which you'll
   have to individually check. So if you need to restore an old backup after
   having switched the XferMethod, it would probably be a good idea to switch
   it back for the restore. Recent versions of BackupPC (>= 3.0.0, I believe)
   record the XferMethod a backup was done with in the backups file (but I
   don't think they automatically use that information for doing a restore).

Aside from that, though I also like to point at the Wiki, I believe it is
still sort of non-functional. At least I can't find anything except the main
page ...

Regards,
Holger

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