I prefer to use rdiff-backup. To me, it seems more robust.
I do pretty much what you do but a whole drive (1 TB to another on a nightly basis)
If you opt to use rdiff-backup, this is the syntax I use (YMMV)
Code: Select all
#/usr/bin/rdiff-backup -b -v5 /media/Data /media/Backup
/usr/bin/rdiff-backup -v5 /media/Data /media/Backup
In the example above, the first line completes a full backup of the 1 TB drive mounted as Data to the second 1TB drive mounted as Backup
The second line runs every night and copies only changed data. I think (could be mistaken since its been a long time since I implemented this) the change is not only based on new data but also if the timestamp is changed by access the file/files.
In my opinion, rdiff-backup is far faster than rsync (I tried using just rsync and it ran terrifyingly slow - then again, this just could have just been something I overlooked).
The above may be a bit overkill for your needs. Just wanted to present another option for you to consider should your scripting/backup needs require something a little more.
Added info for your consumption:
"rdiff-backup backs up one directory to another, possibly over a network. ... The idea is to combine the best features of a mirror and an incremental backup. rdiff-backup also preserves subdirectories, hard links, dev files, permissions, uid/gid ownership, modification times, extended attributes, acls, and resource forks."