rsync Backup Cheat Sheet

Cheat sheet for using rsync to create backups.

tl;dr

• Use rsync -avh
• Add --progress for file transfer progress
• Add --delete to mirror backups
• Use --dry-run to preview changes

Core Command

rsync -avh --progress source/ destination/

• -a = archive mode (recursive, preserves permissions, timestamps, symlinks, etc)
• -v = verbose output
• -h = human-readable sizes
• --progress = shows file transfer progress

Mirror Backup

rsync -avh --delete source/ destination/

• --delete = removes files in destination that no longer exist in source

Dry Run

rsync -avh --dry-run source/ destination/

Note On Trailing Slashes

rsync -avh source/ destination/   # copies the _contents_ of source
rsync -avh source destination/    # copies the _source folder itself_