--backup-dir or --link-dest?

[Matt McCutchen]

On 10/15/07, Louis-David Mitterrand <vindex+lists-rsync at apartia.org> wrote:
> To do incremental backups I am presently using
> --backup-dir=/backup/host/$TODAY and the full backup is written to
> /backup/host/current. With this system incremental directories only
> contain deleted files and "current" contains the full backup.
>
> Would it be more efficient to use --link-dest=/backup/host/$YESTERDAY
> and write the main backup to /backup/host/$TODAY ?

It wouldn't be more efficient, but it might be more convenient...

> That way each day
> incremental would contain the full daily snapshot, wouldn't it?

Yes, the daily snapshots would all appear full, but space would be
saved by hard linking among them.

> What is the current "best practice" standard for incremental backups?

I would say the best practice is to use --link-dest as you described.
You might like to use a tool that manages the snapshots for you, such
as rsnapshot ( http://www.rsnapshot.org/ ).

Matt