Alternative rsync client for Windows

[Kevin Korb]

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I know it is difficult and complicated and has lots of issues to deal
with.  That is why I hoped someone would write up a nice howto ;)

It is also why I don't let Windows store anything important.  Not even
Windows itself if I can help it.

On 04/11/2014 08:24 PM, L. A. Walsh wrote:
> Kevin Korb wrote:
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>> 
>> I come from the Linux world.  If one of my computers were to
>> simply evaporate into nothingness or have complete storage
>> failure then once the hardware problem is dealt with I would
>> network boot SystemRescueCD then restore my backups that I made
>> with rsync.
>> 
>> I understand that things are more complicated in Windows but if
>> say my laptop (it is the only computer I have that both boots and
>> stores Windows) were similarly destroyed or blanked I would still
>> network boot SystemRescueCD and restore my backups that I made
>> with ntfsclone.
>> 
>> My hesitation with backing up a Windows system with rsync is
>> that I have absolutely no idea to go from "I have a blank
>> computer and a copy of all my files" to "I have a working
>> computer with all my stuff".  I might be asking for something as
>> simple as "Install Windows, install Acrosync, restore everything
>> including the Windows configuration from backups" or maybe some
>> kind of rescue disc or maybe some kind of custom WinPE disc.  I
>> don't know.  I know just enough about Windows to figure out how
>> to use what I know from Linux to make things sorta work.
> --- I wouldn't suggest trying to restore windows w/rsync.  It might
> be possible, but first issue is that whatever media you rsync
> things to, needs to support full NT security and be able to create
> arbitrary users/acl's to fully replicate the source.
> 
> Second issue is that MS deliberately uses things the location of 
> something on the disk as a "security option".  I don't know what 
> software uses it, but I remember discussion about "media licenses" 
> (❝𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡❞) using the feature to prohibit any "copy" of them
> from working: only the original in its original 'licensed' location
> would work.  The whole way NTFS is designs it's locking of files is
> very unlike how it's done on linux/unix.  When it locks a file, it
> isn't, like in linux, at the inode level+offset; it's at a physical
> location on the disk that gets locked... it's really primitive,
> (and is why one needs to often reboot a system to replace binaries
> -- because the bytes on the disk ARE the file and they are locked
> -- vs. on linux, usually you have an inode that points to sectors
> where the file is, and by changing where the inode points, you can
> change the content.
> 
> That said, my primary concern would be the first issue (for me,
> not using licensed content on windows, I've not run into the
> problem, so that's mostly from memory about how it was implemented.
> VERY often, when doing copies with rsync or cp -a from one sys to
> another, I'll find permissions or such won't get transferred
> "quite" the same way.
> 
> I have used rsync from/to the same disk to restore & repair a
> broken windows install -- the part that has problems is storing the
> extended stuff and ACL's on a foreign media.
> 
> (Also have to make sure on restore that rsync has all needed 
> rights&privileges.  Cygwin takes care of alot of that -- removing a
> file or such that in the windows command line, you'd have a pretty 
> hard time doing... or setting permissions on all the files in the 
> windows/system32 dir despite not "owning them" - under the posix
> model, ownership doesn't matter for 'root'.. so cygwin tries to
> emulate that as much as possible -- probably why I've seen cygwin
> listed as a "security hacking tool"...;-)  (really!, letting a user
> control their own system, how absurd!)..
> 
> 

- -- 
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	Kevin Korb			Phone:    (407) 252-6853
	Systems Administrator		Internet:
	FutureQuest, Inc.		Kevin at FutureQuest.net  (work)
	Orlando, Florida		kmk at sanitarium.net (personal)
	Web page:			http://www.sanitarium.net/
	PGP public key available on web site.
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