Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Problem restoring to directory with existing files.

[Jeremy Polen]

Thanks Warren,

This was exactly what I was thinking, but I just wanted to know if  
someone had any ideas or patches in process that would allow us to the  
restore the mirror back into the directory that was backed up without  
deleting pre-existing files. I was working on patching rdiff-backup's  
restore to have a similar restore process like duplicity.

Thanks!

Jeremy

On Mar 24, 2008, at 11:06 AM, Warren Guy wrote:
> Jeremy Polen wrote:
> > I tried and succeeded to restore files into a directory that  
> > already had the backed up files and newer files that I had added  
> > since the last backup. When I restored, it wiped out all my other  
> > files. Is this the default behavior of rdiff-backup? And if it is,  
> > is there a way to change it that it doesn't wipe out files that lay  
> > outside of the backup set/mirror?
>
> The restore process restores the destination directory to its last  
> backed up state, so this sounds like expected behaviour. I think it  
> is generally accepted best practice to restore your backup to a  
> different location on disk, and then moving it in to place,  
> retaining a copy of the existing directory you are restoring. This  
> way you remove the risk of accidentally overwriting/deleting files  
> unexpectedly during restore. There has been some discussion on the  
> list recently about this and other similar "gotchas", so it may be  
> worth checking out the archives.
>
> --
> Warren Guy
> Senior System Administrator
> CalorieKing
>
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