2 ms·

Can you explain what you mean by "watching", and why it's important to you?

berdario 9y ago
> I need something that would keep watch on all the files on the system (see inotify) to avoid continuous rescans of the disks Inotify (on Linux, and fanotify wouldn't be enough, since the backup tool would have to track file deletions as well) is the only way to have seamless background backups I tried to use other tools in the past, like duplicity... But having a scan every hour that takes several minutes and has noticeable CPU usage is a deal breaker (and having a backup scheduled less frequently than that is also a dealbreaker, since you cannot rely that the laptop would be up an running at a certain time during the day) (Crashplan also does a full rescan, but it's not strictly necessary... It's basically needed if the backup daemon crashed or was shutdown, or stuff had been changed on the filesystem while the OS was off, so that sanity check rescan can actually wait a few days)
extra88 9y ago
I think there are a couple of variants. First is watching for files to change and then uploading them when they do (possibly waiting a short period and collecting a set of changed files before uploading). This is what folder syncing programs like Dropbox do and probably what berdario is seeking. Second is watching for files to change and saving that list until the next scheduled backup is run. This is what macOS's Time Machine does, the OS's fsevents continuously keeps track of changes and Time Machine just asks it for the list of changed files since a given time (the last time Time Machine ran). This is an alternative to a backup client scanning the filesystem itself on a schedule.
- berdario 9y ago
  Yes, what I'm actually looking for is the 2nd one. (that is, I don't care that the backup happens now or in 15 minutes, but I care that when the backup runs, the tool doesn't have to rescan the whole filesystem)

> I need something that would keep watch on all the files on the system (see inotify) to avoid continuous rescans of the disks Inotify (on Linux, and fanotify wouldn't be enough, since the backup tool would have to track file deletions as well) is the only way to have seamless background backups I tried to use other tools in the past, like duplicity... But having a scan every hour that takes several minutes and has noticeable CPU usage is a deal breaker (and having a backup scheduled less frequently than that is also a dealbreaker, since you cannot rely that the laptop would be up an running at a certain time during the day) (Crashplan also does a full rescan, but it's not strictly necessary... It's basically needed if the backup daemon crashed or was shutdown, or stuff had been changed on the filesystem while the OS was off, so that sanity check rescan can actually wait a few days)

extra88 9y ago

I think there are a couple of variants. First is watching for files to change and then uploading them when they do (possibly waiting a short period and collecting a set of changed files before uploading). This is what folder syncing programs like Dropbox do and probably what berdario is seeking. Second is watching for files to change and saving that list until the next scheduled backup is run. This is what macOS's Time Machine does, the OS's fsevents continuously keeps track of changes and Time Machine just asks it for the list of changed files since a given time (the last time Time Machine ran). This is an alternative to a backup client scanning the filesystem itself on a schedule.

berdario 9y ago
Yes, what I'm actually looking for is the 2nd one. (that is, I don't care that the backup happens now or in 15 minutes, but I care that when the backup runs, the tool doesn't have to rescan the whole filesystem)