--- On Thu, 6/24/10, James L <bjlockie [ at ] lockie [ dot ] ca> wrote: > <bjlockie [ at ] lockie [ dot ] ca> > wrote: > >> I'm using the following > >> command to backup my home directory: > >> > >> rsync -avh --delete /home/rjl /mnt/esata/home/ > >> > >> But why does it keep deleting WinXP.vdi? > >> > >> deleting home/rjl/.VirtualBox/HardDisks/WinXP.vdi > >> > >> ls -l /mnt/esata/home/rjl/.VirtualBox/HardDisks/ > >> total 44869748 > >> -rw------- 1 rjl rjl 38078142464 Jun 22 20:48 > WinXP.vdi > > > > You've told rsync to delete any files in > /mnt/esata/home/ that aren't > > in /home/rjl. > > > > The ls command shows that the file exists in > > /mnt/esata/home/rjl/.VirtualBox/HardDisks/ but rsync > doesn't think it > > exists in /home/rjl/.VirtualBox/HardDisks/. > > > > If you don't want to remove that file, use something > like > > --exclude=home/rjl/.VirtualBox > > > > The '-n' option can help you get the path right. > > > > Hope that helps. > > roland > > Thanks. > I don't want to exclude .VirtualBox because sometimes I > need a backup. > > I am backing it up to esata and it seems slow. :-( Slow is a relative term but if that 38G file changes, rsync will have to send data over the USB to find out where. That could take a while. roland