Backups using Espionage built-in functionality
Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 8:43 pmHave been testing use of Espionage and think it has great potential. Few questions:
Q1: I would like to make sure I fully understand the backup implications, so I set up the following test:
1. created an encrypted Test folder. Set backups to occur on lock folder action.
2. added 6 image files to unencrypted Test folder
3. locked Test folder
4. folder the backed up automatically (as expected)
5. opened backed-up sparsebundle and found all 6 image files (as expected)
6. unmounted sparsebundle backup
7. re-opened Test folder and deleted one of the image files.
8. locked Test folder, observed successful backup, and re-opened sparsebundle backup.
9. found only 5 images in backup now.
Is this expected behavior for rsync? I was under the impression that you are performing backups using rsync, not true synchronization, but this test would indicate that all changes in Test folder are being mirrored in the sparsebundle backup file -- if so, can rsync behavior be modified to perform true "backups" (differential or incremental) rather than mirrored "syncs"?
Q2: I use MS LiveSync to sync folders on my travel mbp to my home mac. This works like a champ for unencrypted folders, but based on reading, similar to DropBox coexistance, it appears I should sync the sparsebundle backups, rather than the encrypted folder itself. If so, then I assume I would need to "restore" the synched sparsebundle backup before using on the other computer. Do I understand correctly? Is there an easier, less cumbersome, method that I have missed?
Regards, Mark
Q1: I would like to make sure I fully understand the backup implications, so I set up the following test:
1. created an encrypted Test folder. Set backups to occur on lock folder action.
2. added 6 image files to unencrypted Test folder
3. locked Test folder
4. folder the backed up automatically (as expected)
5. opened backed-up sparsebundle and found all 6 image files (as expected)
6. unmounted sparsebundle backup
7. re-opened Test folder and deleted one of the image files.
8. locked Test folder, observed successful backup, and re-opened sparsebundle backup.
9. found only 5 images in backup now.
Is this expected behavior for rsync? I was under the impression that you are performing backups using rsync, not true synchronization, but this test would indicate that all changes in Test folder are being mirrored in the sparsebundle backup file -- if so, can rsync behavior be modified to perform true "backups" (differential or incremental) rather than mirrored "syncs"?
Q2: I use MS LiveSync to sync folders on my travel mbp to my home mac. This works like a champ for unencrypted folders, but based on reading, similar to DropBox coexistance, it appears I should sync the sparsebundle backups, rather than the encrypted folder itself. If so, then I assume I would need to "restore" the synched sparsebundle backup before using on the other computer. Do I understand correctly? Is there an easier, less cumbersome, method that I have missed?
Regards, Mark