Rsync "disappearing" some files after running

cilbuper · 08-28-2015, 05:36 AM

I wanted to copy a folder with about 100 pics in it from a local drive to a network drive (mounted as /mnt/nas/). The command seemed to run successfully but when I checked afterwards there was nothing in to folder or anywhere that I could find related to the folder or the files inside. Below is the output and what command I used:

Code:

root@Linux_box:/#rsync -avzh /home/user/ext1tb/gti/ /mnt/nas/docs/ext1tb\ backup/gti/
sending incremental file list
./
f_01ba84
f_01ba8f
..
..
..
..
f_01bc63

sent 6.65M bytes  received 1.73K bytes  4.44M bytes/sec
total size is 6.93M  speedup is 1.04

This happened earlier with a couple of transfers and I was unable to track the files as well.

I thought I would do a test so I created a temp folder "temp" and put a 2gb file (.zip file) in it and ran the following:

Code:

rsync -avzh /home/user/ext1tb/temp/ /mnt/nas/docs/ext1tb\ backup/

Now I thought it would make a folder or copy a file somewhere into the destination folder but neither showed up - there wasn't any change on the destination drive but the computer's HDD light was going the whole time. Here is the output of the command:

Code:

root@Linux_box:/#rsync -avzh /home/user/ext1tb/temp/ /mnt/nas/docs/ext1tb\ backup/
sending incremental file list
./
emails.zip

sent 1.72G bytes  received 38 bytes  22.53M bytes/sec
total size is 1.72G  speedup is 1.00

It seems that I am missing some drive space on the source drive for the backups I have been making. IDK if this rsync has anything to do with this, but I'm wondering if it is copying data to a "lost" area some how. When I do a "du" and "df" command all the numbers check out but when I open the folder/drive in dolphin, highlight the folders/files - select properties-, I get it showing say 820GB but the drive is showing as 96% full (which doesn't = 820GB). The drive is formatted in NTFS.

Am I missing something simple here, I know Linux can be a little touchy with syntax, but I did get what seemed to be successful messages after execution. Also the missing drive space is questionable and may/may-not be related.

sgosnell · 08-28-2015, 10:28 AM

Why are you using a backslash - \ ? It should be a standard forward slash - / . In Linux, a backslash is used as an escape character.

michaelk · 08-28-2015, 10:36 AM

I assume the OP is trying to escape a space in the directory name which is causing problems. Try the following:

rsync --protect-args -avzh /home/user/ext1tb/temp/ "/mnt/nas/docs/ext1tb backup/"

cilbuper · 08-28-2015, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

I assume the OP is trying to escape a space in the directory name which is causing problems. Try the following:

rsync --protect-args -avzh /home/user/ext1tb/temp/ "/mnt/nas/docs/ext1tb backup/"

Thanks for the suggestion. I thought about using the quotes but I had learned that the backslash was proper and acceptable formatting. Has that changed?

I tried the command you suggested on the same folder (the one with the large zip file) and it looked like it was working as while rsync was running I could see a file in /mnt/nas/docs/ext1tb backup/ folder - it appeared in Dolphin as a temp file, properly named with an alpha-numeric file extension after the .zip (file size grew as rsync ran).

This is the code and output

Code:

root@Linux_box:/#rsync -avzh /home/user/ext1tb/temp/ "/mnt/nas/docs/ext1tb backup/"
sending incremental file list
./
emails.zip

sent 3.89G bytes  received 38 bytes  23.11M bytes/sec
total size is 3.89G  speedup is 1.00

I ran rsync again to see if it would copy (since it isn't showing up in Dolphin or in terminal) and it acted like it was already there and wouldn't copy. I added another file to the temp folder, ran rsync again, while transferring the temp file showed again in the /mnt/nas/docs/ext1tb backup/ folder - but when completed it was nowhere to be found.

Running rsync again showed that no files needed updating as they were already there - but can't be seen or found!

Any idea where to start looking for this gremlin?

sgosnell · 08-28-2015, 08:41 PM

Linux does not use backslashes for paths, only as an escape character for problematic characters. You need to read the man pages for rsync, specifically the parts that explain when to use a slash at the end of a path, and why.

descendant_command · 08-28-2015, 08:48 PM

You're doing the rsync as root.
Can the user running Dolphin see root's files in the destination?