On my backup server I have a script that runs as root:

The idea is this:
At any given time there's a directory current containing the most recent backup.

When the backup process starts, current gets renamed to today and a new current is created. A new backup is created in the new current using today as the link-dest. Then the today is renamed with a date string.

It creates the backup I expect, but it always creates complete new copies of all files rather than creating hardlinks to the unchanged files in the link-dest. This completely fills up the drive after about three backups. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks!
Sam

Not sure why it doesn't work, but maybe take a look at rdiff-backup?

http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup/

It basically does what you want - keeping backups of changed/deleted files without waisting diskspace on files that do not change.

Your rsync command looks good to me.

Try adding the --log-file=FILE option, and keep the -v or ---verbose (which affects logfile verbosity too). In the log file, look for lines like the following:

When the file is originally transferred, and there is nothing to link to:
If the file has been modified, so both the size and timestamp do not match those of the corresponding file in --link-dest, you get a line like this:
When there is a matching file in the --link-dest directory, no such line appears.

And here is a stupid question: Does the destination filesystem support hardlinks? (Some, like FAT32, do not.)

you might also look into the

from the man page.

hmm nm i see you are. sorry ignore this post.