What is Rdiff-backup?

rdiff-backup is an open source backup software used to create incremental backups. It works by calculating the difference between the source directory and the directory from the previous backup. Only changes are transferred and stored, instead of full file copies, which saves storage space on the backup destination.

Some key features of rdiff-backup include:

• Space efficient incremental backups using the rsync algorithm
• Preserves symlinks, permissions, timestamps, ownership of files in the backups
• Backup data can be accessed directly without restoring
• Integrity checks using hashes to ensure consistency of backups
• Compression of backup data to further reduce size
• Backup over a network to remote servers
• Automated scheduled backups
• Maintains a history of increments so multiple restore points are available

rdiff-backup is available on Linux and Mac systems. Typical uses include local disk-to-disk backups, remote backups to a storage server, and automated regular backups of important files. While convenient and space saving, the incremental nature and complexity make catastrophic failures difficult to fully recover from.

Official Links