OSBConf 2015 | Backups with rdiff backup and rsnapshot by Chirstoph Mitasch & Thomas Niedermeier

The simpler the backup, the higher is the chance that the backups will be done by users. So let’s look for simple backup methods.

Two known command-line backup tools of this kind are rdiff-backup and rsnapshot. Both tools allow easy-to-setup backups, and impress with a direct file-level access to the last backup copy.
Although the two tools share the same main idea – “incremental forever backups” – they differ in how they reach this goal. While rdiff-backup stores old versions of a file by only saving the changes (increments) compared to the following version, rsnapshot creates a new backup file whenever a file has changed since the last backup. This fact leads to different advantages and disadvantages: while rdiff-backup is very space-efficient, a restore of an older version of a file might take longer. Rsnapshot on the other hand allows fast restores even for older versions, but as a downside it needs more backup space to store the same amount of data.
So which tool should I use? rdiff-backup or rsnapshot? Well, it depends…
In this talk we will explain how rdiff-backup and rsnapshot work in detail, and show different use-cases. Along with that knowledge, you will find the right answer for you which tool to choose.