Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Where did the restored folder go to?

[Eric Jensen]

Hello again Martin,

> How can I do a full restore from my rdiff-backup backup directory that
> will reflect my home folder as it is now on my temporary laptop (and
> as it is in my rdiff-backup backup dir but obviously split over the  
> first
> backup plus increments).

The key thing to realize here is that rdiff-backup stores files as  
just a regular mirror of your current filesystem.  Thus, a full  
restore of the current state of a directory is one of the easiest  
things you can do with rdiff-backup - it's just a straight copy of  
the files in the rdiff-backup directory into the intended destination  
directory.  You can do this with 'rdiff-backup -r now', but you can  
also just do it with 'cp -a' to recursively copy the whole  
directory.  (If you do a regular copy with 'cp' you can omit the  
'rdiff-backup-data' subdirectory of the backup repository, which  
contains the incremental information to roll back to earlier dates.)

When you say

>  This event has caused me to consolidate all of my chaotic file  
> systems and
> backups into one home folder on the temporary laptop, and into an
> rdiff-backup backup folder of this on an external usb drive. I did  
> this
> yesterday, and not all in one go, and thus the folders and files  
> are as
> per the first time rdiff-backup ran plus the increments (I have set
> rdiff-backup to run hourly).

it appears that you may be thinking of the rdiff-backup repository in  
a different way.  That's not surprising; most incremental backup  
systems (say, 'dump') store an initial full backup that doesn't get  
touched later, and then store incremental changes going forward in  
time.  What rdiff-backup does is (sort of) the reverse - the main  
backup repository actually reflects a full mirror of the *current*  
state of the source filesystem (well, current as of the time rdiff- 
backup was run), while the increments contain the information you  
would need to go *backward* in time from that point, i.e. to restore  
the destination to an earlier state.   This takes a little getting  
used to, but for many types of restores it is much easier - you often  
want the recent data, not something far in the paste, and with this  
system you can always find the most recent version of a file by just  
browsing through the backup to the same location you would browse to  
in your regular filesystem, and copying it directly from there.

Hope this clarifies things,

Eric