Backup & Recovery (Rsync/Tar/Dd)
Stop rsync from choking on directory permissions during backups
🧩 The Challenge
Trying to pull a full system backup as a normal user always ends in a flood of permission denied errors that mask the actual data transfer issues. It is incredibly frustrating to sift through thousands of lines of noise when you just want to know if the critical app configs made it over.
đź’ˇ The Fix
Just tack on the –ignore-errors flag to tell rsync to keep chugging even when it hits a file it can’t read. It makes the logs actually readable so you can focus on the files that matter.
rsync -av --ignore-errors --delete /source/ /destination/⚙️ Why It Works
Setting this flag ensures that interrupted reads due to restricted permissions don’t kill the entire process, allowing the tool to finish processing the rest of the directory tree.
🚀 Pro-Tip: Always keep the –delete flag in mind if you want your backup to match the source exactly, but test it on a throwaway directory first to avoid accidentally nuking data you meant to keep.
Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 7/30/2026