Backup & Recovery (Rsync/Tar/Dd)
Stop your backups from silently corrupting due to mid-stream file writes
🧩 The Challenge
Backing up an active database or a directory full of log files with standard tar is a recipe for heartbreak. You end up with an archive that contains half-written files, which means you’ve effectively got zero working backups when the inevitable disaster strikes.
đź’ˇ The Fix
Use the rsync –inplace flag to update files without creating temp copies, or better yet, force a consistent snapshot by piping through a tool that handles file locking. If you’re doing a quick stream, just make sure you aren’t grabbing files that are being actively nuked by a logrotate job.
rsync -av --inplace --partial --no-compress /source/data/ /backup/destination/⚙️ Why It Works
By telling rsync to operate –inplace, you stop the tool from creating those temporary hidden files that trigger a massive amount of unnecessary disk I/O and potential collisions during large sync jobs. It saves your sanity and keeps the backup consistent with the live state.
🚀 Pro-Tip: Pipe your rsync output to a log file if you’re running it in a cron job, otherwise you’ll be debugging phantom missing files for weeks.
Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 7/18/2026