this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2025
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You might not even like rsync. Yeah it's old. Yeah it's slow. But if you're working with Linux you're going to need to know it.

In this video I walk through my favorite everyday flags for rsync.

Support the channel:
https://patreon.com/VeronicaExplains
https://ko-fi.com/VeronicaExplains
https://thestopbits.bandcamp.com/

Here's a companion blog post, where I cover a bit more detail: https://vkc.sh/everyday-rsync

Also, @BreadOnPenguins made an awesome rsync video and you should check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eifQI5uD6VQ

Lastly, I left out all of the ssh setup stuff because I made a video about that and the blog post goes into a smidge more detail. If you want to see a video covering the basics of using SSH, I made one a few years ago and it's still pretty good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FKsdbjzBcc

Chapters:
1:18 Invoking rsync
4:05 The --delete flag for rsync
5:30 Compression flag: -z
6:02 Using tmux and rsync together
6:30 but Veronica... why not use (insert shiny object here)

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[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

How does that get sent over rsync though? Wouldn't you need snapshots on the remote destination server?

Why not just use a backup utility instead?

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, async copies files to the remote server, the remote server takes regular snapshots.

Why not just use a backup utility instead?

What is that utility providing that snapshots + rsync doesn't. If rsync + snapshots is sufficient, why overcomplicate it with a backup utility?

[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 hours ago

The main things that come to mind are you have to test/monitor 2 seperate actions instead of 1, and restores of single files could be more difficult since you need to login to the backup server, restore the file from a snapshot, then also copy that file back to your PC.