-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Sparse doesn't work on some filesystems (explained in man rsync). Other than that it is fine. Any file that has a big chunk of null characters will be written sparsely and take up less space.
Note that you can't always use it when restoring. Do not restore /boot with --sparse or you will find that grub can't read the kernel. On 09/05/12 11:45, Karl O. Pinc wrote: > Hi, > > I'm using rsync with --link-dest to do backups. I don't have any > sparse files, but someday I might. Should I be using --sparse? > > I notice that -S is not implied by -a. This makes me suspicious > that --sparse is not (yet?) suitable for general purpose use. > There also seem to be outstanding bugs related to --sparse. > > Thanks. > > > Karl <k...@meme.com> Free Software: "You don't pay back, you pay > forward." -- Robert A. Heinlein > - -- ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~ Kevin Korb Phone: (407) 252-6853 Systems Administrator Internet: FutureQuest, Inc. ke...@futurequest.net (work) Orlando, Florida k...@sanitarium.net (personal) Web page: http://www.sanitarium.net/ PGP public key available on web site. ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.19 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAlBHdm4ACgkQVKC1jlbQAQc8vACfYB1W3LXhIKMuDu87/u5wJpVK QJEAnRl/k50LPnfG6YnIgrl7j+DQaS1T =ko9b -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Please use reply-all for most replies to avoid omitting the mailing list. To unsubscribe or change options: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/rsync Before posting, read: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html