Hi Jorge, 
IĀ“m glad the info is useful to you, too.
Also nice:
If you hover the mouse pointer over the respective items thereĀ“s a popup window explaining what the option does:
Cheers from Rosika 
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So maybe @Sheila_Flanagan could use grsync to work out what options to use with an rsync command line, then use the command line with cron or anacron.
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My rsync command for data backup
- Sync /common/* with external disk
rsync -aAXvH /common/* /media/nevj/Linux-external/common
Two main points
- it uses archive modeā¦ never deletes anything on the backup copy
- it preserves permissions
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So you put everything in a ācommonā folder that you sync? Well that would make it easier. I kept thinking I had to run those commands for each directory (x5) for each computer (x4) and then understand the flags for each. Then have to run the commands again for each folder synced on the server to backup those to ext HDD. Thatās why it seemed overwhelming going in.
I was just going to create the folders on the server for each machine. Then those machine folders would have subfolders for the CZ, Timeshift & rsync backups as well as the synced files. It gets a little deep.
Thanks,
Sheila
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Yes, all data are inside /common, but not backups, they go straight to an external disk.
Hi @Sheila_Flanagan and @nevj,
Yes, and it seems to be quite easy as grsync tells you the exact command itĀ“s using for any defined job
See:
So thereĀ“s no science involved in working out the command with all the parameters.
Once you set it right in grsync thereĀ“s also the command available and you can copy it and use that in a cron or anacron job. 
Many greetings from Rosika
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I am setting up my machine backups today and was looking at your options and wondered what āAXā is?
I am using -a -v and am wondering about -b for backup while syncing. But did not see the AX option listed.
Thanks,
Sheila
@Sheila_Flanagan
A and X are two flags
-A, --acls preserve ACLs (implies -p)
-X, --xattrs preserve extended attributes
It is all about preserving everything to do with a file
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There is another rsync that has a wonderful GUI and is open source.
I use it all the time, FreeFileSync. Lots of options, shows what will happen before execution.
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Have you compared it to grsync ?
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No. Iāve looked at grsync but have not really used it. Once I found FreeFileSync, a couple years ago, I liked it so much that I made a couple small donation to the author. What I liked best about FreeFileSync is the fact that it shows what will be done before the updates are done.
It also provides 4 different rsync options. Two way, Mirror, Update, and Custom.
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That seems to correspond to rsync options for
- archiveā¦ sync from A to B and dont delete anything on B
- delete ā¦ sync from A to B and delete anything on B that is not on A
- mirror ā¦ sync in both directions in archive mode
- ??? ā¦ sync in both directions in delete modeā¦ Wow be careful of that !
It looks like a really good rsync gui.
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Hi Neville,
Iāve also been using FreeFileSync for a several of years, like Howard, I use the donation version and I only started testing rsync because all of youāve all been talking about it here on the forum and, with your posts and with Rosikaās help, I was able to do successful backup tests (without ruining anything). However, Iām still using FreeFileSync.
I think there is a difference between normal FFS and donation editions: normal FFS makes sequential copies, i.e. one copy at a time, and donation makes multiple copies.
Personally, Iām going to try to automate rsync for some daily backups, but for now Iāll continue to use FFS for backups to āarchiveā, as a matter of taste. I used this program before switching to Linux
Jorge
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That is a good reason for sticking with itā¦ you know it works and you know how to work it.
I use rsync in archive mode to backup my data area , in between full Clonezilla backups.
I script what rsync has done ( ie use the script command) so I have a record. Your FFS probably has a logfile for the same purpose.
I am not trying to convert anyone to rsync. Use what suits.
The main thing is to get an effective backup.
Regards
Neville
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Hi Neville,
On the contrary: thatās why Iām testing and trying to find a way that suits my way of making backups, to make the scripts and use rsync, in other words, to take a step forward and automate a large part of my backups with rsync and this is thanks to your comments here on the forum which, in a very positive way, motivate me to want to learn more.
Believe me: Iām always very happy to learn something new from you or another forum user, and thatās not called ātrying to convert anyoneā Itās called āexchanging informationā and, from me, thank you very much for doing so, my friend.
Jorge
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