March 31, 2023, is world backup day. Let’s dive into rsync— which is a powerful and efficient tool for data backup.

Before starting a discussion about rsync, let’s take a quick view of what backup is and why it's important.

What is backup?

Backup refers to the copying of physical or virtual files or databases to a secondary location for preservation in case of equipment failure or catastrophe. The process of backing up data is pivotal to a successful disaster recovery plan.

One thing to note here is that backup and replication are two different concepts. Backup restores data to a specific point time in the past. Backup creates saving points of the data so that the data is recoverable in case of disasters that cause data loss. Replication makes copies of data and distributes them among many servers and data centers. This way, data is more easily accessible to clients in a variety of geographical locations, and it also resolves a point of failure.

Why should you care about backup?

Backups can be used to restore lost data and minimize downtime of critical business operations. Data can be lost for a variety of reasons, like natural disasters or any factors that cause data loss. It also helps you restore your data after cyber-attacks.

Since rsync is widely used for efficient data backup, data recovery, and automating file transfer, I decided to write a blog post about it.

What is rsync?

rsync (remote synchronization) is a popular and powerful utility for synchronizing and copying files between computers, either locally or remotely over a network.

More specifically, rsync transfers files: