rsync and backup

Copy, sync and back up data reliably: rsync with the right options, tar archives and simple backup routines.

16 one-liners: 4 harmless, 11 caution, 1 destructive

backup 11 rsync 9 tar 5 ssh 4 checksum 3 restore 2 sha256sum 2

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Restore a single file from a tar backup

$mkdir -p /tmp/restore && tar -xzf /var/backups/example.com-httpdocs-2026-10-09.tar.gz -C /tmp/restore ./wp-config.php

caution

Resume an interrupted transfer of large files

$rsync -avP /var/backups/example.com-2026-10-09.tar.gz webuser@backup.example.com:/home/webuser/backup/

caution

rsync with excluded directories and files

$rsync -av --exclude='wp-content/cache/' --exclude='*.log' /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/ /backup/example.com/httpdocs/

caution

Run rsync with limited bandwidth

$rsync -avz --bwlimit=5000 /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/ webuser@backup.example.com:/home/webuser/backup/httpdocs/

caution

Save checksums of all files in a directory

$cd /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs && find . -type f -exec sha256sum {} + > /tmp/example.com.sha256

caution

Stream a tar backup directly to another server over SSH

$tar -czf - -C /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs . | ssh webuser@backup.example.com 'cat > /home/webuser/backup/example.com-httpdocs.tar.gz'

caution

Test rsync with a dry run

$rsync -av --dry-run /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/ /backup/example.com/httpdocs/

harmless

Transfer files to another server with rsync over SSH

$rsync -avz -e 'ssh -p 22' /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/ webuser@backup.example.com:/home/webuser/backup/httpdocs/

caution

Verify a backup against the original using checksums

$rsync -rcn --itemize-changes /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/ /backup/example.com/httpdocs/

harmless

Verify files against saved checksums

$cd /backup/example.com/httpdocs && sha256sum -c --quiet /tmp/example.com.sha256

harmless

All rsync and backup one-liners

Copy a directory locally with all permissions and attributes

Create a compressed tar backup with the date in the name

Extract a tar.gz archive without overwriting files

Incremental backup with hard links using rsync --link-dest

List the contents of a tar.gz archive

Mirror a directory exactly with rsync --delete

Restore a single file from a tar backup

Resume an interrupted transfer of large files

rsync with excluded directories and files

Run rsync with limited bandwidth

Save checksums of all files in a directory

Stream a tar backup directly to another server over SSH

Test rsync with a dry run

Transfer files to another server with rsync over SSH

Verify a backup against the original using checksums

Verify files against saved checksums