From 9ea79d738e123dc124e7a3139578a0d36e050b4d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Thomas Waldmann Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2016 22:57:26 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] add chunks.archive.d trick to FAQ --- docs/changes.rst | 1 + docs/faq.rst | 27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 28 insertions(+) diff --git a/docs/changes.rst b/docs/changes.rst index 3f1735b28..de669bc3d 100644 --- a/docs/changes.rst +++ b/docs/changes.rst @@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ Other changes: - dev environment: require virtualenv<14.0 so we get a py32 compatible pip - docs: + - add space-saving chunks.archive.d trick to FAQ - important: clarify -v and log levels in usage -> general, please read! - sphinx configuration: create a simple man page from usage docs - add a repo server setup example diff --git a/docs/faq.rst b/docs/faq.rst index acd6d8599..f31b978e5 100644 --- a/docs/faq.rst +++ b/docs/faq.rst @@ -111,6 +111,33 @@ into the repository. Yes, as an attacker with access to the remote server could delete (or otherwise make unavailable) all your backups. +The borg cache eats way too much disk space, what can I do? +----------------------------------------------------------- + +There is a temporary (but maybe long lived) hack to avoid using lots of disk +space for chunks.archive.d (see issue #235 for details): + + # this assumes you are working with the same user as the backup + cd ~/.cache/borg/ + rm -rf chunks.archive.d ; touch chunks.archive.d + +This deletes all the cached archive chunk indexes and replaces the directory +that kept them with a file, so borg won't be able to store anything "in" there +in future. + +This has some pros and cons, though: + +- much less disk space needs for ~/.cache/borg. +- chunk cache resyncs will be slower as it will have to transfer chunk usage + metadata for all archives from the repository (which might be slow if your + repo connection is slow) and it will also have to build the hashtables from + that data. + chunk cache resyncs happen e.g. if your repo was written to by another + machine (if you share same backup repo between multiple machines) or if + your local chunks cache was lost somehow. + +The long term plan to improve this is called "borgception", see ticket #474. + If a backup stops mid-way, does the already-backed-up data stay there? ----------------------------------------------------------------------