Hi guys,
Does rclone unlink a hardlink before a copy if the content of the files are different, in the same way that rsync does?
Lets say I have a daily backup script routine which every day pulls down the contents of some directory on a server, creates a folder called “DAY{#}” and inside is some files which can be changed daily sometimes & sometimes not.
To save space, when I am copying into these backup folders I create hardlinks to the files that have not changed.
Now, if rclone does not recognise that the file is a hard link and updates the file inode directly rather than creating a new file with a new inode, then, every backup that I have made which is hard linked to that inode will point to the newly updated file rather than giving me the ability to create “snap-shots in time” in the same way that rsync would.
Perhaps what I’m saying is best explained here: https://earlruby.org/2013/05/creating-differential-backups-with-hard-links-and-rsync/
This is an important feature if one is trying to implement a snapshot backup rotation system ala Mike Rubel’s rsync backup approach. (see: http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/ )
Many thanks for your time.