Hi again, OK, so I did read that I'm supposed to forget everything I know about back-ups, but frankly that wasn't much. :) Not that I know nothing, but it hasn't been something I've spent a *lot* of time thinking about.
But as I think about Tarsnap, deleted files, rotating/deleting archives, daily storage charges (increasing, of course, as the amount of data stored slowly increases), etc., I start wondering about what happens to files I intentionally delete from my hard drive. If I understand Tarsnap correctly, a file that I backed up in my initial back-up and that hasn't since changed only exists in that initial back-up archive because (a) it hasn't changed so there has been no need to re-upload any part of it and (b) archives are immutable. If I delete that initial archive I assume (I could be wrong, so this is part of my series of questions) that Tarsnap will realise that and back up those files again. Am I right? So if I delete my initial archive today, Tarsnap will realise that it has to upload pretty much everything -- not everything, but almost everything -- again, right? And what if I delete a file -- any file -- on my hard drive that has been backed up in the past? Of course Tarsnap won't upload a null file, but does that file continue to exist in the archives unless or until I delete the last archive that contains it? In other words, it's *my* responsibility to curate my archives, right? (I'm quite happy to curate my own stuff. Just want to make sure.) And what if I want to delete a file from my hard drive *and* my back-ups? Since the archives are immutable, and this file was in my initial back-up, am I right that there is no way to delete that single file from the back-up archives without deleting the whole archive, and consequently re-uploading most of the original archive again? Which leads me to the conclusion that I should pick a time frame -- say, 90 days -- or come up with some traditional, staggered rotation system, and start deleting archives older than that *except* the initial archive, right? Or am I completely out to lunch here? :) Thanks for any light you can shed on this, via links to documentation that covers it of course if I have missed it. Craig
