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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Rsync’s --link-dest option can make each backup look like a complete directory tree while reusing unchanged file data from an earlier snapshot. In one small, author-reported test, three snapshots occupied 1,380 KB in total, compared with 3,540 KB for three ordinary copies. That is an example, not a general storage guarantee: the result depends on how much data changes and which files can be linked.
How hard-linked rsync snapshots save space
With --link-dest=DIR, rsync compares files with a basis directory and hard-links unchanged files into the new destination when their preserved attributes match. The rsync manual describes it this way: “This option behaves like –copy-dest, but unchanged files are hard linked from DIR to the destination directory.” Rsync project: rsync(1) manual
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A hard link is another directory entry for the same underlying file data. So the new snapshot can be browsed like a complete tree, even though unchanged files do not need a second copy of their contents. If a file changes, the new snapshot stores its changed version separately; older snapshots retain their prior version.
What the 1.4 MB versus 3.5 MB example measured
MonkeyRun reports a source tree and individual complete snapshot size of 1,180 KB. After making three snapshots—with a 200,000-byte file changed before the second and a text edit before the third—the reported total for the backup root was 1,380 KB. Three ordinary copies at 1,180 KB each would total 3,540 KB by arithmetic; that figure was not a separate measurement. The author reported additional allocation of 196 KB for snapshot two and 4 KB for snapshot three. MonkeyRun’s rsync hard-link backup example
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These are small, author-reported results from one example, not an independently reproduced benchmark. The savings in another workload will vary with the amount of changed data and whether files meet rsync’s linking conditions. Also, du may count shared inodes only once during a single invocation, so adding separate snapshot totals can misrepresent the actual space used.
Creating a new snapshot
The article’s example runs rsync with archive mode, deletion handling, and the latest snapshot as its link destination, then updates a latest symlink for the next run:
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rsync -a --delete --link-dest="$LATEST" "$SOURCE/" "$DEST/"Here, $LATEST must identify the previous snapshot directory, and $DEST is the new snapshot directory. The source and destination paths, snapshot naming, and symlink update are specific to the backup script or job you build; the command alone does not create a retention policy or a safe schedule.
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When rsync may treat a changed file as unchanged
By default, rsync’s quick check compares file size and last-modified time. If both match, it may skip transferring the file without comparing its contents. That can miss a content change in workflows that deliberately preserve both size and modification time; it is not the expected result of every ordinary edit.
For same-sized files, --checksum makes rsync compare checksums instead. This requires reading file contents and adds disk I/O. The manual documents both the quick-check behavior and checksum option. Rsync project: rsync(1) manual
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What archive mode preserves—and what it does not
The command uses -a, rsync’s archive mode, documented as -rlptgoD. Archive mode does not include preservation of ACLs, extended attributes, access times, creation times, or source hard-link relationships. If your restore needs those properties, review the relevant rsync options and test a restore rather than assuming -a covers them. Rsync project: rsync(1) manual
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If you think, “I deleted a folder yesterday,” a retained older snapshot may still contain it. In the reported example, running with --delete removed a deleted source file from the new snapshot while an older snapshot kept its directory entry. That is useful for recovering an earlier version, provided the relevant snapshot has not been pruned or altered.
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Snapshots on the same physical disk do not protect against that disk failing. A separate external drive or NAS addresses the separate-device risk, but by itself does not make a backup off-site or immutable. A process with write access to the backup root can also alter snapshots, and a destructive incident such as theft or malware may affect both source and backup. MonkeyRun describes a snapshot tree on the same volume as its source as “an undo history,” not protection against a dead disk. MonkeyRun’s rsync hard-link backup example
Retention counts snapshots, not automatically days
The article’s script uses a default KEEP=7, meaning seven snapshot directories. That equals seven days only if the job runs once per day. If a job runs more or less often, directory-count retention covers a different time span. The article says its minute-resolution naming and broad pruning pattern were fixed in version 1.6, released September 30, 2026; this is the author’s report about that script, not an independent audit. MonkeyRun’s rsync hard-link backup example
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