Is it possible to take the backup while write operation is being performed on the directory

Getting Help
1

Hi,

I am new to restic, and i would like to know whether restic can be used to create backup of a directory where contents is being written into it. Or do i need to make sure that no write operation is performed on the directory during the restic backup.

Thanks
Sanu

2

You can take such a backup, but be aware that backups are not atomic so the result of such a backup is called “inconsistent” since the contents of each file are reflected at the moment the file is read, not at the moment the whole backup operation begins.

As long as this isn’t a problem for your application, then it’s fine. For example, it would be very bad to back up a database’s data files like this. Database servers typically cannot recover from inconsistent backups.

3

@cdhowie thanks for the reply. That answers my question.

Regards
Sanu