rsync backup of /home/.ecryptfs causes errors

[James Taylor]

Daniel Convissor wrote:
> Hi Folks:
> 
> I asked the following question at launchpad, but haven't received an 
> answer.  Perhaps the folks here can help, please.
> 
> I am trying to use rsync to backup the /home/.ecryptfs in Ubuntu 
> 9.10/Karmic, but doing so produces error messages for users who are 
> currently logged in. Considering this issue, how is one supposed to 
> cleanly backup .ecryptfs?

Well, surely the .ecryptfs file must be open and in use by the user that 
is logged into that account, so even if these errors did not prevent you 
from copying it, you would risk getting an inconsistent and thus 
corrupted copy of the file if you succeeded in copying it while it was 
in use, and likely lose everything it contained.

Inevitably, to take a consistent backup copy of the .ecryptfs file 
you'll need to make sure the corresponding user is logged out. Is there 
not a night time hour when you can be reasonably certain nobody is 
logged in? Can you take the system to single user run level at the 
scheduled hour to do the backups?

-- 
James Taylor