[wataru]

I've been working on an app called iPodBackup lately, and the last feature I implemented was backing up to a sparse disk image. However, I've been having a problem.

When backing up to a disk image, rsync reports numerous symlink errors, and it re-copies lots of files that haven't changed since the last backup. The disk image is an unencrypted, sparse HFS+ volume with volume name "$USER Backup", so in my case it ends up being at "/Volumes/amake Backup". Here's an example of a symlink error:

chown "/Volumes/amake Backup/.kde/socket-Yuki.local" failed: No such file or directory

Also, the files that get re-copied aren't weird system files or anything like that. They're just regular old directories (but not their contents, apparently), such as a whole bunch of things in my iPhoto Library.

When backing up to a regular disk (in this case my iPod), I don't get any symlink errors, and only the files that I know have changed since the last backup get re-copied (prefs of open apps, etc.).

Are there any intrinsic differences between real disks and disk images that aren't obvious? What am I missing here?

[GeeYouEye]

There shouldn't be a difference AFAIK, but as a general rule, if you can, avoid path names with spaces.

[wataru]

Since so many paths used in the program could have spaces, I've been sure to account for that. Thanks for the tip, though.