Each repository you configure git-annex to use is a member of a # repository group. Each group of repositories has a different # purpose.
Let's start with the client repositories. These are the # repositories that contain files that you can directly use. Generally # you'll have one client repository per computer. The whole point of # the git-annex assistant is to keep these repositories in sync as you # change files, add files, delete files, etc.
The next most important repository group is the # transfer repositories. # These are used to transfer files between clients, when the clients # cannot directly talk to one-another. Transfer repositories only # hold the files that need to be synced to other repositories, so they # are relatively small.
You can get along without any backup repositories, but they're # a useful safeguard. These repositories accumulate every file they can # get ahold of. A large removable drive makes a good backup repository.
Next we come to the archive repositories. The archive repositories coordinate together, so that each file is # archived in only one place. When you move files into a folder named # "archive", they'll be moved to an archive repository, and removed from # all your client repositories. This is handy if you have old files # you don't need anymore, but want to keep archived for later. # When you copy or move a file out of an "archive" folder, it'll be # retrieved from the archive repository.
Finally, the small archive repositories are like other archive # repositories, but smaller. While archive repositories normally accumulate # every file they can, small archive repositories only accumulate files # once you put them in an "archive" directory.