69 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
69 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
After you've used git-annex for a while, you will have data in your repository
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that you don't want to keep in the limited disk space of a laptop or a server,
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but that you don't want to entirely delete.
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This is where git-annex's support for offline archive drives shines.
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You can move old files to an archive drive, which can be kept offline if
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it's not practical to keep it spinning. Better, you can move old files to
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two or more archive drives, in case one of them later fails to spin up.
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(One consideration when [[future_proofing]] your archive.)
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To set up an archive drive, you can take any removable drive, format
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it with a filesystem you'll be able to read some years later, and then follow
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the [[walkthrough]] to set up a repository on it that is a git remote of
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the repository in your computer you want to archive. In short:
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cd /media/archive
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git clone ~/annex
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cd ~/annex
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git remote add archivedrive /media/archive/annex
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git annex sync archivedrive
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Don't forget to tell git-annex this is an archive drive (or a backup
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drive; see [[preferred_content]].). Also, give the drive a description that matches something you write on
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its label, so you can find it later:
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git annex group archivedrive archive
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git annex wanted archivedrive standard
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git annex describe archivedrive "my first archive drive (SATA)"
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Or you can use the assistant to set up the drive for you.
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(Nice video tutorial here: [[videos/git-annex_assistant_archiving]])
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(Keeping the archive drive in an offsite location? Consider encrypting
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it! See [[fully_encrypted_git_repositories_with_gcrypt]].)
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Then, when the archive drive is plugged in, you can easily copy files to
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it:
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cd ~/annex
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git-annex copy --auto --to archivedrive
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Or, if you're using the assistant, it will automatically notice when the drive
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gets plugged in and copy files that need to be archived.
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When you want to get rid of the local file, leaving only the copy on the
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archive, you can just:
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git annex drop file
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The archive drive has to be plugged in for this to work, so git-annex
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can verify it still has the file. If you had configured git-annex to
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always store 2 [[copies]], it will need 2 archive drives plugged in.
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You may find it useful to configure a [[trust]] setting for the drive to
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avoid needing to haul it out of storage to drop a file.
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Now the really nice thing. When your archive drive gets filled up, you
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can simply remove it, store it somewhere safe, and replace it with a new
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drive, which can be mounted at the same location for simplicity. Set up
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the new drive the same way described above, and use it to archive even more
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files.
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Finally, when you want to access one of the files you archived, you can
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just ask for it:
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git annex get file
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If necessary git-annex will tell you which archive drive you need to
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pull out of storage to get the file back. This is where the description
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you entered earlier comes in handy.
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