virtualbox.org

Hi,

I'd like to find out if its possible to do a byte level backup of vdi files using clonehd or any other free utility?
The files are getting pretty big and it would be great just to append file changes on a byte level instead of replacing the whole file.

I'm currently using robocopy to copy my vdi files to an external hdd but its just doing a replace if the file changed.

I've also tried programs like rsync and unison.

It seems like if rsync detects that you're copying locally it switches to replacing the entire file.
Unison on the other hand took me 3 hours to copy the file where a normal copy and paste takes 35mins.. weird.

I might be completely misunderstanding the process of how a byte level copy works and its probably faster to replace a file if it sits locally? *im.a_noob*

Thanks in advance!

You mean an incremental backup? I'm sure it's possible, but there is no tool provided with VBox to do it. Personally I would go for the simplest, most robust backup strategy, i.e. a simple file copy. Is it so bad that you have time for a bathroom or coffee break while it works?

rsync is what your looking for.