Hi.

I've been trying to get differential backups with tar. I've got it working nice and fine except for one problem. If a file is modified after the last full backup, it gets included in my differential backup, as it should. But my differential backup also includes directories that have not been modified since the last full backup. These directories get included as empty directories. The files in them (rightly) do not get included in the differential.

To create a full backup I do:

tar cvf /backups/full.tar /home

To create a differential, I use the timestamp of the full backup archive as a reference:

tar cvf /backups/diff.tar --newer="`date -r /backups/full.tar`" /home

Works well, except for the directory inclusion part. Am I missing something?

Regards, NMK.