borgbackup list. human units

To effectively use BorgBackup for listing archives with sizes displayed in human-readable units, it’s important to understand both the command structure and the options available for achieving this. Here’s an informative guide tailored specifically to help you utilize the borg list command with human-readable sizes.

Understanding BorgBackup

BorgBackup, commonly referred to as Borg, is an efficient and secure deduplicating backup tool that supports compression and authenticated encryption. It is particularly suitable for users needing to back up significant amounts of data without redundancy, owing to its effective deduplication process.

Listing Archives with Human-Readable Sizes

When you want to list the contents of a Borg repository along with their sizes displayed in a format that is easy to read (e.g., KB, MB, GB), you can use the borg list command combined with specific flags to adjust the output format.

Command Structure

The basic command to list archives is:

borg list /path/to/repository

Using Human-Readable Units

To ensure that the sizes are shown in a human-readable format, you can use the --human option. Here’s how you can structure the command:

borg list --help

To display the contents of a specific archive in a human-readable format, you can use:

borg list --format '{name} {size}' /path/to/repository::archive_name --human

Example Output

When executed correctly, you might see results resembling the following:

Archive: backup1
Size:       1.2 GB
Files:      1500

Archive: backup2
Size:       2.4 GB
Files:      2000

Additional Options

In addition to --human, it’s worth exploring other useful options when listing archives:

• --json: This outputs the list in JSON format, which can be useful for further processing or integration with other systems.
• --short: Use this option for a condensed output.
• -v or --verbose: This provides more detailed information about each archive listed.

For a complete overview of available commands and options, check out the official BorgBackup documentation.

Conclusion

Using BorgBackup's list command with the --human flag is a simple yet effective way to display archived data sizes clearly. This functionality not only aids in easier management of your backups but also enhances the overall user experience when working with large data volumes. For additional usage and advanced configurations, refer to the BorgBackup documentation, which provides a comprehensive resource for both novice and experienced users.