Does rsync check for differences over a network?

Question

I'm trying to setup a simple back-up script using rsync and ssh that is supposed to back up my stuff to a server.

To save space in the server drive, I use the --link-dest option with the latest backup so that repeated files are just hardlinked to previous ones, so the actual rsync command will look like

rsync -av -e ssh --link-dest=user@server:/home/user/backups/previous /home/user/tobackup/ user@server:/home/user/backups/current

This is just 'paraphrased' since the script takes care of what files to backup and how to deal with what the 'current' and 'previous' directories are.

My question is, since the comparison of a given file is made against the one backed in the server, I guess rsync needs to actually send it first, then compare it, and then either save it if it's new or changed, or delete it and save a hardlink if it's unchanged? Or is the comparison somehow made without sending the file?

The reason for my question is that if the backup is big, I'd like for big unchanged files to not have to be sent, only to find they're unchanged. I don't know how rsync does this and haven't been able to find it in its documentation, so it'd be great to know if it does it and I can expect all files to be sent over the network for every single backup, or if rsync is only going to send the unchanged ones.

Obviously alternative methods are welcome if my initial idea is for some reason flawed from the start.

Answer 1

The answer to your titular question is a solid "Yes." The rsync, be it over a network, from drive to drive, or folder to folder, checks the existing files and only updates those that have changed.

From man rsync:

Rsync finds files that need to be transferred using a "quick check" algorithm (by default) that looks for files that have changed in size or in last-modified time. Any changes in the other preserved attributes (as requested by options) are made on the destination file directly when the quick check indicates that the file’s data does not need to be updated.

rsync is even more capable than that describes, as it can detect differences within a file and update those. For an example of this, see the Ubuntu testing pages where you rsync the daily .iso builds for testing.

Some light reading material:

How to Use Rsync to Sync New or Changed/Modified Files in Linux.
How rsync Works.
The rsync Manual.

If you read any of those pages, the last one is probably the most important. It shows exactly how versatile the application really is.

Answer 2

Or is the comparison somehow made without sending the file?

rsync will NOT ever send the file to compare it. The default algorithm checks if the size or last modification time changed in order to decide if the file needs to be transferred.

But you can be more strict and do for example a checksum check (many algorithms to choose from) with -c or be more relaxed and just check for the size with --size-only. Those are only two of the options, check the man page for the full list.