Borg 2.0.0b24
borg copy¶
borg [common options] copy [options] OLDNAME NEWNAME
positional arguments |
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specify the existing archive name or ID |
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specify the new archive name |
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Description¶
This command copies an existing archive to a new archive with a different name, keeping the existing archive.
Afterwards, the repository has two archives with the same contents, but with
different names and different archive IDs. The copy is an independent archive:
deleting either of the two archives keeps the other one intact, because
borg compact only frees chunks that no remaining archive references.
Copying is cheap and fast: no file content is read or written, only a new archive metadata object is created. Like any deduplicated archives, the two archives share their data, so a copy needs almost no additional repository space.
Because archive names do not need to be unique, NEWNAME may also be the name of some other already existing archive - the copy then just becomes another archive of that archive series.
NEWNAME must be different from the name of the archive that is copied, though: the copy would get identical metadata and thus the same archive ID as its source, so no second archive could be created.
OLDNAME must match precisely one archive: give an archive name (if it is unique) or
an archive ID, like aid:d34db33f.
Note: to copy archives into a different repository, use borg transfer.
Examples¶
# create an archive, then keep a copy of it under a stable name:
$ borg create backup-2016-02-15 ~
$ borg copy backup-2016-02-15 known-good
$ borg repo-list
d7b79fd3 Sat, 2026-08-29 14:39:27 +0200 backup-2016-02-15 tw MacBook-Pro
f81040e3 Sat, 2026-08-29 14:39:27 +0200 known-good tw MacBook-Pro
# the copy is an independent archive:
# after deleting (and compacting away) the original, the copy is still complete.
$ borg delete backup-2016-02-15
$ borg compact
$ borg extract known-good
# if the archive name is not unique, address the archive by its ID:
$ borg copy aid:d7b79fd3 known-good