Introduction

The probably simplest way of doing backups is using rsync to synchronize files and directories between different servers or local media.

Sync 2 local directories

rsync --verbose --progress --recursive --executability --owner --group --delete --human-readable --partial 'SOURCE_DIR/' 'TARGET_DIR'

Note, that SOURCE_DIR is followed by a /, to indicate, that we want to sync the files within the directory, not the directory itself.
Note, that the TARGET_DIR is not followed by a /.