I'm thinking of creating a sync/backup routine with rsync for some crucial files between my Desktop computer and Laptop. The point is not to use a Cloud service. I would set up an automated schedule to perform the task (daily, weekly, etc).Question: What happens if one of the locations are offline when rsync is attempted?The laptop (source) cannot access the desktop computer (destination).Or, the desktop computer (source) cannot access the laptop (destination).
What happens if rsync is scheduled to do backup, but remote location is unavailable?
rsync;backup
If the two endpoints cannot see each other then no data will be transferred. On each scheduled run, a successful and complete connection will result in all outstanding data being transferred.However, it sounds like you really shouldn't be using rsync for this task, though, as it is unidirectional. If you can have updates going both ways you should consider something like unison to handle this.