How to continue to use an existing borg repo after switching to a new computer?

[kkarsten62]

Hi,

I would to continue an existing borg repo which I use for over two years to backup my user data. The borg repo ist stored on external disk. I have now changed my computer and I switch also the OS from Ubuntu 18.04 to Fedora 36.

I have copied all relevant latest data from the old HOME user folder to the new HOME user folder by not using the latest borg repo.
I used simply the file app "Nautilus" so sort out non-relevant data.

So what will happen when I will continue to backup my HOME user data from to the exiting borg repo on my external disk - will the deduplication mechanism take effect or will disk size increase significant?

Thanks for a feedback.

[RonnyPfannschmidt]

Deduplication is content based, so it should keep working

Ensure the same chunking configuration is used

[kkarsten62]

Yes thanks. Manually copied data in new HOME user folder is about 130GB. After a next backup from new HOME user folder to existing borg repo, borg repo increase by only 3GB. Deduplication as its best. All previous archives are available. Borg is really great stuff :-)

[ThomasWaldmann]

Closing this as outdated: it has seen no activity for a long time and predates the current borg releases.

If this still affects you on a current version - borg 1.4.x (stable) or the borg 2.0.0 beta - please open a new discussion with up-to-date details.