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XK0-006 Practice Question: A system administrator needs to configure a daily…
A system administrator needs to configure a daily backup that creates hard links to unchanged files to save space. Which tool and option combination is most appropriate?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse `cp -al` (which creates hard links to the source) with the incremental backup requirement, not realizing that `cp -al` does not link to a previous backup snapshot, whereas `rsync --link-dest` explicitly references a prior backup directory for deduplication.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
rsync -a --link-dest=/previous/backup /source /current/backup
`rsync -a --link-dest=/previous/backup /source /current/backup` creates a new backup directory (`/current/backup`) where files unchanged since the previous backup are represented as hard links to the corresponding files in `/previous/backup`, while changed or new files are copied normally. This saves disk space by avoiding duplicate storage of identical file content, which is the exact requirement for a daily backup with hard links to unchanged files.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
dd if=/source of=/destination conv=sync
Why it's wrong here
dd is used for low-level copying; it does not support hard links or incremental backups.
- ✗
cp -al /source /destination
Why it's wrong here
This creates a hard-linked copy of the entire directory tree, but does not provide incremental backup; all files are copied each time.
- ✓
rsync -a --link-dest=/previous/backup /source /current/backup
Why this is correct
rsync --link-dest creates hard links to files in the previous backup that have not changed, saving disk space.
- ✗
tar --hard-link --create /source > /destination/backup.tar
Why it's wrong here
tar does not natively support incremental hard-link backups; it creates an archive.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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