Provided by: borgbackup_1.2.2-1_amd64 
NAME
borg-check - Check repository consistency
SYNOPSIS
borg [common options] check [options] [REPOSITORY_OR_ARCHIVE]
DESCRIPTION
The check command verifies the consistency of a repository and the corresponding archives.
check --repair is a potentially dangerous function and might lead to data loss (for kinds
of corruption it is not capable of dealing with). BE VERY CAREFUL!
Pursuant to the previous warning it is also highly recommended to test the reliability of
the hardware running this software with stress testing software such as memory testers.
Unreliable hardware can also lead to data loss especially when this command is run in
repair mode.
First, the underlying repository data files are checked:
• For all segments, the segment magic header is checked.
• For all objects stored in the segments, all metadata (e.g. CRC and size) and all data is
read. The read data is checked by size and CRC. Bit rot and other types of accidental
damage can be detected this way.
• In repair mode, if an integrity error is detected in a segment, try to recover as many
objects from the segment as possible.
• In repair mode, make sure that the index is consistent with the data stored in the
segments.
• If checking a remote repo via ssh:, the repo check is executed on the server without
causing significant network traffic.
• The repository check can be skipped using the --archives-only option.
• A repository check can be time consuming. Partial checks are possible with the
--max-duration option.
Second, the consistency and correctness of the archive metadata is verified:
• Is the repo manifest present? If not, it is rebuilt from archive metadata chunks (this
requires reading and decrypting of all metadata and data).
• Check if archive metadata chunk is present; if not, remove archive from manifest.
• For all files (items) in the archive, for all chunks referenced by these files, check if
chunk is present. In repair mode, if a chunk is not present, replace it with a same-size
replacement chunk of zeroes. If a previously lost chunk reappears (e.g. via a later
backup), in repair mode the all-zero replacement chunk will be replaced by the correct
chunk. This requires reading of archive and file metadata, but not data.
• In repair mode, when all the archives were checked, orphaned chunks are deleted from the
repo. One cause of orphaned chunks are input file related errors (like read errors) in
the archive creation process.
• In verify-data mode, a complete cryptographic verification of the archive data integrity
is performed. This conflicts with --repository-only as this mode only makes sense if the
archive checks are enabled. The full details of this mode are documented below.
• If checking a remote repo via ssh:, the archive check is executed on the client machine
because it requires decryption, and this is always done client-side as key access is
needed.
• The archive checks can be time consuming; they can be skipped using the
--repository-only option.
The --max-duration option can be used to split a long-running repository check into
multiple partial checks. After the given number of seconds the check is interrupted. The
next partial check will continue where the previous one stopped, until the complete
repository has been checked. Example: Assuming a complete check took 7 hours, then running
a daily check with --max-duration=3600 (1 hour) resulted in one completed check per week.
Attention: A partial --repository-only check can only do way less checking than a full
--repository-only check: only the non-cryptographic checksum checks on segment file
entries are done, while a full --repository-only check would also do a repo index check.
A partial check cannot be combined with the --repair option. Partial checks may therefore
be useful only with very large repositories where a full check would take too long. Doing
a full repository check aborts a partial check; the next partial check will restart from
the beginning.
The --verify-data option will perform a full integrity verification (as opposed to
checking the CRC32 of the segment) of data, which means reading the data from the
repository, decrypting and decompressing it. This is a cryptographic verification, which
will detect (accidental) corruption. For encrypted repositories it is tamper-resistant as
well, unless the attacker has access to the keys. It is also very slow.
OPTIONS
See borg-common(1) for common options of Borg commands.
arguments
REPOSITORY_OR_ARCHIVE
repository or archive to check consistency of
optional arguments
--repository-only
only perform repository checks
--archives-only
only perform archives checks
--verify-data
perform cryptographic archive data integrity verification (conflicts with
--repository-only)
--repair
attempt to repair any inconsistencies found
--save-space
work slower, but using less space
--max-duration SECONDS
do only a partial repo check for max. SECONDS seconds (Default: unlimited)
Archive filters
-P PREFIX, --prefix PREFIX
only consider archive names starting with this prefix.
-a GLOB, --glob-archives GLOB
only consider archive names matching the glob. sh: rules apply, see "borg help
patterns". --prefix and --glob-archives are mutually exclusive.
--sort-by KEYS
Comma-separated list of sorting keys; valid keys are: timestamp, name, id; default
is: timestamp
--first N
consider first N archives after other filters were applied
--last N
consider last N archives after other filters were applied
SEE ALSO
borg-common(1)
AUTHOR
The Borg Collective
2022-08-20 BORG-CHECK(1)