Hosting Operations
Read-only, can be slowFind Files Newer Than a Backup Snapshot
You need to list source files changed after the backup snapshot marker.
Command
find source -type f -newer backup/.snapshot -print | sortBefore you run this
System impact: Read-only. Can create load on large logs, directories, filesystems, or process tables.
When not to use it: Do not use timestamp checks as the only integrity signal; clock skew and preserved mtimes can mislead.
Expected output
Source files newer than the backup snapshot marker.
System impact
Read-only, can be slow. Nothing changes. The command compares source file mtimes to the snapshot marker.
Scope this to the smallest useful path or service on busy systems.
Recovery / rollback: no state is changed.
When to use it
Use when checking what changed since the last backup ran.
When not to use it
Do not use timestamp checks as the only integrity signal; clock skew and preserved mtimes can mislead.
next steps
Related commands
Compare Source and Backup File Lists
A backup can be missing files and still look plausible at a glance.
comm -3 <(find source -type f | sed 's#^source/##' | sort) <(find backup -type f | sed 's#^backup/##' | sort)
List Newest Source Files Before Backup
Before trusting a backup, know which files changed most recently.
find source -type f -printf '%TY-%Tm-%Td %TH:%TM %p\n' | sort
List Largest Files in a Backup
Large backup files are where storage surprises usually start.
find backup -type f -printf '%s %p\n' | sort -nr | head
Find Empty Files in a Backup
Zero-byte files can be normal, or they can be failed writes.
find backup -type f -size 0 -print
Check Required Files After Restore
A successful extraction still needs a required-file check.
BACKUP_ROOT=/srv/backups/site REQUIRED=/srv/backups/site/required-files.txt RESTORE_SANDBOX=/tmp/linuxoneliners-restore/full && rm -rf "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" && mkdir -p "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" && tar -xf "$BACKUP_ROOT/2026-06-25/site.tar" -C "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" && find "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" -type f | sed "s#^$RESTORE_SANDBOX/##" | sort | comm -23 "$REQUIRED" -
Study mapping
Use this as independent command practice: read the notes, predict the output, then compare it with the example before using a real shell.
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