Hosting Operations

Find 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 | sort

What changed

Nothing changes. The command compares source file mtimes to the snapshot marker.

Danger

safe

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.

Undo or recovery

No undo needed because this command is read-only.

Expected output

Source files newer than the backup snapshot marker.

demo script

Disposable terminal steps

stat -c '%y %n' backup/.snapshot source/content/index.md
find source -type f -newer backup/.snapshot -print | sort

Terminal transcript Demo JSON

simulated output

What it looks like

disposable vessel

::fixture-ready::
$ stat -c '%y %n' backup/.snapshot source/content/index.md
2026-06-25 12:05:00.000000000 +0000 backup/.snapshot
2026-06-25 12:10:00.000000000 +0000 source/content/index.md
::exit-code::0
$ find source -type f -newer backup/.snapshot -print | sort
source/app/config.yml
source/assets/logo.svg
source/content/about.md
source/content/index.md
::exit-code::0

YouTube Short

What changed after backup?

Compare source file times against a snapshot marker to find files newer than the last backup.

experiments

A/B tests to run

Metric: save_rate

A: Changed after backup.

B: Use a snapshot marker.