Bootable OS X backups with rsync. Based on Nicolas Gallagher's script (http://nicolasgallagher.com/mac-osx-bootable-backup-drive-with-rsync/).

mirror.exclude

- .Spotlight-*/
- .Trashes
- .DocumentRevisions-*/
- /.dbfseventsd
- .fseventsd/
- /tmp/*
- /Network/*
- /cores/*
- /afs/*
- /automount/*
- /private/tmp/*
- /private/var/run/*
- /private/var/spool/postfix/*
- /private/var/vm/*
- /Previous Systems.localized
- /Volumes/*
- */.Trash
- .DS_Store

mirror.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Bootable disk backup
# Requires rsync 3
# Should be run as root

DST="/Volumes/DESTINATION/"
SRC="/"
EXCLUDE="/path/to/exclude_file"
RSYNC="/usr/local/bin/rsync"

PROG="SystemMirror"

# --acls                   update the destination ACLs to be the same as the source ACLs
# --archive                turn on archive mode (recursive copy + retain attributes)
# --delete                 delete any files that have been deleted locally
# --delete-excluded        delete any files (on DST) that are part of the list of excluded files
# --exclude-from           reference a list of files to exclude
# --hard-links             preserve hard-links
# --one-file-system        don't cross device boundaries (ignore mounted volumes)
# --sparse                 handle spare files efficiently
# --verbose                increase verbosity
# --xattrs                 update the remote extended attributes to be the same as the local ones

if [ ! -r "$SRC" ]; then
    logger -t $PROG "Source $SRC not readable - Cannot start the sync process"
    exit;
fi

if [ ! -w "$DST" ]; then
    logger -t $PROG "Destination $DST not writeable - Cannot start the sync process"
    exit;
fi

logger -t $PROG "Start rsync"

$RSYNC --acls \
       --archive \
       --delete \
       --delete-excluded \
       --exclude-from=$EXCLUDE \
       --hard-links \
       --one-file-system \
       --sparse \
       --verbose \
       --xattrs \
       "$SRC" "$DST"

logger -t $PROG "End rsync"

# Make the backup bootable
bless -folder "$DST"/System/Library/CoreServices

exit 0

org.rsync.mirror.system.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>org.rsync.mirror.system</string>
    <key>LowPriorityIO</key>
    <true/>
    <key>Nice</key>
    <integer>1</integer>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/PATH/TO/MIRROR/SCRIPT</string>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Hour</key>
        <integer>15</integer>
        <key>Minute</key>
        <integer>00</integer>
    </dict>
</dict>
</plist>