borg/docs/man/borg-recreate.1

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.TH "borg-recreate" "1" "2026-08-29" "" "borg backup tool"
.SH Name
borg-recreate \- Recreate archives.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.sp
borg [common options] recreate [options] [PATH...]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
Recreate the contents of existing archives.
.sp
Recreate is a potentially dangerous function and might lead to data loss
(if used wrongly). BE VERY CAREFUL!
.sp
Important: Repository disk space is \fBnot\fP freed until you run \fBborg compact\fP\&.
.sp
\fB\-\-exclude\fP, \fB\-\-exclude\-from\fP, \fB\-\-exclude\-if\-present\fP, \fB\-\-keep\-exclude\-tags\fP
and PATH have the exact same semantics as in \(dqborg create\(dq, but they only check
files in the archives and not in the local filesystem. If paths are specified,
the resulting archives will contain only files from those paths.
.sp
Note that all paths in an archive are relative, therefore absolute patterns/paths
will \fInot\fP match (\fB\-\-exclude\fP, \fB\-\-exclude\-from\fP, PATHs).
.sp
\fB\-\-chunker\-params\fP will re\-chunk all files in the archive. This can be used to
switch existing archives to different chunker parameters (or a different chunker
algorithm), so they deduplicate with archives created using these parameters.
.sp
\fBUSE WITH CAUTION.\fP
Depending on the paths and patterns given, recreate can be used to
delete files from archives permanently.
When in doubt, use \fB\-\-dry\-run \-\-verbose \-\-list\fP to see how patterns/paths are
interpreted. See \fIlist_item_flags\fP in \fBborg create\fP for details.
.sp
The archive being recreated is only removed after the new archive has been saved
completely. The new archive is created under the same name as the original one, so
while the operation runs, both exist side by side; they are told apart by their
archive IDs, as the new archive gets a different archive ID.
.sp
With \fB\-\-target\fP the original archive is not replaced, instead a new archive is created.
.sp
When rechunking, space usage can be substantial \- expect
at least the entire deduplicated size of the archives using the previous
chunker params.
.sp
If your most recent borg check found missing chunks, please first run another
backup for the same data, before doing any rechunking. If you are lucky, that
will recreate the missing chunks. Optionally, do another borg check to see
if the chunks are still missing.
.SH OPTIONS
.sp
See \fIborg\-common(1)\fP for common options of Borg commands.
.SS arguments
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B PATH
paths to recreate; patterns are supported
.UNINDENT
.SS options
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B  \-\-list
output verbose list of items (files, dirs, ...)
.TP
.BI \-\-filter \ STATUSCHARS
only display items with the given status characters (listed in borg create \-\-help)
.TP
.B  \-n\fP,\fB  \-\-dry\-run
do not change anything
.TP
.B  \-s\fP,\fB  \-\-stats
print statistics at end
.UNINDENT
.SS Include/Exclude options
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.BI \-e \ PATTERN\fR,\fB \ \-\-exclude \ PATTERN
exclude paths matching PATTERN
.TP
.BI \-\-exclude\-from \ EXCLUDEFILE
read exclude patterns from EXCLUDEFILE, one per line
.TP
.BI \-\-pattern \ PATTERN
include/exclude paths matching PATTERN
.TP
.BI \-\-patterns\-from \ PATTERNFILE
read include/exclude patterns from PATTERNFILE, one per line
.TP
.B  \-\-exclude\-caches
exclude directories that contain a CACHEDIR.TAG file (\%<https://\:www\:.bford\:.info/\:cachedir/\:spec\:.html>)
.TP
.BI \-\-exclude\-if\-present \ NAME
exclude directories that are tagged by containing a filesystem object with the given NAME
.TP
.B  \-\-keep\-exclude\-tags
if tag objects are specified with \fB\-\-exclude\-if\-present\fP, do not omit the tag objects themselves from the backup archive
.UNINDENT
.SS Archive filters
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.BI \-a \ PATTERN\fR,\fB \ \-\-match\-archives \ PATTERN
only consider archives matching all patterns. See \(dqborg help match\-archives\(dq.
.TP
.BI \-\-sort\-by \ KEYS
Comma\-separated list of sorting keys; valid keys are: timestamp, archive, name, id, tags, host, user; default is: timestamp
.TP
.BI \-\-first \ N
consider the first N archives after other filters are applied
.TP
.BI \-\-last \ N
consider the last N archives after other filters are applied
.TP
.BI \-\-oldest \ TIMESPAN
consider archives between the oldest archive\(aqs timestamp and (oldest + TIMESPAN), e.g., 7d or 12m.
.TP
.BI \-\-newest \ TIMESPAN
consider archives between the newest archive\(aqs timestamp and (newest \- TIMESPAN), e.g., 7d or 12m.
.TP
.BI \-\-older \ TIMESPAN
consider archives older than (now \- TIMESPAN), e.g., 7d or 12m.
.TP
.BI \-\-newer \ TIMESPAN
consider archives newer than (now \- TIMESPAN), e.g., 7d or 12m.
.TP
.BI \-\-target \ TARGET
create a new archive with the name TARGET, do not replace existing archive
.TP
.BI \-\-comment \ COMMENT
add a comment text to the archive
.TP
.BI \-\-timestamp \ TIMESTAMP
manually specify the archive creation date/time (yyyy\-mm\-ddThh:mm:ss[(+|\-)HH:MM] format, (+|\-)HH:MM is the UTC offset, default: local time zone). Alternatively, give a reference file/directory.
.TP
.BI \-C \ COMPRESSION\fR,\fB \ \-\-compression \ COMPRESSION
select compression algorithm, see the output of the \(dqborg help compression\(dq command for details.
.TP
.BI \-\-chunker\-params \ PARAMS
rechunk using given chunker parameters: buzhash,CHUNK_MIN_EXP,CHUNK_MAX_EXP,HASH_MASK_BITS,WINDOW_SIZE or buzhash64,CHUNK_MIN_EXP,CHUNK_MAX_EXP,HASH_MASK_BITS,WINDOW_SIZE,NC_LEVEL or fastcdc,CHUNK_MIN_EXP,CHUNK_MAX_EXP,HASH_MASK_BITS,NC_LEVEL or \fIdefault\fP to use the chunker defaults. default: do not rechunk
.UNINDENT
.SH EXAMPLES
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
# Create a backup with fast, low compression
$ borg create archive files \-\-compression lz4
# Then recompress the data already stored in the repository — this might take longer,
# but the backup has already completed, so there are no inconsistencies from a
# long\-running backup job. Note that recompressing existing repository data is the
# job of \(dqborg repo\-compress\(dq, not of \(dqborg recreate\(dq.
$ borg repo\-compress \-\-compression zlib,9 \-\-stats
Recompression stats:
Packs: 2 total, 2 rewritten.
Objects: 5 total, 2 recompressed, 0 already had the desired compression, 3 kept as\-is (recompression brings no gain).
Repository size: 301.59 kB before, 301.53 kB after, shrunk by 60 B.

# Remove unwanted files from all archives in a repository.
# Note the relative path for the \-\-exclude option — archives only contain relative paths.
$ borg recreate \-\-exclude home/icke/Pictures/drunk_photos

# Change the archive comment. Note that recreate writes a new archive,
# so the archive fingerprint changes.
$ borg create \-\-comment \(dqThis is a comment\(dq archivename files
$ borg info \-a archivename
Archive name: archivename
Archive fingerprint: 6cfecdd4e963bbe150c08169407de0353a4c5f2f90221646a9ebb0ce9be2529a
Comment: This is a comment
\&...
$ borg recreate \-\-comment \(dqThis is a better comment\(dq \-a archivename
$ borg info \-a archivename
Archive name: archivename
Archive fingerprint: 259b5302a8de9c889fb4915fe5df128f6c22776966db2dc3c7d3c8e741bf45b6
Comment: This is a better comment
\&...
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SH SEE ALSO
.sp
\fIborg\-common(1)\fP, \fIborg\-patterns(1)\fP, \fIborg\-placeholders(1)\fP, \fIborg\-compression(1)\fP
.SH Author
The Borg Collective
.\" End of generated man page.