Ubuntu – Backing up files from specific folders in rsync

There are several issues with your rsync command (also see manpage for rsync for detailed explanation of filter rules).

• we need an --exclude command each for any given pattern.
• paths given need to be relative to the source path (no absolute paths).
• options need to be given before we state source and destination.

For your example the following syntax will work:

rsync -avAX --exclude=another/ --exclude=temp/ ~/Documents/ ~/Backups/TEST

Note that if an exlude pattern ends with / it refers to a directory. If you omit it both, files and directories with that name will be excluded. Replace it with a wildcard * to exclude all files or directories with that string in their names.

The exclude list may only contain filenames, foldernames and lines starting with #. A comment behind the foldername is not allowed. I created a Git repository with all known files and folders that are superfluous:

Download this ignorelist to /var/tmp/ignorelist

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rubo77/rsync-homedir-excludes/master/rsync-homedir-excludes.txt -O /var/tmp/ignorelist

Then start the rsync with

rsync -aP --exclude-from=/var/tmp/ignorelist /home/$USER/ /media/$USER/linuxbackup/home/

Note:
In the ignorelist there is a commented section at the start with folders, that are probably not worth a backup either. Uncomment those, you don't need.