run over ssh (not with root user) - 2nd "proper" run deleted almost all previous content - (2.5TB)

[james-cook]

I am probably missing something really simple.
I set up the command to copy a large video collection from my server on the internet to a backup at home.
bash ./rsync_tmbackup.sh -p xxxx /var/www/media.files/ [email protected]:/mnt/seagate/media.files/
This took a few days to complete - but I could see the files on the destination and "du -hs" on the destination folder showed 2.5TB as expected when the job was complete.

Today I re-issued the command above, and the result was an almost complete removal of the files stored in the initial backup (one folder with a sticky bit set on group was not removed - 600MB).

Does anyone have a clue why the removal was initiated?

• can it be due to the user not being root at the destination?