diff --git a/docs/concepts/generation-fact-log.md b/docs/concepts/generation-fact-log.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f9b3e974
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/concepts/generation-fact-log.md
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+---
+title: The Generation Fact Log
+slug: concepts/generation-fact-log
+public: true
+category: concepts
+template: concept
+order: 6
+description: Every committed write also appends a self-verifying "fact" — an after-image commit record — to an append-only log. What facts are, the crash-safety model, the scanFacts() streaming surface, family stamps, and how index providers consume the log for sequential heals.
+next:
+  - concepts/consistency-model
+  - guides/snapshots-and-time-travel
+---
+
+# The Generation Fact Log
+
+Since 8.4.0, every committed generation also appends a **fact** — a compact record of what each
+touched entity or relationship *became* — to an append-only, checksummed log under
+`_generations/facts/`. Where the generational history answers *"what did things look like
+before?"* (before-images, powering `asOf()` and rollback), the fact log answers *"what happened,
+in order?"* — one sequential, self-verifying stream of the store's present being written.
+
+Nothing about querying changes. The fact log exists for three consumers:
+
+1. **Index heals and rebuilds** — one sequential read in commit order replaces a per-entity
+   directory walk over millions of files.
+2. **Incremental catch-up** — a derived index that knows which generation it reflects reads *just
+   the gap*, instead of rebuilding from scratch.
+3. **Replay and audit tooling** — anything that wants the store's committed timeline as a stream.
+
+## What a fact is
+
+One fact per committed generation:
+
+- **`generation`** and **`timestamp`** — which commit, when.
+- **`ops`** — every write in that commit: `{ kind: 'noun' | 'verb', id, record }` where `record`
+  holds the entity's full after-image (both stored legs), or **`null` for a tombstone** — a
+  removal carries no body, by design.
+- **`meta`** — the transaction metadata `transact()` was submitted with, when present.
+- **`blobHashes`** — content-blob references, for exact reclamation accounting.
+
+Facts accumulate **from the first write after upgrading** — pre-existing history is not
+retroactively converted, and consumers fall back to the enumeration walk when no log exists.
+
+## Crash safety, in one paragraph
+
+Facts are appended and fsynced **inside the same durability window as the commit itself**, before
+the commit point — so after a crash, the log can only ever be *ahead* of committed truth, never
+behind it with a hole. On open, the store reconciles the log back to the committed watermark:
+torn tails are detected by per-record checksums and cut; whole records beyond the watermark are
+truncated. The invariant every reader can rely on: **an absent generation was never committed; a
+present fact was.** `transact()` facts are durable the moment `transact()` returns; single-op
+facts share the same group-commit flush as the rest of their generation, so a hard kill loses the
+fact and the generation *together* — never a torn state.
+
+## Reading the log
+
+```typescript
+const scan = brain.scanFacts({ fromGeneration: 1 })
+if (scan) {
+  // Telemetry up front — progress bars get a denominator from second zero.
+  console.log(scan.headGeneration, scan.segmentCount, scan.approxFactCount)
+
+  for await (const batch of scan.batches()) {
+    // Each batch: { facts, firstGeneration, lastGeneration, factCount, byteSize, segmentId }
+    for (const fact of batch.facts) {
+      for (const op of fact.ops) {
+        if (op.record === null) {
+          // a tombstone: op.id was removed in this generation
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  console.log(scan.summary()) // { factsYielded, segmentsRead } — the cross-check
+}
+```
+
+- `scanFacts()` returns `null` when the store hosts no fact log (older store, or a storage adapter
+  without binary append support) — fall back to enumerating entities.
+- Scans run against a **snapshot**: facts appended after the scan opens never bleed in, each fact
+  is yielded exactly once, and a detected gap aborts loudly — never a silent skip.
+- `brain.factSegmentPaths()` returns the immutable, *sealed* segment files for zero-copy consumers
+  (the append-mutable tail is excluded — read it through `scanFacts()`).
+
+## Family stamps: how a projection proves it's current
+
+Anything derived from the store — an index, the entity file tree itself — carries a **family
+stamp**: a small JSON record of *which committed generation the projection reflects*
+(`sourceGeneration`) plus the invariants that verify it whole (exact per-file byte sizes for
+bounded families; rollup invariants like entity counts for unbounded ones). At open, coherence is
+a **comparison**, not a walk:
+
+- stamp equals the committed watermark and invariants hold → serve;
+- stamp is behind → the projection reads just the gap from the fact log;
+- invariants fail → loud, named divergence — `brain.repairIndex()` rebuilds from canonical and
+  re-stamps.
+
+The verifier is exported (`verifyFamilyStamp`) so every projection — TypeScript or native — runs
+literally the same check.
+
+## For plugin authors: the storage capability
+
+Index providers receive the storage adapter, not the brain — so the host wires the log onto it.
+Feature-detect and prefer the stream; fall back to enumeration:
+
+```typescript
+const scan = storage.scanFacts?.({ fromGeneration: stamp.sourceGeneration + 1 })
+if (scan) {
+  // sequential catch-up from the log
+} else {
+  // enumeration walk (older store or adapter)
+}
+const committed = storage.committedGeneration?.() // the watermark stamps compare against
+```
+
+Providers must never construct their own reader over the log's files — the open path belongs to
+the single writer (it reconciles the log at open); the capability is the sanctioned seam.
diff --git a/docs/guides/external-backups-and-sparse-storage.md b/docs/guides/external-backups-and-sparse-storage.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f28dcfd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/guides/external-backups-and-sparse-storage.md
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+---
+title: External Backups & Sparse Storage
+slug: guides/external-backups
+public: true
+category: guides
+template: guide
+order: 10
+description: How to back up a brain directory with external tools (tar, rsync, cp) without exploding sparse files — why a store can show 100+ GB "apparent" size on a small disk, which files are sparse, and how persist()/restore() handle it for you.
+next:
+  - guides/snapshots-and-time-travel
+  - concepts/storage-adapters
+---
+
+# External Backups & Sparse Storage
+
+The built-in snapshot path — [`db.persist()` and `brain.restore()`](/docs/guides/snapshots-and-time-travel) —
+already handles everything on this page for you. Read this when you back up a brain directory with
+**external tools**: `tar`, `rsync`, `cp`, `scp`, or a filesystem-level backup agent.
+
+## The one-sentence rule
+
+> **Always use the sparse-aware flag**: `tar czSf` (capital `S`), `rsync --sparse`,
+> `cp --sparse=always`. A naive copy can turn a 2 GB store into a 100+ GB one — or fail
+> the disk entirely.
+
+## Why: some files are sparse
+
+When a native accelerator plugin is active, parts of the index live in **memory-mapped files**
+created at a large fixed virtual size — the file's *apparent* size — while the filesystem only
+allocates blocks that were actually written. A brand-new id-mapper file can report tens of
+gigabytes in `ls -l` while occupying a few megabytes on disk.
+
+Check the difference yourself:
+
+```bash
+ls -lh  brain-data/_id_mapper/    # APPARENT size (can be huge)
+du -sh  brain-data/               # ALLOCATED size (the real footprint)
+```
+
+The sparse candidates in a brain directory:
+
+| Path | What it is |
+|---|---|
+| `_id_mapper/` | The native id-mapper's mmap files (large fixed virtual size) |
+| `_blobs/` | Native index files (vector base, segments) — may be mmap-backed |
+
+Everything else (entities, `_system`, `_generations`, `_cas` content blobs) is ordinary dense data.
+
+## Doing it right
+
+**tar** — the `S` flag detects holes and stores only real data:
+
+```bash
+tar czSf brain-backup.tgz /data/brain
+# restore preserves the holes:
+tar xzSf brain-backup.tgz -C /data/
+```
+
+**rsync**:
+
+```bash
+rsync -a --sparse /data/brain/ backup-host:/backups/brain/
+```
+
+**cp**:
+
+```bash
+cp -a --sparse=always /data/brain /backups/brain
+```
+
+**What goes wrong without the flag:** the copy *materializes* every hole as real zero bytes.
+A store whose apparent size exceeds the target disk fails with `ENOSPC` partway through — and a
+copy that *does* fit silently costs the full apparent size in storage and transfer time.
+
+## What the built-in paths do (so you don't have to)
+
+- **`db.persist(path)`** snapshots via **hard links** — instant and space-shared, since every data
+  file is immutable-by-rename. The handful of append-in-place files (the transaction log, the
+  commit fact log's tail segment) and mmap-mutated directories (`_id_mapper/`) are **byte-copied**
+  instead, so a post-snapshot write can never reach through a shared inode into your backup.
+- **`brain.restore(path, { confirm: true })`** is **non-destructive and sparse-aware**: the snapshot
+  is copied into a staging area *before* any live data is touched (all-zero blocks stay holes), and
+  only after the copy fully succeeds does an atomic swap move it into place. A failed copy —
+  including `ENOSPC` — leaves the live store exactly as it was. A crash mid-swap completes forward
+  on the next open.
+
+## Live-store caveats for external tools
+
+1. **Prefer snapshotting a `persist()` output, not the live directory.** `persist()` produces a
+   crash-consistent, immutable snapshot; running `tar` against a live, actively-written directory
+   can capture a torn mid-write state. If you must archive live, stop writes first (or accept that
+   the archive is only as consistent as the moment's flush state).
+2. **Never prune or "clean up" files inside a brain directory.** Index files that look stale or
+   redundant are load-bearing; the store protects its declared index families from in-process
+   deletion, but an external `rm` bypasses that fence. If space is the concern, `du -sh` first —
+   the allocated size is usually far smaller than it looks.
+3. **Verify restores by opening them.** `Brainy.load(path)` opens any snapshot or restored
+   directory read-only — the store verifies its own coherence at open and reports loudly if
+   anything is missing or torn.
diff --git a/docs/guides/snapshots-and-time-travel.md b/docs/guides/snapshots-and-time-travel.md
index 6f7b150a..56c49044 100644
--- a/docs/guides/snapshots-and-time-travel.md
+++ b/docs/guides/snapshots-and-time-travel.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ description: Recipes for the Db API — instant backups with persist(), restore,
 next:
   - concepts/consistency-model
   - guides/optimistic-concurrency
+  - guides/external-backups
 ---
 
 # Snapshots & Time Travel
@@ -41,6 +42,10 @@ bytes. Cross-device targets fall back to per-file byte copies, and
 persisting an in-memory brain serializes it to the same directory layout —
 a real, durable store.
 
+> Archiving a brain directory with **external tools** (`tar`, `rsync`, `cp`)?
+> Some index files are sparse and can explode to their apparent size under a
+> naive copy — see [External Backups & Sparse Storage](/docs/guides/external-backups).
+
 Two things to know:
 
 - `persist()` requires the view to still be the store's **latest**
diff --git a/src/brainy.ts b/src/brainy.ts
index d5d4bc33..383b1195 100644
--- a/src/brainy.ts
+++ b/src/brainy.ts
@@ -8280,6 +8280,14 @@ export class Brainy<T = any> implements BrainyInterface<T> {
    * replacement. Release them first; a warning is logged when live pins
    * exist.
    *
+   * NON-DESTRUCTIVE STAGING + SPARSE-AWARE: the snapshot is copied into a
+   * staging area BEFORE any live data is touched (all-zero blocks stay
+   * holes, so a sparse mmap store restores at its true allocated size — not
+   * its apparent size). Any copy failure, ENOSPC included, removes only the
+   * staging and throws; the live store is untouched. Only after the copy
+   * succeeds does an atomic per-entry swap move it into place; a crash
+   * mid-swap completes FORWARD on the next open.
+   *
    * @param path - Snapshot directory to restore from.
    * @param options - Must be `{ confirm: true }` — an explicit acknowledgment
    *   that current state is destroyed.
diff --git a/src/db/db.ts b/src/db/db.ts
index 62c3de0e..ac927fc5 100644
--- a/src/db/db.ts
+++ b/src/db/db.ts
@@ -945,6 +945,13 @@ export class Db<T = any> {
    * {@link SpeculativeOverlayError} (commit them with `brain.transact()`
    * first).
    *
+   * SPARSE FILES: a native accelerator's mmap index files can be sparse —
+   * huge apparent size, small allocated size. `persist()` handles them
+   * correctly (hard links share the allocation). But if you then archive the
+   * snapshot with EXTERNAL tools, use the sparse-aware flags (`tar czSf`,
+   * `rsync --sparse`, `cp --sparse=always`) or the copy materializes every
+   * hole — see docs/guides/external-backups-and-sparse-storage.md.
+   *
    * @param path - Absolute directory for the snapshot (created; must be
    *   empty or absent).
    * @throws GenerationConflictError when this view is no longer the latest