Dave's Brain

Browse - computer tips - fast copy for backup

Date: 2007oct16
OS: Linux

Q.  What's the fastest way to copy a directory tree for backup

A.  While I am not 100% sure this is the fastest its what I use
and it seems to work pretty well.

	rsync --delete --archive --checksum /from/dir/ /to/dir

Make sure you have a trailing slash on the from directory.
This is fast because rsync will only copy what has changed.
Rsync is most commonly used to copy over a network where extra
work is even more expensive.  But it works locally too.
I use a command like this to copy all of one computer to another
nightly.

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For Windows, I hear cwRsync works fine.

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There is also rdiff-backup which is easier to use.
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