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. --- For Windows, I hear cwRsync works fine. And you can use rsync from cygwin. --- There is also rdiff-backup which is easier to use.