On Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 10:50:31PM +0000, Robert K wrote: > So it occurred to me that an application such as rsync might be > appropriate to copy the files recursively from the large drive to > the small one. Could anyone give me advice about how to do this > (preferably avoiding the use of the term "simply...")?
rsync is best suited for recurring file system synchronizations. For a one-time migration of an entire file system, consider using tar. It'll be faster than rsync, and it's easier to use. SOURCE=/mnt/big_old_drive DEST=/mnt/small_new_drive tar -c -C $SOURCE . | tar -x -C $DEST "-c" to compress the source file system, and "-x" to expand it on the destination file system. The "-C" option instructs tar to change to the specified directory before performing the requested operation, so you can execute that command line from any directory. (It's not necessary to define environment variables with the source and destination paths; it makes the example easier to read.) Boot from a rescue drive/CD before commencing the migration, and mount the source and destination drives on the rescue system. You'll want the source file system to be mounted read-only just to be safe, and that's usually not possible if it's the root file system (i.e., the system has been booted off of it). -- Paul _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
