What is the difference between rsync and sync

You can specify the Max file size to be transferred or sync. Here in this example, the Max file size is k , so this command will transfer only those files which are equal to or smaller than k. So, will you wait for the transfer to complete and then delete that local backup file manually?

Of Course NO. Rsync could really mess up the things in your destination folder and then doing an undo can be a tedious job. Stay connected with Tecmint for more exciting and interesting tutorials in the future. Do leave your comments and suggestions. TecMint is the fastest growing and most trusted community site for any kind of Linux Articles, Guides and Books on the web.

Millions of people visit TecMint! If you like what you are reading, please consider buying us a coffee or 2 as a token of appreciation. We are thankful for your never ending support. Then do I have to somehow run rync on the receiving machine as a daemon? If so, how do I get it running as a daemon? I want to copy files from remote Linux system to my laptop using SSH client.

I use XShell for ssh. Now in my local machine i. Use the WinSCP windows tool and connect to a remote Linux system and transfer files to your local windows. It uses an algorithm that minimizes the amount of data copied by only moving the portions of files that have changed. Rsync is a very flexible network-enabled syncing tool.

Due to its ubiquity on Linux and Unix-like systems and its popularity as a tool for system scripts, it is included on most Linux distributions by default. The basic syntax of rsync is very straightforward, and operates in a way that is similar to ssh, scp, and cp. The -a option is a combination flag. It is more commonly used than -r and is usually what you want to use. The alternative, without the trailing slash, would place dir1 , including the directory, within dir2.

This would create a hierarchy that looks like:. Always double-check your arguments before executing an rsync command. Rsync provides a method for doing this by passing the -n or --dry-run options.

The -v flag for verbose is also necessary to get the appropriate output:. Syncing to a remote system is trivial if you have SSH access to the remote machine and rsync installed on both sides. Once you have SSH access verified between the two machines, you can sync the dir1 folder from earlier to a remote computer by using this syntax note that we want to transfer the actual directory in this case, so we omit the trailing slash :.

We need to check if we have rsync , because some machines might not have this command. It will sync between two directories, but only files in the main directory, not include files in the subdirectories.

To specify the type of protocol we use. We can choose using ssh or rsh. To updated more recently on the local filesystem. Files that don't exist are copied. Files that already exist, but have a newer timestamp are also copied. An article about setting up Ghost blogging says to use scp to copy from my local machine to a remote server: scp -r ghost In the same Railscast, when the author wants to copy files to the remote server same direction as the first example , he uses rsync : rsync -r.

Improve this question. Ronan Boiteau 8, 6 6 gold badges 32 32 silver badges 50 50 bronze badges. Leahcim Leahcim Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes.

The major difference between these tools is how they copy files. Improve this answer. Rafa Rafa 8, 4 4 gold badges 37 37 silver badges 61 61 bronze badges.

You say to use scp for your day to day tasks. From your explanation and the OP, it appears that the interface for the two tools when used without options is identical.

If rsync has the superior implementation and the interfaces are the same, why not always use rsync? Their interface is not the same, even without options. Rsync has special interpretation of a trailing slash on the source argument synchronize the directory itself versus its contents.

It might have other gotchas, I'm not sure. Also, I would guess scp is more likely to be available on a Unix-like system, so you prevent an annoying "command not found" now and then.

Another interface difference between scp and rsync : rsync -a versus scp -rp to preserve modification times and permissions. Show 1 more comment. The -P option preserves partially downloaded files and also shows progress. As usual check man rsync. Sid Kshatriya Sid Kshatriya 4, 2 2 gold badges 22 22 silver badges 29 29 bronze badges. Interruption handling scp : scp command line tool cannot resume aborted downloads from lost network connections rsync : If the above rsync session itself gets interrupted, you can resume it as many time as you want by typing the same command.