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A few examples of how I use rsync to copy files between hosts and drives.
basic local sync:
rsync -hrtP /path/to/source/ /path/to/destination/
sync remote to local:
rsync -hrtP user@remote.com:/home/user/files/ /home/user/files/
sync local to remote:
rsync -hrtP /home/user/files/ user@remote.com:/home/user/files/
custom ssh port:
rsync -hrtP -e "ssh -p 4220" /home/user/files/ user@remote.com:/home/user/files/
Explanation of Arguments
-h: Human-readable format. This option outputs file sizes in a human-readable format (e.g., 1K, 1M, 1G) rather than in bytes.-r: Recursive. This option tells rsync to copy directories recursively, including all the files and subdirectories within the source directory.-t: Preserve modification times. This option ensures that the modification times of the files are preserved, meaning the destination files will have the same modification timestamps as the source files.-P: This is a combination of--progressand--partial:--progress: Show progress during the transfer. This provides a detailed progress report for each file as it is being transferred.--partial: Keep partially transferred files. If a transfer is interrupted, this option allows rsync to resume transferring only the remaining part of the file rather than starting over from the beginning.
Additional Arguments to Consider
--delete
To delete anything found in the destination, which is not found in the source, add --delete to the end of your command.
--dry-run
To perform a dry-run which only logs the results without actually changing anything, add --dry-run to the end of your command.