Synchronizing files with Rsync

STAYING IN SYNC

Article from Issue 67/2006
Author(s):

Rsync lets you synchronize your data – on either a local or remote computer. You can even use Rsync with SSH to encrypt your data.

Rsync keeps your data up to date and helps you stay on top of confusing version changes. The Rsync synchronization tool gives you op tions that help you manage file proper ties; Rsync works well with SSH, and it is perfect for quickly transferring large volumes of data if the target computer already has a copy of a previous version. Rsync checks for differences between the source and target versions of the data and only transfers the data that has changed. In Sync Rsync compares the data on two ma chines. The generic syntax for this is rsync [options] source target. The choice of source and target is critical. Decide carefully in which direction you will be synchronizing to avoid loss of data. The box labeled "Data Unison" discusses an alternative to this one way street based on the Unison tool, which can sync in both directions.

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