Rsync

Testimonial: Amy Brost
Type: Software Workflow

Use Rsync to copy files in preservation workflows, especially between two different hosts. Consider as an alternative to using Finder, as copy/paste in Finder has no output to indicate whether or not all files copied successfully, and the drag-and-drop method in Finder is imprecise. A useful command might be:

• rsync -avh source destination

Where -a is archive mode (allows copying files recursively and it also preserves symbolic links, file permissions, user and group ownerships and timestamps), -v is verbose, and -h is human-readable number output. (In MacOS, enter command rsync -man to see all options.) Source is the path to what you want to copy. The destination is the full path to the desired destination directory. Explore rsync and all its options to see how it might fit into your workflow.