Archive a directory without using additional disk space?
 

I have a VPS with 10 GB disk space, and 8.5 GB is occupied by multiple files, that I want to transfer to my computer and then delete from the vps.
It takes a lot of time to download the files one at a time, and then rearranging them into the directory/subdirectory structure they originally had.
So I want to be able to make an archive of these files(all of them are within a single directory), without using any additional disk space. Like maybe simply convert the directory into an archive, or maybe archive a file then delete it, and so on.
Is that possible? compression does not matter that much to me.
Thanks in advance

Hi,

why do you need to archive them to get them off the vps? Have you considered using something like rsync?
The above command would be run on the target machine, "myvps" is the hostname or ip of your vps, and the directory structure of /path/to/files/to/archive on the vps would be synced to the directory "archive" in current working directory. The -z options means the data is compressed before transfer (and decompressed at the destination) and the "-e ssh" (which is probably default anyway) means the authentication etc is all done using ssh. Once you've got what you want from the vps you can delete the originals.

Evo2.

While you can use tar w/o compression and use the --delete-files switch this does not make sense as the archive file will take up as much space as the original. Besides the smaller the archive the less D/L time it will take. So compression does matter. What you could do is try and find out which files benefit from compression the most (plain ASCII files) and see what you gain from compressing those first. One other thing that may come in handy is a tmpfs scratch disk, tho at 8G you'll still better archive large files separately to avoid it halting on lack of scratch space.


...but rsync will accomplish all of that. Just start it and fetch some $beverage ...

If you want to copy the directory structure of your archive directory, not the files
If you want to copy the files only, not the directory structure

I have a relatively slow internet connection at home. My maximum download speed is ~400 kbps.
Also, is rsync possible on Windows? And do I need to install it on the vps as well?
I want to convert it into an archive because that way I would be able to transfer it in one go. I like to use IDM, as that gives me the highest speed.
Also, these files are media files. Videos to be specific.
Thanks for the help. I'll try both the methods.

rsync is definitely usable on slow networks, available on windows too. it should not be installed at all, because it consists of 2 or 3 files altogether and you can put them anywhere you want (but of course you can install it).
rsync is able to transfer only differences.

So would I be able to get my maximum speed using rsync?

I have no idea about your config, but probably yes.

Ok, I'll try it soon

Hi,

They don't need to be in an archive to do that. Additionally, with rsync, if the transfer is interrupted for some reason you can pick up where you left off.

What is IDM ("apt-cache search idm" doesn't yield anything relevant).

Ok, in that case you probably won't gain anything by trying to compress the transfer (ie don't use the -z option)

Cheers,

Evo2.

I want to archive the files, not necessarily compress them.Internet Download Manager(IDM) is a Windows software for boosting downloads.

have you tried rsync? it can really do that job.

I will try it tomorrow, when I have more files.