[SOLVED] Problem trying to copy directories recursively with cp -r

RJ MacReady · 09-10-2022, 03:46 PM

I have a directory on my computer (Kubuntu 22.04) that I want to copy to an external drive. The directory has subdirectories with multiple files in them. The external drive has the same folder structure and also contains some of the folders and some of the files. I would like to copy only files that do not exist on the destination drive.

I am not getting the result that I want so to simplify the issue I made a test setup to see if I can figure this out. In the test setup the source directory is located at /home/dave/Pictures and there are two subdirectories within. I want to copy both of those directories to the external drive at /media/dave/NO_LABEL/Pictures

The first photo shows the source on the left and the destination on the right, with the copy command below. I am using:

cp -r -n /home/dave/Pictures/ /media/dave/NO_LABEL/Pictures/

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I was expecting that the directory structure on the right would be maintained and any missing files updated and any existing files skipped. However, as shown in picture 2, it simply copied the entire 'Pictures' directory from the source and put it inside the "Pictures" directory in the destination.

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Is there something simple that I am missing with the cp command?

astrogeek · 09-10-2022, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJ MacReady

cp -r -n /home/dave/Pictures/ /media/dave/NO_LABEL/Pictures/

I was expecting that the directory structure on the right would be maintained and any missing files updated and any existing files skipped. However, as shown in picture 2, it simply copied the entire 'Pictures' directory from the source and put it inside the "Pictures" directory in the destination.

Your command tells it to recursively copy /home/dave/Pictures/ into /media/dave/NO_LABEL/Pictures/, and that is exactly what it did.

What you appear to want is to copy everything contained in /home/dave/Pictures/ into /media/dave/NO_LABEL/Pictures/, which you can do like this:

Code:

cp -r -n /home/dave/Pictures/* /media/dave/NO_LABEL/Pictures/

Alternatively, like this, note the difference:

Code:

cp -r -n /home/dave/Pictures/ /media/dave/NO_LABEL/

RJ MacReady · 09-10-2022, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrogeek

Your command tells it to recursively copy /home/dave/Pictures/ into /media/dave/NO_LABEL/Pictures/, and that is exactly what it did.

What you appear to want is to copy everything contained in /home/dave/Pictures/ into /media/dave/NO_LABEL/Pictures/, which you can do like this:

Code:

cp -r -n /home/dave/Pictures/* /media/dave/NO_LABEL/Pictures/

Alternatively, like this, note the difference:

Code:

cp -r -n /home/dave/Pictures/ /media/dave/NO_LABEL/

Ok, that does make sense to me know. Thanks!

astrogeek · 09-10-2022, 05:03 PM

You are welcome!

Let us know if you need help with any other Thing!

computersavvy · 09-11-2022, 10:59 AM

You also can use rsync to copy ONLY the missing/changed files.
One advantage to rsync is that it will copy ALL the content of a directory whereas cp may only copy the visible files.
Compare the results of

Code:

 cp -ar /home/USER/* /mnt/USER/

with

Code:

 rsync -ar /home/USER/ /mnt/USER/

and you will find that the first does not copy any of the dot files/directories while the second makes an exact copy. 'ls -a /mnt/USER/' run after the first command and again after the second command will clearly show the difference

amplitude · 09-17-2022, 10:53 AM

Also check permissions on that folders, it must be executable to copy to another folder.