Issue with "mv: inter-device move failed: "

frenchn00b · 12-03-2010, 02:49 PM

Code:

mv PDF /home/gerard/
mv: inter-device move failed: `PDF' to `/home/gerard/PDF'; unable to remove target: Is a directory

I did ls -ltra and visibly there is no LN link file going on ... I still do not understand what is about this issue

alan_ri · 12-04-2010, 05:20 AM

Quote:

mv or move does not actually move the file/folder to another location, it rather replaces the pointer in the first sector of your device. The pointer (in inode table) will be moved, but nothing is actually being copied. This will work as long as you stay within the same media/device.

Now, when you try to move files from one device to another (/dev/sda1 to /dev/sda2) you will run into “inter-device move failed, unable to remove target: Is a directory” error. This happens when mv has to actually move your data to another device, but cannot remove the inode/pointer, because if it did then there will be no data to fall back to, and if it didn’t then mv operation is not really complete because we will end up with data in source.

Do it with cp, or you can try to add -b(backup) flag to mv. It may work.

catkin · 12-04-2010, 05:54 AM

When asked to move a file or directory from one file system to another, mv silently does a copy and delete (just tested both to confirm because this is contrary to the likes of this page).

The reason for the error message is probably that /home/gerard/ contains a directory called PDF.

alan_ri · 12-04-2010, 07:27 PM

I've fixed the BB code thing in #2, although postting it without it, wasn't what I really wanted to do anyway.

File system is one and hard drive is another thing. And I still think that problem is in what is quoted in #2.

DLSieving · 01-21-2019, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan_ri

Do it with cp, or you can try to add -b(backup) flag to mv. It may work.

Couldn't figure out how to upvote alan_ri, so I'll just say "Thanks!" instead.

l0f4r0 · 01-22-2019, 04:07 AM

^ See 4th item in my sig
By the way, please refrain yourself from unearthing an 8+ year old thread