Folder Sizes Don't Match Up

carlosinfl · 07-10-2008, 07:50 PM

I have a folder called /test located on server_old. I am moving the entire folder (and sub folders) to my PC. When I do this, I get a size discrepancy and I don't understand why.

Here is the folder I want:

Code:

server_old:/# du -h test/
4.6G	test/

Now I run the following command:

Code:

scp -r /test/ carlwill@my_pc:~/Desktop

Now this looks normal and everything copies over to my pc and then when I check the size of /test on my pc, the size is larger and I don't understand why.

Code:

carlwill@my_pc:~/Desktop$ du -h test/
5.3G	test/

Anyone know what I am doing wrong or not taking into consideration.

Mr. C. · 07-10-2008, 07:56 PM

Two candidates for your consideration:

1) different block sizes on each file system
2) remote file system doesn't support sparse files ("holes")

carlosinfl · 07-10-2008, 08:00 PM

I am not sure about 1 or 2. All I can verify is that they're both ext3 file systems but I don't think that makes a difference.

Mr. C. · 07-10-2008, 08:09 PM

I assumed since you said "PC", that you had either a FAT or NTFS file system on the other end. But you say they are both ext2.

You can examine 1 easily enough. Example:

sudo tune2fs -l /dev/hda1