backing up a directory
 

hi,

i have a stupid question about backing up a directory...
so i'm not sure if all sym links are preserved - actually are restored correctly.

is it sufficient to use tar like

tar czvf /mnt/backup/tools.tar.gz /mnt/lfs/tools/

or is it better to use rsync (what i have'nt ever used before) like

rsync -azvr /mnt/lfs/tools /mnt/backup/

friendly regards,
christian

Tar will work fine. Try it for yourself to see. Personally I would cd /mnt/lfs first and use a slightly different set of options but each to their own.

Thank you, I'll give it a try!

The tar is fine.

If you were going to do rsync, what I typically use is

The use of the "/" at the end of the source and not at the end of the destination is important. I use the "--stats" rather than the "-v", because verbose can spew out way to much stuff if you have a lot being copied. I'm not sure why the "-r" would be needed, since the command I use descends into all the subdirectories.

OK, thank you both for the support!

@choogendyk: maybe the -r corresponds to the trailing '/'? just an assumption...