procedure for moving fs content

drManhattan · 07-04-2011, 02:54 PM

Hi

What to remember when moving content of a file system to another file system ?

Is there some kind of procedure for this operation ?

thx for help.

TobiSGD · 07-04-2011, 03:08 PM

You should be sure to preserve the file permissions when copying. With cp it is the option -p, for rsync I would use -a. You can also use the tar-command.

drManhattan · 07-04-2011, 03:10 PM

OK. But what tool you advice to use ?
- cp -p
- rsync -a
- tar

TobiSGD · 07-04-2011, 03:11 PM

I generally use rsync -a for copying of large amount of files (or copying over network), but only because I am used to it.

drManhattan · 07-04-2011, 03:14 PM

rsync requires rsync daemon to be running on the destination machine ?

TobiSGD · 07-04-2011, 03:21 PM

No, if you copy over the network you need a SSH-daemon running, AFAIK. Will also work with rsync-daemon (keep the different syntax in mind), don't know about SFTP.

drManhattan · 07-04-2011, 03:23 PM

SYstem must be in run level 1 during this operation ?

TobiSGD · 07-04-2011, 03:30 PM

What actually do you want to copy? If you want to copy a whole system I would recommend to do this from a live-CD/USB, if you just want to copy one data partition to a different partition then no.

drManhattan · 07-04-2011, 03:37 PM

Lets say we have 2 cases :
1. copy data fs from e.g. /home to /new_home
2. copy entire /( root) fs without /boot fs to /new_boot

1. How would be like procedure to move fs ?
2. How would be like procedure to move fs ?

TobiSGD · 07-04-2011, 03:41 PM

1. Use rsync while the system is running in the normal runlevel. Logout all users first and do that from the root account so that the data in /home will not be altered during the copy. Just for safety.
2. this makes no sense, why would you copy the /-partition to the /boot-partition? If you mean /new_root instead of /new_boot the do it from a live-medium, the system should not be running.

drManhattan · 07-04-2011, 03:47 PM

2. Yes I meant from / to /new_root.
Why to do it from live-medium and why system should not be running ?

TobiSGD · 07-04-2011, 03:59 PM

If rhe system is running you will have many files that may change, like log-files or a running database. Therefore it is recommended to copy from a not running system to avoid inconsistencies. It is not a necessity, but recommended. You cam also do it from a running system when you exclude such files and the files generated from a running kernel like the /proc and /sys trees.

drManhattan · 07-04-2011, 04:08 PM

ok I understand.
So what for is runlevel 1 (single-user) ?

TobiSGD · 07-04-2011, 04:16 PM

The single user mode is for system maintenance, when it is necessary that no daemons are running (not even network).

drManhattan · 07-04-2011, 04:19 PM

What means system maintenance ?
Is it checking ?
- I/O errors
- adding new devices
- troubleshooting devices already installed