Rsync Command Examples

rsync is a powerful, efficient tool for copying files and directories — and it’s especially useful for transferring files between locations (like across different machines or storage systems) while preserving permissions, timestamps, and even handling large files with minimal overhead.

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✅ Basic Syntax

rsync [OPTIONS] SOURCE DESTINATION

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🎯 Example: Transfer One File from Location A to Location B

Let’s say:

• Your file is at /home/user/old_folder/myfile.txt
• You want to copy it to /mnt/backup/myfile.txt

➤ Simple Copy (Preserves all metadata)

rsync /home/user/old_folder/myfile.txt /mnt/backup/

This copies myfile.txt to /mnt/backup/ — if the destination folder doesn’t exist, rsync will create it.

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🧩 Useful Options

1. --progress — Show progress during transfer

rsync --progress /home/user/old_folder/myfile.txt /mnt/backup/

2. --delete — Delete files in destination that don’t exist on source (useful for syncing)

⚠️ Not recommended for one-time transfers unless you’re doing a sync.

rsync --progress --delete /home/user/old_folder/myfile.txt /mnt/backup/

3. --no-preserve — Don’t preserve permissions, timestamps, etc. (rarely needed)

rsync --no-preserve /home/user/old_folder/myfile.txt /mnt/backup/

4. --backup / --backup-dir — Create backup copies (optional)

Use this if you want to keep a copy of the original file before overwriting.

rsync --backup --backup-dir=/mnt/backup.bak/ /home/user/old_folder/myfile.txt /mnt/backup/

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🌐 Transfer Between Machines (SSH)

If you’re transferring over SSH (common use case):

rsync -avz -e "ssh -p 22" /home/user/old_folder/myfile.txt user@remote-host:/path/to/destination/

Breakdown:

• -a — archive mode (preserves permissions, timestamps, symlinks, etc.)
• -v — verbose output
• -z — compress data during transfer
• -e "ssh -p 22" — specify SSH connection (replace 22 with port if needed)
• user@remote-host — target machine
• /path/to/destination/ — destination path on remote machine

💡 Tip: Use rsync -avz for most cases — it’s the “default” good option for file transfers.

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📌 Summary: Quick Commands

Purpose	Command
Simple copy	rsync /source/file.txt /destination/
Copy with progress	rsync --progress /source/file.txt /destination/
Copy via SSH	rsync -avz -e "ssh -p 22" /source/file.txt user@host:/destination/
Copy with backup	rsync --backup --backup-dir=/backup/ /source/file.txt /destination/

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🚫 Common Mistakes

• ❌ rsync file.txt destination/ — Wrong! You must specify the full source path.
• ❌ rsync -r file.txt — rsync doesn’t work with single files like that. Use rsync file.txt destination/.
• ❌ rsync -r /path/ — rsync doesn’t copy directories unless you specify the file inside.

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✅ Bonus: Check if rsync is installed

which rsync

If you don’t see it, install it:

• Ubuntu/Debian:

  sudo apt update && sudo apt install rsync

• CentOS/RHEL/Fedora:

  sudo yum install rsync   # CentOS/RHEL
  sudo dnf install rsync    # Fedora

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