rsync is an open source utility that provides fast incremental file transfer. It copies files either to or from a remote host, or locally on the current host (it does not support copying files between two remote hosts). It has many more options than rcp, and uses the rsync remote-update protocol to greatly speed up file transfers when the destination file already exists.
rsync uses a delta-transfer algorithm which provides a very fast method for bringing remote files into sync. It does this by sending just the differences in the files across the link, without requiring that both sets of files are present at one of the ends of the link beforehand. At first glance this may seem impossible because the calculation of diffs between two files normally requires local access to both files.
The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the differences between two sets of files across the network link.
Key Features
- Can update whole directory trees and filesystems.
- Optionally preserves symbolic links, hard links, file ownership, permissions, devices and times.
- Requires no special privileges to install.
- Internal pipelining reduces latency for multiple files.
- Can use rsh, ssh or direct sockets as the transport.
- Exclude and exclude-from options similar to GNU tar.
- Supports anonymous or authenticated rsync daemons which is ideal for mirroring.
- A CVS exclude mode for ignoring the same files that CVS would ignore.
- Can use any transparent remote shell, including ssh or rsh.
Website: rsync.samba.org
Support: Documentation
Developer: Andrew Tridgell (original developer), Wayne Davison, and many contributors
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
rsync is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Backup Tools | |
|---|---|
| restic | Fast, efficient and secure backup software |
| Borg | Deduplicating backup software |
| Duplicity | Encrypted bandwidth-efficient backup |
| TimeShift | Takes regular incremental snapshots of the filesystem |
| Duplicati | Store encrypted backups online |
| bup | Backup a system based on the git packfile format |
| Déjà Dup | Hides the complexity of doing backups the Right Way |
| Bacula | Network backup, recovery and verification |
| Kopia | Secure backup/restore tool that allows you to create encrypted snapshots |
| Clonezilla | Offers similar functionality to Symantec Ghost |
| Bareos | Backup Archiving Recovery Open Sourced |
| rsync | Fast remote file copy program |
| BackupPC | High-performance, enterprise-grade system for backing up PCs |
| Vorta | Desktop client for Borg Backup |
| Backrest | Web UI and orchestrator for restic backup |
| Back in Time | Equivalent of OS X's Time Machine |
| UrBackup | Easy to setup open source client/server backup system |
| Rescuezilla | Easy backup, recovery & bare metal restore |
| Mondo Rescue | A powerful disaster recovery suite |
| KBackup | Backup program targeted at non-computer experts |
| rsnapshot | Local and remote filesystem snapshot utility |
| Amanda | Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver |
| FOG | Cloning / imaging solution / rescue suite |
| Partclone | Provides utilities to save and restore used blocks on a partition |
| XtraBackup | Backup tool for InnoDB and XtraDB databases |
| Plakar | Scalable backup solution |
| kup | Backup scheduler for the Plasma desktop |
| BURP | Uses librsync to save network traffic and space |
| Btrbk | Backup tool for btrfs subvolumes |
| Pika Backup | App focused on backups of personal data |
| PING | Also offers similar functionality to Symantec Ghost |
| dar | Full featured archiver with support for differential backups |
| tar | Tar archiving utility |
| Cedar Backup | Local and remote backups to CD or DVD media |
| shallow-backup | Git-integrated backup tool |
| ArchiveKeep | Keeps your files archived in multiple places |
| ZnapZend | ZFS centric backup tool |
| Vykar | Fast, encrypted, deduplicated backups in Rust |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| File Synchronization Tools | |
|---|---|
| Syncthing | Continuous file synchronization program |
| Unison | File-synchronization tool for POSIX-compliant systems |
| Rclone | Command line program to sync files and directories |
| rsync | Fast incremental file transfer |
| Cryptomator | Multi-platform transparent client-side encryption of files in the cloud |
| FreeFileSync | Folder comparison and synchronization software |
| Grsync | Graphical user interface for rsync |
| syncBackup | Backup and mirror your drives |
| Seafile | Coud storage system with privacy protection and teamwork features |
| Celeste | GUI file synchronization client |
| luckyBackup | Backup & sync tool |
| YARsync | Yet Another Rsync |
| Sync-in | File sync and server management |
| osync | Two way filesync script running on Bash |
| bita | Differential file synchronization over HTTP |
| Spacedrive | File manager powered by a virtual distributed filesystem |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Alternatives to cp | |
|---|---|
| xcp | Extended cp written in Rust |
| fcp | Significantly faster alternative to cp |
| gcp | Goffi's cp, a fancy file copier |
| pycp | cp and mv with a progressbar |
| rsync | Fast incremental file transfer |
| Fast Unix Commands | Provides alternatives for rm and cp |
| renameutils | Make copying files faster and less cumbersome |
| cpy-cli | Accepts globs and creates non-existent destination directories. |
| cpz | Zippy alternative to cp |
| lunas | Syncing tool handling more than two directories locally and remotely |
| BCMR | Better Copy Move Remove |
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