What is the difference between rsync and scp

While convenient and familiar to many users, the tools described above do not make efficient use of available bandwidth for transferring large quantities of data via high-speed networks over long distances. Please consult Data Transfer Tools to learn more about which might be the most appropriate tool to use in different contexts. Data Transfer Tools: rsync, scp, sftp This article tells you about some of the basic transfer tools available for use with JASMIN that work over an SSH connection: rsync over SSH scp sftp rsync over SSH rsync is a file synchronisation and file transfer program for Unix-like systems that can minimise network data transfer by using a form of delta encoding such that only the differences between and source and destination data are actually transmitted.

For example, the command:. Mikel Short answer: No. Shadur scp is harmful in that it overwrites existing target files by default. So's rsync, but it at least allows limiting the possible damage with -u. Gilles As with any tool, you must understand what it does and how it does it to use it safely. In that context, regular cp and rm would be considered "harmful" -- and if you define "harmful" as "can screw me over if I do something stupid", rsync isn't any less harmful.

On systems without rsync installed, using rsync is obviously not even possible. Show 2 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Alex Chamberlain Alex Chamberlain 1, 3 3 gold badges 16 16 silver badges 26 26 bronze badges. Also, pretty sure rsync has to be installed on the other end. I like scp's simplicity.

Is it a new feature? Just tried this using version 3. This is why most large sites don't support it, and why zsync was created as an alternative. Show 3 more comments. Might be worth adding that the --partial flag is useful when transferring large files. As Flup mentioned rsync won't leave anyt file-in-transit around for you to resume unless you use the --partial option. These files are by default hidden in the target directory.

You can use --partial-dir to put all of these files in a single directory. See this answer on Stackoverflow — Devesh Saini. Add a comment. Devesh Saini Devesh Saini 2 2 silver badges 4 4 bronze badges.

Thanks freethinker - what is it that makes scp more secure? If so, is that why setting rsync's rsh argument to ssh accomplishes the same thing? If you repeat the copy, rsync may be faster as it only transfers differences in files. And all the other reports I've seen say rsync will be at least as fast as scp ; why do you think scp is quicker?

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