How to Copy Directories Between File Systems (cpio)

1. Become superuser.

2. Change to the appropriate directory.

   # cd filesystem1

3. Copy the directory tree from filesystem1 to filesystem2 by using a combination of the find and cpio commands.

   # find . -print -depth | cpio -pdm filesystem2

   .	Starts in the current working directory.
   -print	Prints the file names.
   -depth	Descends the directory hierarchy and prints file names on the way back up.
   -p	Creates a list of files.
   -d	Creates directories as needed.
   -m	Sets the correct modification times on directories.

   The files from the directory name you specify are copied and symbolic links are preserved.

   You might also specify the -u option. This option forces an unconditional copy. Otherwise older files do not replace newer files. This might be useful if you want an exact copy of a directory, and some of the files being copied might already exist in the target directory.

4. Verify the copy was successful by displaying the destination directory contents.

   # cd filesystem2 # ls

5. If appropriate, remove the source directory.

   # rm -rf filesystem1

Example--Copying Directories Between File Systems (cpio)

# cd /data1
# find . -print -depth | cpio -pdm /data2
19013 blocks
# cd /data2
# ls
# rm -rf /data1

See cpio(1) for more information.