You can use the cpio (copy in and out) command to copy individual files, groups of files, or complete file systems. This section describes how to use the cpio command to copy complete file systems.
The cpio command is an archiving program that copies a list of files into a single, large output file. This command inserts headers between the individual files to facilitate recovery. You can use the cpio command to copy complete file systems to another slice, another system, or to a media device, such as tape.
Because the cpio command recognizes end-of-media and prompts you to insert another volume, it is the most effective command, other than ufsdump, to create archives that require multiple media.
With the cpio command, you can use the ls and find commands to list and select the files you want to copy, and then to pipe the output to the cpio command.
# cd filesystem1
# find . -print -depth | cpio -pdm filesystem2
Prints the file names
Descends the directory hierarchy and prints file names from the bottom up
Creates a list of files
Creates directories as needed
Sets the correct modification times on directories
The files from the directory name that is specified are copied. The symbolic links are preserved.
You can also specify the –u option to perform unconditional copy. Otherwise, older files do not replace newer files. This option 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.
For more information, see the cpio(1) man page.
# cd filesystem2 # ls
# rm -rf filesystem1
This example shows how to copy directories between file systems using the cpio command.
# cd /data1 # find . -print -depth | cpio -pdm /data2 19013 blocks # cd /data2 # ls # rm -rf /data1