topic Re: Copy directory while preserving modification time. in Operating System - HP-UX

Copy directory while preserving modification time.

Gulam Mohiuddin — Thu, 18 May 2006 14:13:03 GMT

I have a directory /psoft which contain hundreds of files and subdirectories.

I would like to make a duplicate copy of this dir structure while preserving original modification times of all files and subdirectories underneath it.

I tried this command but didn’t preserve the mtime.
#cp –r /psoft /psoftold (changes the modification time)

Thanks,

Gulam

Re: Copy directory while preserving modification time.

Patrick Wallek — Thu, 18 May 2006 14:22:34 GMT

You could try using tar.

# cd /psoft
# tar -cf - . | (cd /psoftold ; tar -xf -)

In the first tar command it is 'tar-cf-.'

The second tar command is 'tar-xf-'.

Re: Copy directory while preserving modification time.

Bill Hassell — Thu, 18 May 2006 15:13:37 GMT

The -p option (as mentioned in the man page) will preserve the modification time, access time, file mode, user ID, and group ID as allowed by permissions (to quote the man page). If the amount space is significant, you might want use cpio like this:

cd /psoft
find . | cpio -pudlmv /psoftold

This is the fastest way to copy lots of files. Note that both tar and cpio will not handle large files (files larger than 2Gb) so the cp command would be needed in that case. To see whether there may be largefiles in this directory, use this command:

fsadm /psoft

(this assumes that the /psoft directory is a VxFS filesystem).

Re: Copy directory while preserving modification time.

rariasn — Fri, 19 May 2006 01:30:19 GMT

Hi Gulam,

Duplicate a directory hierarchy:

# cd olddir
# find . -depth -print | cpio -pdm newdir

More information: man cpio

rgs,

ran

Re: Copy directory while preserving modification time.

Arunkumar.B — Fri, 19 May 2006 01:37:16 GMT

Hi Gulam,

use cp -p option it will preserve the Permissions & time stamp too...

You can also use tar&cpio but that limitation is u cannot take a copy of files more than 2 Gb

Re: Copy directory while preserving modification time.

Arunkumar.B — Fri, 19 May 2006 01:37:37 GMT

Hi Gulam,

use cp -p option it will preserve the Permissions & time stamp too...

You can also use tar&cpio but that limitation is u cannot take a copy of files having size more than 2 Gb