what causes this difference ?

[MARREEL Chris_1]

I have used cpio to copy a lot of files from one logical volume to another.
The command I used :
cd /swd/cocreate
find . -print | cpio -pdumvxa /pc/uxdata/es/software

After this copy-operation I used du -sk to check if the copy and the source were equal in size (which I expected) :
- the source-directory :
server-2:/swd # du -sk cocreate
244745 cocreate
server-2:/swd #

- the destination-directory :

server-2:/pc/uxdata/es # du -sk software
244568 software
server-2:/pc/uxdata/es #

What causes the difference in size ?
I have manualy checked the source and destination and they seems to contain the same files.
Can anybody explain me what causes the difference in size ?

Greetings,
Chris MARREEL

[Patrick Wallek]

When copying files, the sizes will NEVER (or very rarely) be absolutely identical.

The biggest reason for this is the size of the directory itself. As files are added to the directory the size (do an ll -d on the directories) of the directory will grow and grow, but if files are deleted it will never shrink. When you copy everything from a directory, all directory sizes grow as needed during the copy so that space is reclaimed.

Make sense?

[Darrell Allen]

Hi Chris,

Maybe this thread will help.

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x5cc89200caded5118ff40090279cd0f9,00.html

Darrell

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Chris:

This is the norm. This question periodically comes up. See Bill Hassell's comments here:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x5cc89200caded5118ff40090279cd0f9,00.html

Regards!

...JRF...