# rsync - issue with slow link (RESOLVED)



## BigSwedeOZ (Jan 18, 2014)

We are using rsync to synchronise folders between two FreeBSD servers over a slow ADSL IPSec VPN tunnel. We have recently installed a new server and need to transfer all data from the remote location. Since it is roughly 300 GB of data that initially needs to be transferred, the transfer will take a very long time (all consecutive syncs will only be small files).

To reduce the time, I went to the remote office with a USB drive and copied everything from the source folder onto the USB drive. After that I went back to my office and copied the data to the destination folder.

After that, I ran rsync to test that everything was ok. I thought that rsync would check and realise that all files already had been transferred and finish after a few minutes. But no, the file transfer seem to have started all over again. I am sure that the rsync command has the correct source and destination etc. What I noticed was the timestamp of the folders: they had all been changed to the time that I copied the files from the source. The files though have the correct timestamp.

Any ideas if the issue I am experiencing is because of the timestamps? Any ideas how to fix it? Can I use touch between two FreeBSD servers?

Any suggestions and/or solutions will be highly appreciated!

Cheers,

Stefan


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## ljboiler (Jan 18, 2014)

*Re: rsync - issue with slow link*

Try using an archiver that preserves directory timestamps, like tar (sorry, zip/unzip don't), to do your initial file transfer.


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## DutchDaemon (Jan 18, 2014)

*Re: rsync - issue with slow link*

rsync should keep the original date/time information intact, at least with use of the -a flag:


```
-a, --archive               archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X)
```

which includes the -t flag:


```
-t, --times                 preserve modification times
```


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## wblock@ (Jan 18, 2014)

*Re: rsync - issue with slow link*

Was there a UFS filesystem on the USB drive?  FAT can't handle a lot of the attributes UFS supports.  I don't know about NTFS, but I wouldn't trust it.


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## JanJurkus (Jan 18, 2014)

*Re: rsync - issue with slow link*

I'm an idiot, I would bring the remote server to the LAN, and then rsync it... Oh well


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## BigSwedeOZ (Jan 19, 2014)

*Re: rsync - issue with slow link*

Thanks all.

ljboiler, great idea! Will try that first.

Yes... NTFS on the USB drive... 
...and I did the sync from Windows... so, yes... I understand what I've done wrong.

Might head over there again and do a proper rsync to the USB drive... 

JanJurkus, that's not such a bad idea... an external USB drive is easier to carry than a 30kg server though...


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## BigSwedeOZ (Jan 23, 2014)

Thanks all again and especially @ljboiler! Your idea worked like a charm!


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