How do I transfer a large number of files using rsync?

Introduction

When rsync is used to transfer an account with a large number of files (or inodes), this can cause rsync to fail mid-transfer as rsync by default and uses incremental transfer to transfer the files.

Procedure

Below is the way to correct this issue.

1. When running rsync, you must specify the flag --no-i-r, an example of the rsync command using the flag is below.
2. When you want to "push files" to a server from the current server you are logged into, the following command can be used.

   rsync --no-i-r -avzP </home/User_being_Transferred> <user@server:/home/User_File_Destination>

3. When you are "pulling files" from a remote server to the current server you are working on using the following command.

   rsync --no-i-r -avzP <user@server:/home/User_being_Transferred> </home/User_File_Destination>

4. Rsync will take longer at the beginning as it gets the full list of files initially but will allow rsync to run successfully.

For more information on rsync and its usage, please refer to the following documentation:

rsync Documentation

rsync