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Is there a way to do a cp but ignoring any files that may already exist at the destination that aren't any older then those files at source.

Basically I want to copy the contents of one disk to another, then run the copy again but only updating new files or files that have been updated on the source side.

Thanks

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3 Answers 3

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19

use this:

rsync -a /source /destination

Alternatively, you can get more details with a few other flags like -v or --progress.

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  • 2
    I want to add that you can use rsync over the network also. It's particularly easy to do so using ssh. For either the source OR destination, prepend it with user@host: and it will do just that. This will act as a replacement for scp
    – UtahJarhead
    Apr 17, 2012 at 13:50
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from the cp manpage:

   -u, --update
          copy only when the SOURCE file is newer than the destination file or when  the
          destination file is missing
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  • Just found this too, was looking at the man page for the wrong version of cp. D'oh!
    – Ben Everard
    Apr 17, 2012 at 13:34
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Use rsync, problem solved. 

rsync -av /srcdir /tgtdir
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