rsync
Command-line utility for fast, incremental file copying and synchronization, locally or over SSH.
HN commenters rely on rsync for backups and for syncing files between machines over SSH,12345 and value that it preserves full file metadata and sends little data when files barely change.678The most common caveats are bugs in recent releases and cruft in its old C codebase,91011 plus a quirky CLI that makes some users fear syncing in the wrong direction.1213
Why people recommend it
Backups and sync · 3
Widely used for home backups and keeping files synced across desktops, laptops, phones and drives.
“rsync to my local storage at home so I have the required three copies.”
“I use rsync to sync files / directories between my desktop, laptop and even phone (Android).”
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“My setup: rsync to Synology NAS, snapshotting there, sync to remote Synology NAS over VPN.”
SSH file transfer · 3
Commenters use it to move files between machines and servers wherever SSH is available, with no extra daemon needed.
“Add on rsync for file transfers and I've felt pretty set.”
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“it's an amazing tool”
Trusted, dependable tool · 3
Called a favorite daily tool and well-written, boring technology that commenters trust.
“Rsync is one of my favorite programs. I use it daily.”
“I use rsync because Tridge wrote a fine piece of software, and he knows how to write serious software”
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“Completely boring technology: aurutils, bash (with bash-it), bat, cp, git, grep, head, man, mv, pacman, rm, rsync, ssh, sudo, tmux, tree, vim.”
Metadata preservation · 2
Preserves all metadata, including nanosecond timestamps, even across different filesystems.
“rsync is one of the few utilities that preserve all metadata even when copying between distinct file systems”
“I have always verified that rsync copies the modification timestamps with nanosecond resolution”
Efficient transfers · 1
One user found it sent about 600MiB over a day of repeatedly uploading near-identical 1.7GiB ISOs.
“I've been using this extensively recently.”
Plain-file restores · 1
Backups stay as ordinary files that can be restored with basic tools.
“My setup: rsync to Synology NAS, snapshotting there, sync to remote Synology NAS over VPN.”
Caveats and dissent
Recent release bugs · 1
One user pinned version 3.4.1 because bugs in the two following versions scared them.
“the bugs in the subsequent two versions really scare me”
Codebase cruft · 3
Commenters describe accumulated cruft and bugs in its old C code, and some prefer the smaller openrsync.
“I use rsync because Tridge wrote a fine piece of software, and he knows how to write serious software”
“I use rsync because Tridge wrote a fine piece of software”
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“The same is true for openrsync and rsync at approximately 18k vs 57k lines.”
Quirky CLI · 2
Trailing-slash quirks and fears of syncing the wrong way or deleting unrelated files.
“Rsync is one of my favorite programs. I use it daily.”
“I always have this vague fear that I'll rsync in the wrong direction”
Bare-bones backups · 1
One user said their rsync backups lacked compression, encryption, desktop integration and deduplication.
“I remember doing my own backups with rsync a super long time ago! It worked pretty well”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Backups Aren't Simple 3 mentions
- No Stack Overflow, No Autocomplete: What Coding Felt Like in the 80s 3 mentions
- Did Claude Increase Bugs in Rsync? 3 mentions
- The rsync algorithm (1996) [pdf] 2 mentions
- IRCv3 1 mention
- The Tao of Backup 1 mention
Data: rsync.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 31
“On PCs and my phone I use sftp or rsync”
“we also run an older system based on rsync which rsyncs the system to directory on a server”
“I always have this vague fear that I'll rsync in the wrong direction”
“It's mainly just rsync.”
“My setup: rsync to Synology NAS, snapshotting there, sync to remote Synology NAS over VPN.”
“I finally have rsync configured for some scratch temporary files.”
“rsync to my local storage at home so I have the required three copies.”
“I'm thinking about replacing it with rsync and just kick it off manually”
“For file transfer, I mostly use rsync, Git, or Unison.”
“exec a `rsync` command, then umount”
“I have always verified that rsync copies the modification timestamps with nanosecond resolution”
“rsync is one of the few utilities that preserve all metadata even when copying between distinct file systems”
“I spent several hours reading the rsync C Language source code line-by-line so I could write a custom patch”
“For syncing, I do it manually with rsync.”
“the bugs in the subsequent two versions really scare me”
“The same is true for openrsync and rsync at approximately 18k vs 57k lines.”
“I use rsync because Tridge wrote a fine piece of software”
“I use rsync because Tridge wrote a fine piece of software, and he knows how to write serious software”
“rsync website files”
“it's an amazing tool”
“I use rsync to sync files / directories between my desktop, laptop and even phone (Android).”
“Completely boring technology: aurutils, bash (with bash-it), bat, cp, git, grep, head, man, mv, pacman, rm, rsync, ssh, sudo, tmux, tree, vim.”
“I use every day rsync over SSH, and even between 7 to 10 years old computers it reaches the maximum link speed”
“And I use rsync from a raspberry pi to push a new image every minute.”
“I remember doing my own backups with rsync a super long time ago! It worked pretty well”
“I can use rsync which is a tool I've been using for syncing files for a long time.”
“Rsync is one of my favorite programs. I use it daily.”
“I've been using this extensively recently.”
“Add on rsync for file transfers and I've felt pretty set.”
“using rsync to send them over to my server”
“use rsync to synchronize a subset of these albums”