Thanks for all the wonderful info. I really appreciate it.
It would be ideal if I could essentially copy the files and it only update the timestamps - it would just save lots of time.
I’m sorry, I guess I was also up late and didn’t make a couple of things clear. I didn’t mention file browser because I’m open to using most options, if they would preserve the data. I didn’t realize that the different file browsers treated files differently.
I’m running XFCE. I typically use Nemo but Thunar and Nautilus are also installed.
I loved the KDE version but copying files by drag and drop were about 1/50th the speed of non-KDE browsers on the same machine. I did as much research as I could on my own, posted questions at the time but what I found out from other posts and articles was that the slow transfer speeds are a long, long standing bug in KDE/Dolphin with no fix in sight. When moving large files, it’s just impossible. I would generally get 120 mpbs when transferring using Nemo/Nautilus/Thunar on Gnome or XFCE. When using Dolphin or these other file browsers on KDE, I’d get anywhere between 300kbps-2mbps. Much, much slower. I tried everything I could think of to try to figure it out so I could stay with KDE but eventually, had to admit defeat and go with a GTK desktop.
I guess maybe I should explain the basis of my concern. I’m using the second copy of the files as a backup. I’ve tried to run various comparisons to see if I’ve missed files or have an extra copy somewhere it doesn’t need to be. I’ve used Meld and Unison. I’ve tried to use grsync but it doesn’t do what I need in the way it reads the files.
Meld took forever until I switched it from full scanning to file size and timestamp. But it finds most of the files are “different” simply because of the timestamp. I can’t seem to find the actual “created” timestamp. On Nemo it shows created: unknown. Stat doesn’t show a created date. I read somewhere about some Linux filesystem don’t show an actual file creation date so I’m a little confused.
Basically, the only reason I care about the timestamps matching up is so I can use some sort of comparison tool and make sure that both folder have identical files in them. I’m kind of stuck now, wondering how best to do that. Does a created date actually exist on the default OpenSUSE Tumbleweed filesystem?
Thanks for any more info or clarification. I really appreciate it.
Well, I was just about to suggest Unison. It would do what you want - only copy i.e. sync the properties, I’m pretty sure this inlcudes the time stamp. But you’ll have to set up the replicas and profile first. You can tell it to force one replica and keep the timestamps. It may insist in a full copy i.e. deleting the old files and writing them anew at the first run. Only then it’ll rather sync the modifications / details. AFAIK it’s also using rsync in the background.
It’s quite convenient as it comes with a GUI. That’s nice for beginners and trouble shooting. Once you have set up everything you can let in run in batchmode without graphic output making it very fast.
Currently testing with Leap 15.2 KDE Plasma Dolphin – WD Blue spinning drives – 1 TB and 4 TB – copying 13 633 files in 965 directories from the 4 TB drive to the 1 TB drive …
“iotop” is showing a write speed of about 100 M/s to 150 M/s – read speed is fairly stable at 110 M/s to 140 M/s …
No big change with a smaller sample – 2 126 files in 106 directories – write speeds consistently around 160 M/s …
Just for fun, retrying with a Bash CLI in a Konsole window and “cp --archive” – about the same “iotop” write speeds – 100 M/s to 150 M/s with 160 M/s to 170 M/s occasionally …
Slightly different directory choice due to Bash wild-carding – 14 109 files in 885 directories …