Possible to preview what will rsync do, before overwriting/deleting files?

backup sync rsync

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Use this command line option:

-n, --dry-run               perform a trial run with no changes made

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Jiew Meng

Web Developer & Computer Science Student Tools of Trade: PHP, Symfony MVC, Doctrine ORM, HTML, CSS, jQuery/JS Looking at Python/Google App Engine, C#/WPF/Entity Framework I hope to develop usable web applications like Wunderlist, SpringPad in the future

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Jiew Meng over 1 year

With SyncToy on Windows, I can preview what it will do to my files before commiting the changes. Is it possible to do the same with rsync or something similar?
enzotib about 13 years

unison do not builds on rsync, only use a transfer protocol that is in part derived from that of rsync.
Jiew Meng almost 13 years

I guess I cant do that same with a GUI tool? like grsync?
Jiew Meng almost 13 years

oh to do it in grsync just add -n in the Additional Options Tab > Textarea
rioualen over 12 years

Well, we are both partly right. Unison uses a protocol similar to rsync: "It is careful with network bandwidth, and runs well over slow links such as PPP connections. Transfers of small updates to large files are optimized using a compression protocol similar to rsync." cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison Unison uses the same rsync algorithm for transfers: alliance.seas.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/wiki/…