[gentoo-user] Re: RFC : fast copying of a whole directory tree

[Grant Edwards]

On 2012-02-13, Michael Orlitzky <michael@××××××××.com> wrote:
> On 02/13/12 05:49, Helmut Jarausch wrote:
>>
>> I've written a small Python program which outputs the file names in
>> i-node order. If this is fed into tar or cpio nearly no seeks are
>> required during copying.
>
> What makes you think the inodes are sequential on-disk?

Even if the i-nodes are sequential on-disk, there's no reason to think
that the data blocks associated with the inodes are in any particular
order with respect to the i-nodes themselves.

>> But it's correctness for backing up data is critical.
>> Therefore I'd like to ask for comments.
>
> You're nuts =)
>
> Seriously though, use cp, tar, or rsync. They've seen years of use by
> millions of people. All of the remaining bugs are sufficiently
> insidious that you'll never hit them. The same probably isn't true
> for your script!

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