Copying files over SSH with rsync

As a WordPress agency, we also take over moves of websites and WooCommerce stores. This can of course mean several GB of data that must be moved.

The most effective way to copy data from one system to another is via SSH. The prerequisite for this is, of course, that both hosting packages offer SSH access.

RSYNC makes it even easier to copy files. The advantage of using rsync is that you can decide whether files that already exist should be copied again, or whether they can be ignored.

To copy the data from your local server to a remote server #

To do this, log in via SSH to the server from which you want to copy the data. Then enter the following line in the console:

rysnc -avz /pfad/zum/lokalen/verzeichnis [email protected]:/pfad/zum/remote/verzeichnis

Now the copying of the data starts directly.

To copy the data from a remote server to your local server #

Alternatively, you can download the data from an external server to your current server. To do this, simply enter the following line in the shell on your server:

rsync -avz [email protected]:/pfad/zum/remote/verzeichnis /pfad/zum/lokalen/verzeichnis

And the data will be downloaded to your local server.

If rsync is not the right thing for you, you can look at copying files using SCP as an alternative.

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