rsync wants to copy files that already exist in the destination directory

Question

I am trying the following command using rsync to copy only files that

• are new
• have a different size

rsync -niav --size-only   /home/me/source/Electronica  /media/externalDrive/dest/Electronica

However, this dry-run results in the following output:

>f+++++++++ Electronica/music/AlbumArt_{F0CB439F-A1FC-47DB-A698-C561191F3FDE}_Large.jpg
>f+++++++++ Electronica/music/AlbumArt_{F0CB439F-A1FC-47DB-A698-C561191F3FDE}_Small.jpg
>f+++++++++ Electronica/music/Folder.jpg

which I interpret to mean that those files are copied. But they have the same size! (The times and flags are different, though). Also the rsync refers to an external hard-drive (with a different format).

I also tried the following commands:

rsync -niav --size-only --ignore-times  /home/me/source  /media/else
rsync -niav --size-only --ignore-existing /home/me/source  /media/else

But still, these files are shown in the same way, meaning they would have copied. What else can I try?

And what is wrong with the main page description?

--size-only     skip files that match in size

Answer 1

You've fallen into rsync's classical "trailing slash trap":
If the source path does not end with a slash, rsync will copy the source directory. If you intend to copy the contents of the source directory, it needs to end with a slash.

Let's look at an example, assuming you want to copy a file at /home/me/source/Electronica/music/Folder.jpg:

rsync -a /home/me/source/Electronica  /media/externalDrive/dest/Electronica

will copy the Electronica directory from the source to the destination, so it will create /media/externalDrive/dest/Electronica/Electronica/music/ and put Folder.jpg in there.

rsync -a /home/me/source/Electronica/  /media/externalDrive/dest/Electronica

will copy the contents of the Electronica directory, so it will replicate the music directory under /media/externalDrive/dest/Electronica/ (if it doesn't exists) and Folder.jpg will end up at /media/externalDrive/dest/Electronica/music/Folder.jpg.

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To make matters more confusing, it does not matter if the destination path ends with a slash.

Just make a habit of ending all rsync paths with a slash, then you'll be safe from any nasty surprises.