xfs_copy(8)                                                                                                          xfs_copy(8)



NAME
       xfs_copy - copy the contents of an XFS filesystem

SYNOPSIS
       xfs_copy [ -bd ] [ -L log ] source target1 [ target2 ... ]

DESCRIPTION
       xfs_copy  copies  an XFS filesystem to one or more targets in parallel (see xfs(5)).  The first (source) argument must be
       the pathname of the device or file containing the XFS filesystem. The remaining arguments  specify  one  or  more  target
       devices  or  file names. If the pathnames specify devices, a copy of the source XFS filesystem is created on each device.
       The target can also be the name of a regular file, in which case an image of the source XFS filesystem is created in that
       file. If the file does not exist, xfs_copy creates the file. The length of the resulting file is equal to the size of the
       source filesystem. However, if the file is created on an XFS filesystem, the file consumes roughly the  amount  of  space
       actually  used  in  the  source filesystem by the filesystem and the XFS log.  The space saving is because xfs_copy seeks
       over free blocks instead of copying them and the XFS filesystem supports sparse files efficiently.

       xfs_copy should only be used to copy unmounted filesystems, read-only mounted filesystems,  or  frozen  filesystems  (see
       xfs_freeze(8)).  Otherwise, the generated filesystem(s) would be inconsistent or corrupt.

       xfs_copy  does  not  alter  the  source  filesystem in any way. Each new (target) filesystem is identical to the original
       filesystem except that new filesystems each have a new unique filesystem identifier (UUID).  Therefore, if both  the  old
       and new filesystems will be used as separate distinct filesystems, xfs_copy or xfsdump(8)/xfsrestore(8) should be used to
       generate the new filesystem(s) instead of dd(1) or other programs that do block-by-block disk copying.

       xfs_copy uses synchronous writes to ensure that write errors are detected.

       xfs_copy uses pthreads(7) to perform simultaneous parallel writes.  xfs_copy creates one additional thread for each  tar-
       get to be written.  All threads die if xfs_copy terminates or aborts.

OPTIONS
       -d     Create  a  duplicate  (true  clone)  filesystem.  This should be done only if the new filesystem will be used as a
              replacement for the original filesystem (such as in the case of disk replacement).

       -b     The buffered option can be used to ensure direct IO is not attempted to any of the target files.  This  is  useful
              when the filesystem holding the target file does not support direct IO.

       -L log Specifies the location of the log if the default location of /var/tmp/xfs_copy.log.XXXXXX is not desired.

DIAGNOSTICS
       xfs_copy  reports  errors  to  both  stderr  and  in more detailed form to a generated log file whose name is of the form
       /var/tmp/xfs_copy.log.XXXXXX or a log file specified by the -L option. If xfs_copy detects a write error on a target, the
       copy  of  that  one target is aborted and an error message is issued to both stderr and the log file, but the rest of the
       copies continue. When xfs_copy terminates, all aborted targets are reported to both stderr and the log file.

       If all targets abort or if there is an error reading the source filesystem, xfs_copy immediately aborts.

       xfs_copy returns an exit code of 0 if all targets are successfully copied and an exit code of 1 if any target fails.

NOTES
       When moving filesystems from one disk to another, if the original  filesystem  is  significantly  smaller  than  the  new
       filesystem,  and will be made larger, we recommend that mkfs.xfs(8) and xfsdump(8)/xfsrestore(8) be used instead of using
       xfs_copy and xfs_growfs(8).  The filesystem layout resulting from using xfs_copy/xfs_growfs is almost always  worse  than
       the result of using mkfs.xfs/xfsdump/xfsrestore but in the case of small filesystems, the differences can have a signifi-
       cant performance impact. This is due to the way xfs_growfs(8) works, and not due to any shortcoming in xfs_copy itself.

CAVEATS
       xfs_copy does not copy XFS filesystems that have a real-time section or XFS  filesystems  with  external  logs.  In  both
       cases, xfs_copy aborts with an error message.

SEE ALSO
       mkfs.xfs(8), xfsdump(8), xfsrestore(8), xfs_freeze(8), xfs_growfs(8), xfs(5).



                                                                                                                     xfs_copy(8)