Latest revision as of 19:48, 1 August 2025

Efficient File Transfer with Tar and SSH

Quickly transfer directories over SSH using tar. Great for migrations or backups.

Local to remote:

tar cjf - -C /path/to/local/ <source-dir> | ssh user@remote-host 'tar xjf - -C /path/to/remote/ <target-dir>'

Remote to local:

ssh user@remote-host 'tar cjf - -C /path/to/remote/ <source-dir>' | tar xjf - -C /path/to/local/ <target-dir>

Add --exclude='pattern' to skip files or directories.
Replace j with z (i.e., czf, xzf) to use gzip for faster, but less compressed, transfers.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 = Efficient File Transfer with Tar and SSH =
-Efficiently transfer files using tar over SSH for migrations.
+Quickly transfer directories over SSH using tar. Great for migrations or backups.
-== Optimized Command ==
+== Commands ==
-<pre><code class="bash">
+'''Local to remote:'''
-tar cjf - /path/to/local/dir | ssh user@remote-host 'tar xjf - -C /path/to/remote/destination'
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
-</code></pre>
+tar cjf - -C /path/to/local/ <source-dir> | ssh user@remote-host 'tar xjf - -C /path/to/remote/ <target-dir>'
+</syntaxhighlight>
-== Tips ==
+'''Remote to local:'''
-- Use --exclude to skip files.
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
-- Swap j for z (gzip) for faster compression.
+ssh user@remote-host 'tar cjf - -C /path/to/remote/ <source-dir>' | tar xjf - -C /path/to/local/ <target-dir>
+</syntaxhighlight>
+== Notes ==
+* Add <code>--exclude='pattern'</code> to skip files or directories.
+* Replace <code>j</code> with <code>z</code> (i.e., <code>czf</code>, <code>xzf</code>) to use gzip for faster, but less compressed, transfers.