Rsync vs SCP
Comparison between Rsync vs SCP.
Rsync is a network-enabled utility for efficiently moving, transferring, and synchronizing files between a computer and a storage device. It compares if there are differences and only transfers those differences.
SCP is a means of securely transferring files between two devices on a network. SCP only copies the files or directories we select. It uses SSH for improved security.
Rsync vs SCP differences
| Rsync | SCP |
|---|---|
| Copies only the files that have been changed. | uses SSH to copy only the files and directories selected. |
| In case of a Rsync session interruption, you can resume it by typing the same command, and Rsync will automatically restart the transfer where it stopped. | Its command line tool does not have the resume option in case a session gets interrupted from lost network connections . |
| Tends to verify automatically if a file or directory has been transferred correctly. | It does not verify if files or directories have been done correctly. This might bring about corruption when transferring large files. |
| Copies files or directories over a network or locally; on the other hand, it employs a special delta transfer algorithm and just a few optimizations to make the operation faster. | It first reads the source file before writing it to the destination. It does this by performing a plane linear copy over a file. |
| Must travel over SSH to be secure. | It is always secure to transfer files or directories. |
| In terms of performance, Rsync is comparatively more optimized and fast(speed-wise). | Scp is relatively less optimized and slower. |
| Allows us to synchronize remote folders. | Provides a cp-like method to copy files or directories from one device to a remote device over a secure SSH connection. |
Example of Rsync and SCP commands
Here is the syntax used in syncing two local files.
Rsync
$ rsync [Option] [Source Folder] [Destination Folder]SCP
$ scp [Option] [USER@SOURCE_HOST:SOURCE_FILE] [USER@DESTIONATION_HOST:DESTINATION_FILE]