Prevent overwriting of files when using Scp

Question

I was copying some files using scp and i don't want to overwrite the already present files.

If i was using cp command, i think this can be done using cp -n.

Is there a similar option for scp, i went through the documentation of SCP and there seems to be no such option.

Is rsync or sftp the way to go solve this problem?

Addition Info:

OS: Ubuntu 12.04

[scp-without-replacing-existing-files-in-the-destination](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/14191/scp-without-replacing-existing-files-in-the-destination), [how-to-use-rsync-to-sync-local-and-remote-directories](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-rsync-to-sync-local-and-remote-directories), [copy from remote gist](https://gist.github.com/ppdouble/273dcfd7409dab2fb7739d4def6598fa) — Nick Dong, Jun 12 '23 at 00:27

score 40 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 14 '15 at 11:03

rsync seems to be the solution to your problem. Here's an example I got from here:

rsync -avz foo:src/bar /data/tmp

The -a option will preserve permissions, directory structure, ownership, and symlinks. You can also specify any of those options individually as well.

-v and -z mean verbose and compress respectively. You don't really need them although -z is nice if you are copying large files.

score 19 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 14 '13 at 15:49

19

I just found a simple hack. Mark the existing files as read-only.

answered Nov 14 '13 at 15:49

Bruno

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That makes perfect sense if you don't want to overwrite existing files: `chmod u-w srcfile; scp -p srcfile $USER@$host:$directory/`. From the scp man page: `-p Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the original file.` – Ikar Pohorský Jun 09 '15 at 08:17

score 15 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 21 '14 at 04:10

15

rsync -avz --ignore-existing /source folder/* user@remoteserver:/dstfolder/

--ignore-existing will not overwrite the files on remote server or destination server*.

edited Apr 21 '14 at 04:10

duplode

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answered Apr 21 '14 at 03:45

Asif Khan

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score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 21 '16 at 10:40

0

I did not test it but maybe first mountung via sshfs and then using cp will do the trick.

edited Mar 21 '16 at 10:40

hakre

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answered Jul 31 '13 at 21:09

ManuelSchneid3r

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 09 '13 at 00:25

I've used rsync in the past for this, but found myself trying to grab from a windows box with CopSSH and no rsync :-( The following worked just fine for me, using file tests to eliminate the files that would be overwritten, and generating mutiple 'get' requests to an sftp instance.

(  echo  'cd work/ftp/' ; 
   ssh <user>@<machine> 'cd work/ftp/ && ls -1 ITEM_SALE_SUMMARY_V.*.dat.xz' |
   while read line; do [[ -f "$line" ]] || echo get "$line"; done 
) | sftp  <user>@<machine>

Just in case others need a non-rsync solution!

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 31 '15 at 15:39

0

Just to supplement the other solutions:

For one ascii/bin file, you can do it with:

cat source_file | ssh host "test ! -f target_file && cat > target_file"

answered Mar 31 '15 at 15:39

SkyRaT

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score -3 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 16 '12 at 05:41

-3

rsync over ssh it will have to be.

answered Nov 16 '12 at 05:41

vladr

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Prevent overwriting of files when using Scp

7 Answers7