xfs_copy(8) System Manager's Manual xfs_copy(8)
NAME
xfs_copy - copy the contents of an XFS filesystem
SYNOPSIS
xfs_copy [ -bd ] [ -L log ] source target1 [ target2 ... ]
xfs_copy -V
DESCRIPTION
xfs_copy copies an XFS filesystem to one or more targets in parallel (see xfs(5)). The first (source) argu‐
ment 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 filesys‐
tem 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 filesys‐
tems (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). There‐
fore, if both the old and new filesystems will be used as separate distinct filesystems, xfs_copy or xfs‐
dump(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 target 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.
-V Prints the version number and exits.
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.
SEE ALSO
mkfs.xfs(8), xfsdump(8), xfsrestore(8), xfs_freeze(8), xfs_growfs(8), xfs(5).
xfs_copy(8)
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