How to Copy Directories Using Tar
To copy all files from /usr/local/source to /usr/local/destination, there are several options. Tar cd /usr/local/source tar -cvf - . | (cd /usr/local /destination ; tar -xvf -) This method uses tar, but rather than create a file, it writes to a stream "-" in std output. The stream is piped to another tar command, after changing to another directory. cp -a cp -a /usr/local/src/* /usr/local/destination Other options: cpio dd