Just a sidenote, this is probably the fastest way to copy lots of tiny files across a high latency link (but without -v [1]). Most protocols transfer files indi

Just a sidenote, this is probably the fastest way to copy lots of tiny files across a high latency link (but without -v [1]). Most protocols transfer files individually, waiting for the server to finish writing it - adding a tiny delay for each file transferred. The tar above simply pushes the files across the pipe as fast as it can without waiting, while the receiving tar can write them as soon as the data is received. Recommended to pair with lzop for fast compression. Second sidenote, using this with pv is a great way to view total progress. http://www.ivarch.com/programs/pv.shtml http://www.ivarch.com/programs/pv.shtml 1. With -v every filename is written to the terminal, which causes context switches and IO waits. This can significantly slow file copies with lots of tiny files.