mc does a great job of moving files from A to B and keeping folder structure/merging.alerting of dupes.

 

Does anyone know a way to do this from the normal command line ?

 

i.e. acommand /mnt/disk1/TV/B/ /mnt/disk2/TV/B/

 

that ensures no data from disk 2 is lost

 

I've used the -i option, but there is also the -b backup option.

 

Usage: mv [OPTION]... [-T] SOURCE DEST
  or:  mv [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
  or:  mv [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY SOURCE...
Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
      --backup[=CONTROL]       make a backup of each existing destination file
  -b                           like --backup but does not accept an argument
  -f, --force                  do not prompt before overwriting
  -i, --interactive            prompt before overwrite
      --strip-trailing-slashes  remove any trailing slashes from each SOURCE
                                 argument
  -S, --suffix=SUFFIX          override the usual backup suffix
  -t, --target-directory=DIRECTORY  move all SOURCE arguments into DIRECTORY
  -T, --no-target-directory    treat DEST as a normal file
  -u, --update                 move only when the SOURCE file is newer
                                 than the destination file or when the
                                 destination file is missing
  -v, --verbose                explain what is being done
      --help     display this help and exit
      --version  output version information and exit

The backup suffix is `~', unless set with --suffix or SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX.
The version control method may be selected via the --backup option or through
the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable.  Here are the values:

  none, off       never make backups (even if --backup is given)
  numbered, t     make numbered backups
  existing, nil   numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
  simple, never   always make simple backups

Think i must be missing something as the shell bawlks at me:

 

root@TOWER[TV] 05:57 PM>mv -i /mnt/disk1/test/ /mnt/disk9/

mv: overwrite `/mnt/disk9/test'? y

mv: inter-device move failed: `/mnt/disk1/test/' to `/mnt/disk9/test'; unable to remove target: Is a directory

root@TOWER[TV] 05:58 PM>mv -i /mnt/disk1/test/ /mnt/disk9/

mv: overwrite `/mnt/disk9/test'? n

 

and nothing actually happens lol

 

try

mv -i /mnt/disk1/test/* /mnt/disk9/test/

 

I think the destination directory must exist in this case.

That made a big difference with all files in the main folder moved however as soon as there subfolders with data that exist on the destination it fails again:

 

root@TOWER[TV] 06:05 PM>mv -i /mnt/disk1/test/* /mnt/disk9/test/

mv: overwrite `/mnt/disk9/test/New Folder'? y

mv: inter-device move failed: `/mnt/disk1/test/New Folder' to `/mnt/disk9/test/New Folder'; unable to remove target: Is a directory

 

thoughts?

 

I didn't know that mv works across drives. How about:

 

cp -r -p -i /mnt/disk1/test /mnt/disk9

rm -R /mnt/disk1/test

 

-i is the interactive part as you requested.

 

Regards

Harald