Copy using tar and ssh

Here is a good way to copy filesystems between servers using ssh and tar. It is a bit more reliable than scp especially in the area of symbolic links and permissions)

To copy all of the files and subdirectories in the current working directory to the directory /target, use:

tar cf - * | ( cd /target; tar xfp -)

To copy files to a remote server (ie sending the files)
cd /WHERE_THE_FILES_ARE

tar cf - FILES | ssh USER@TARGETHOST " cd /WHERE_YOU_WANT_THE_FILES; tar xvpf - "

To copy files from a remote server (ie receiving the files)
cd /WHERE_YOU_WANT_THE_FILES

ssh USER@TARGETHOST " cd /WHERE_THE_FILES_ARE; tar cf - FILES " | tar xvpf -

If you are copying large amounts of files and data you may wish to exclude the v flag (for verbose) in the tar command