Replicate 'mod' folder when changing disk

[MontysEvilTwin]

I am going to upgrade the disk on one of my HDR-FOX units. In the past, when installing a new disk, I have tried to copy the 'mod' folder from the old disk after installing and formatting the new one. I never got this to work properly, with some files not copied: the mod folder and some of its contents would already have been created on the new disk by the custom firmware and presumably some of these files would be in use when the folder copy was attempted.
If I put the old HDD in a different machine it should be possible to copy the mod folder over the network using rsync (see here). I'll try this if there is no easier method.
I plan to install the new disk (4TB), boot into maintenance mode and format it using the GPTF function. If I then connect the old drive by USB, is it straightforward to copy the 'mod' folder and all it contents? What commands would I need to do this? I also have some scripts in '/mod/usr/bin', will I need to reinstate permissions (e.g. chmod 755) after they have been copied to the new disk?

 

[af123]

After you've formatted the disk with GPTF, boot to normal mode and install the rsync package from the command line (opkg update; opkg install rsync).
Then boot to maintenance mode - and copy across using something like:

humax# rsync -avr /media/drive2/mod/ /mnt/hd2/mod/

Assuming that the old disk has mounted as drive1, drive2, drive3 with drive2 being the old second partition. Watch the trailing / on each directory.

That will preserve everything including permissions.

 

[cdmackay]

trivial nit, but I think rsync -a implies -r, so you don't need the latter?

 

[prpr]

I think rsync -a implies -r, so you don't need the latter

You are correct. I always use -av (and -avz over slow links).