Copying a file system w/ tar - symbolic links not copied right - More info

[Philip Hallstrom]

> Hi all...
>
> Ok... More info for the puzzle.....
>
> I'm trying to move a file system from one disk to another, and when I do
> this:
>
> tar cf - /source/* | ( cd /destination && tar xfv - )
>
> It copies all the files, but the symbolic links are copied as files of 0
> length, rather than re-established as links.
>
> BUT
>
> When I just:
>
> tar -cf file.tar /source/*
>
> And then:
>
> tar -xf file.tar
>
> Then the symbolic links are made correctly.... Any reason why this should
> work and not the piped version for 'all in one' copying?

If it's an actual filesystem why not use dump/restore?

Otherwise I'm not sure, but you might also want to add in -pS to handle 
permissions and sparse files as well...

-philip