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    I don't think rsync can replace mv. I would expect mv to be faster on most file system types when the source and destination are within the same file system, because rsync would have to make a copy no matter what, and mv could probably get away with changing a few directory entries. The closest thing I can find to an rsync mv is the --remove-source-files command, but that does not remove directories. Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 17:19
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    Thanks @jw013! Just to clarify, the files are on different filesystems, and the transfer would be done on a network. Do you know if that would still make mv faster? Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 17:22
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    Well, mv can't operate across a network - it would have to rely a local mount (e.g. NFS). If the bottleneck is the network, rsync would probably be faster than mv because rsync can do compression. Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 17:25
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    By the way cp has -u option to copy source file if it is newer than the destination file or when the destination file is missing Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 17:38
  • What about this: Create a timestamp, then rsync all the files to remote. When done, delete all local files older than timestamp. Commented Feb 8, 2022 at 14:01