Folder and file permissions and in back-up hard drive not the same [closed]

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I am using ubuntu 11.10. I have several files and folders in a particular folder. The list of files and folders in that folder is shown below.

I have backed-up all these folders and files into external hard-drive. I used rsync command to do the back up. The command I used is 'rsync -av --progress --size-only [source] [destination].

total 56
drwxrwxr-x 2 vijay vijay 4096 2013-06-26 15:09 dyna-21-chain-dynamics/
drwxrwxr-x 2 vijay vijay 4096 2013-06-26 15:09 dyna-22-head-dynamics/
drwxrwxr-x 2 vijay vijay 4096 2013-06-26 15:10 dyna-23-exocyclic-rotation/
drwxrwxr-x 2 vijay vijay 4096 2013-04-29 11:27 dyna-24-lipid-diffusion/
drwxrwxr-x 2 vijay vijay 4096 2013-04-29 11:27 dyna-25-water-diffusion/
drwxrwxr-x 2 vijay vijay 4096 2013-06-26 15:11 dyna-26-water-redident-time/
-rwxrwxr-x 1 vijay vijay   86 2013-07-11 13:27 make-directory.sh*
drwxrwxr-x 6 vijay vijay 4096 2013-06-28 15:11 struc-01-local_density_profile/
drwxrwxr-x 2 vijay vijay 4096 2013-05-02 10:36 struc-02-area_per_lipid/
drwxrwxr-x 7 vijay vijay 4096 2013-07-03 16:16 struc-03-hydrogen_bond/
drwxrwxr-x 6 vijay vijay 4096 2013-07-11 13:27 struc-04-order_parameter/
drwxrwxr-x 2 vijay vijay 4096 2013-04-20 20:49 struc-05-head_tilt_angle/
drwxrwxr-x 2 vijay vijay 4096 2013-04-20 20:49 struc-06-tail_tilt_angle/
drwxrwxr-x 2 vijay vijay 4096 2013-04-20 20:52 struc-07-Raman-plot/

Below is the list of the files and folders copied into external hard drive.

total 9
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay    0 2013-06-26 15:09 dyna-21-chain-dynamics/
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay    0 2013-06-26 15:09 dyna-22-head-dynamics/
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay    0 2013-06-26 15:10 dyna-23-exocyclic-rotation/
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay    0 2013-04-29 11:27 dyna-24-lipid-diffusion/
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay    0 2013-04-29 11:27 dyna-25-water-diffusion/
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay    0 2013-06-26 15:11 dyna-26-water-redident-time/
-rw------- 1 vijay vijay   86 2013-07-11 13:27 make-directory.sh
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay    0 2013-06-28 15:11 struc-01-local_density_profile/
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay 4096 2013-05-02 10:36 struc-02-area_per_lipid/
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay 4096 2013-07-03 16:16 struc-03-hydrogen_bond/
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay    0 2013-07-11 13:27 struc-04-order_parameter/
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay   48 2013-07-17 10:00 struc-05-head_tilt_angle/
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay    0 2013-04-20 20:49 struc-06-tail_tilt_angle/
drwx------ 1 vijay vijay    0 2013-04-20 20:52 struc-07-Raman-plot/

What actually bothers me is the information on each file and folers that copied into external hard drive. The first column, second column, and fifth column seems do not preserve all the attributes corresponding to each files. For example in fifth column I can see some folders have value 4096 and 48. This is not consistent with the source folders.

Is this normal in doing back up? Or, is there something wrong the way I transferred the data. Or something else.

I don't want to loose any data from my external hard drive. Could anyone explain what actually getting wrong here?

Many thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Since your external drive obviously has a block size of 4096 as indicated by some of the folders, all the other standard folders should be 4096. I have checked all your command line parameters and none of them would cause the behaviour you describe. You haven't given enough information for anyone to be able to diagnose the problem.

Also this is a Q+A site for Programmers, your question would be better suited to another website.