Need help to Rsync from Windows to Linux over SSH? We can help you.

Over the years we have assisted many customers to transfer and synchronize data between different machines using the rsync command.

Even though the rsync protocol can be pretty simple to use, some of its more advanced features may surprise you.

As part of our Server Management Services, we assist our customers with several Rsync queries.

Today, let us see how to perform Rsync from Windows to Linux over SSH.

Rsync and SSH

We can use rsync to transfer and synchronize data between different machines and directories. Using the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol, we can copy the files securely to another location.

Compared to other methods for copying files, the Rsync tool has many benefits. It uses both compression and decompression to send and receive files.

In addition, the tool only transfers new or updated files saving on bandwidth and bringing faster transfer times.

Rsync from Windows to Linux over SSH

Although Rsync is built to run on Unix-like systems, we can use it on Windows. With the help of Cygwin which produces a wonderful Linux API, we can run rsync. Depending on the computer we can either download the 32-bit or 64-bit version.

We can install rsync and ssh using Cygwin. Let us see how our Support Engineers perform this.

Steps to install Cygwin:

1. Download Cygwin from http://www.cygwin.com/ and install it on the machine we are performing the backups.

   When prompted accept all the defaults to download from the internet > Accept the install directory C:cgywin64 > Install for All users > Set the local Package Directory to the Desktop > Internet = Direct Connection > Choose a Download site > Next.

2. Then select Expand Net as packages.
3. Select openssh and rsync to install.
4. In Expand shells > Select bash to install > Complete the installation.

We can perform rsync operation using the command given below:

rsync /cygdrive/c/users/Owner/Pictures/ -av -e ssh xyz@192.168.1.10:/var/files/ImageSync/

Here, /cygdrive/c/users/Owner/Pictures/ is the location of files in Windows machine. Whereas, /var/files/ImageSync/ is the location of files in Linux machine.

[Need help with the transfer? We’d be happy to assist]

Conclusion

To conclude, we saw an effective method our Support Techs employ to perform Rsync from Windows to Linux over SSH.