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This procedure details how to copy data from a FreeBSD drive to a network drive. The network drive is assumed to be available with the SMB protocol. This means the procedure below can be used to copy files to a Windows server, or to a unix server running Samba.

The procedure is NOT for backing up system files, it is for backing up data directories.

1. ensure you're logged in as root on the FreeBSD machine (the machine to copy files FROM)
2. ensure the mountpoint (used below) is created before attempting the mount command
3. mount the remote volume:

   syntax:
   mount_smbfs //ms-windows-user-id@MS-SERVER-NAME/MS-Windows-Share /mnt/mountpoint
   
   example:
   mount_smbfs //trevor@bigserver/shared /mnt/shared
   

4. enter the password to the share if prompted
5. ensure you can see the share when you run the df command
6. Now to copy the data. If you're brave, you can copy all the data at once, however this is not recommended as it will stress your hardware. It's recommended to copy one directory at a time, leaving some time between directories. This will allow your hardware time to cool. It will also minimise the damage, if you copy the wrong thing to the wrong place. Use this command to copy the /example/source directory, and all its subdirectories, from the old drive to the new drive:

   syntax:
   cp -Rpv /source_device/directory/to/copy /target_device/directory/to/copy/to
   
   example:
   cp -Rpv /usr/data/example/source /mnt/shared/example
   

   This will create the "source" directory in the "example" directory on the remote volume. The "example" directory must already exist.

7. repeat the above command for each directory to copy
8. (optional) test the copied data somehow, if there's a large ZIP file this can be tested for errors
9. unmount the remote volume:

   umount /mnt/mountpoint
   

Notes:

• Note the lack of a trailing slash (/) on the above paths. This tells the cp command to create the source directory inside the target directory, then copy the source files into it. If a trailing slash is provided on the source path, the source directory will not be created inside the target directory - instead, the files from the source directory will be copied directly into the target directory.
• The above copy command uses the -p switch, this preserves file permissions and timestamps. See the cp manpage for more information.

related articles:  my FreeBSD diary  FreeBSD and ATA disks  adding a disk  upgrading a disk  FreeBSD backups  backing up to a remote volume  Samba as a file server (low security)  Samba as a file server (high security)  Samba as a Primary Domain Controller  Samba as a member server  Samba as a print server (with CUPS)  troubleshooting Samba  troubleshooting printing with CUPS  configuring sendmail  installing phpMyAdmin  dealing with mail for root  working with cron  installing and using GPG  automated PHP scripting  special-purpose users  upgrading to key-based authentication  distributed data warehousing  doing a minor version upgrade  upgrading from 6.1 to 6.4  upgrading 6.2 and below  installing and using Webmin  installing and using denyhosts  filesystem access controls  unix basics