How can i use rsync to transfer files from my android devices

Support
1

Hi there
I have been struggling with this for quite some time now… I want to sync the photos on my phone to my computer using rsync, but cannot figure out what is wrong. I have given the following commands in my terminal:

sudo rsync -rv --omit-dir-times --no-perms --inplace “/run/user/1000/gvfs/mtp:host=SAMSUNG_SAMSUNG_Android_258c9b8234057ece/Phone/DCIM/test/” /home/brandon/Pictures/test

and this is the ouput of the terminal:

sending incremental file list
rsync: [sender] change_dir “/run/user/1000/gvfs/mtp:host=SAMSUNG_SAMSUNG_Android_258c9b8234057ece/Phone/DCIM/test” failed: Permission denied (13)

sent 19 bytes received 12 bytes 62.00 bytes/sec
total size is 0 speedup is 0.00
rsync error: some files/attrs were not transferred (see previous errors) (code 23) at main.c(1330) [sender=v3.2.3]

please if anyone can help that would be greatly appreciated

2

That can only be achieved by running an rsync service on your phone.

It will be much simpler to use cp -ur

  -R, -r, --recursive          copy directories recursively

....

  -u, --update                 copy only when the SOURCE file is newer
                                 than the destination file or when the
                                 destination file is missing
3

I found it easier to set up an SSH server on Android and bypass all the MTP issues.

I use this SimpleSSHD which is also on the Play Store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.galexander.sshd

Follow the guide to install the keys and change the port to 2222. After that SSH is as easy as any other computer.

1 Like
4

Thank you, this is so simple. I did not realise that the cp command had those options.

5

I will definitely try this out, sounds like a really cool idea.

6

Hi there i tried running the following command as you recommended :
sudo cp -upr /run/user/1000/gvfs/mtp:host=SAMSUNG_SAMSUNG_Android_258c9b8234057ece/Phone/DCIM/test /home/brandon/Pictures/

and got:

cp: cannot stat ‘/run/user/1000/gvfs/mtp:host=SAMSUNG_SAMSUNG_Android_258c9b8234057ece/Phone/DCIM/test’: Permission denied

any ideas what i could be doing wrong?

7

Honestly… It would be so much easier to just use syncthing, which is what I use.

You can also use rsync in termux on Android if you really want

It’s also in F-Droid as well!

F-Droid is repository for FOSS apps for those who don’t know. Sometimes the apps on F-Droid are a bit different from the Play Store version, such as the removal of all Firebase or Google trackers in the F-Droid versions.