Files lose something (Creator code?) when copied via terminal

[spectre_240sx]

One thing that I’ve noticed, that really bugs me, is that files seem to lose something (I think it’s the creator code) when I copy them via the terminal. It’s not all files, just certain types. Some executables, program installers, etc. But also, Quark files seem to suffer from the effects as well. Comparing the file with “diff -a file file” doesn’t show any differences and the file is exactly the same in size. Maybe there’s some sort of filesystem metadata that isn’t being copied with it…

Most of the time, this doesn’t present much of a problem, but sometimes I want to copy via the terminal. For example, it’s much faster to copy a directory’s contents to another directory via the terminal if I’m going between two shares. Otherwise it seems to copy data from the server, to my machine and then back to the server. More recently, I’ve been working on implementing a backup solution with rsync, cron and two external LaCie firewire drives (one for daily and one for weekly). Unfortunately, while testing on my local machine, I’ve noticed that this same problem occurs.

Can anyone shed some light on this subject? I’d really like to get this backup system working over rsync rather than purchasing a seperate program.

Edit: Ok, so after I posted, I figured my guess about it being metadata was a bit on target, and after searching more I’ve found out that this has to do with something called resource forks. I’d still welcome any references that might be of use, though.

Thanks!
Brian

[spectre_240sx]

Thanks for the reply. I’ve been finding a wealth of information about the subject since I figured out what’s going on, but every site seems to have their own way that they like to handle it, lol. I suppose it’s one of those things that you just have to choose a path for. I’ll take a look at the article(s). Hopefully they’ll be a bit more informative. I’ve always had good luck with the articles here.

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