[KLUG Members] scp & sparse files

[Adam Tauno WIlliams]

> > I have a ~70Gb file but only about ~6Gb is allocated.  What happens if I
> > try to scp it? (Does scp support sparse-ness?) Or should I tarball it
> > first?
> Good question, please let us know what you find out!  :-)

Doesn't seem too.  

BTW, large sparse files on reiserfs........ WOW WOW WOW IS THAT
SSSS-LLLLL-OOOOO-WWWWW.  XFS - 11 minutes.  Reiserfs - Gave up after
three hours.  Google says I'm not alone in thinking Reiserfs + sparse
files = disaster.

> Since it's that sparse, using the "-C" option on scp should cut down the
> transfer time comparable to a compressed tar file.

Nah, I ended up 'tar cjSf'ing it.

A 39Gb sparse file with 6.2Gb allocated became a 3.7Gb tar file I can
move around with worrying (too much) about the underlying filesystem. 
Although between my XFS SuSe box and my Resierfs SuSe box (equivalent
hardware) I can easily notice the performance difference when moving a
+2Gb file around.