Will Rsync Overwrite Newer Files?

By default, the rsync program only looks to see if the files are different in size and timestamp. It doesn't care which file is newer, if it is different, it gets overwritten.

Will rsync overwrite existing files?

Rsync will overwrite older files with newer ones, so you're most likely comparing files by just timestamp, and the dates are slightly out of whack between the 2 computers.

How do I use rsync to copy only new files?

By default, rsync will only copy new or changed files from a source to a destination. The –update or -u option is used by rsync to skip files that are still new in the destination directory. Also, –dry-run or -n enables us to execute a test operation without making any changes. It shows us what files we need to copy.