Move Directories

[EndianX]

I've run in to a surprising problem. I am sure I am missing something simple.

I am just trying to move a directory with the mv command, but I get a "directory not empty" error.

There are hundreds of subdirectories, and thousands of files. Certainly I am not expected to move each one, one at a time.

It is 300 GB and I don't have the space to copy them all, and then delete. What is the solution for this? It doesn't seem like it should be such a problem.

Thanks,

Dave

[shokk]

Using "mv" to relocate a large directory is a good way to end up needing to restore something from backup. I'd try to find spare disk space from anywhere to rsync this to, remove the dir and then rsync back. You are in effect doing a backup anyway, so if you have something like Netbackup, a backup and restore is also recommended. So long as whatever services are sharing those files have been shut down.

[antony_pradeep]

mostly mv command should work, and also u can use force move command "mv -f". or else might be problem with file system errors try to reboot ur system with "shutdown -Fr" for force fsck ..

[EndianX]

antony_pradeep, you are right. I just did the following as a test.

mkdir test
touch test/file1
touch test/file2
mv test test2

That worked fine. I will try a fsck and let you know how that goes. Thanks.

[bobca]

Using "mv" to relocate a large directory is a good way to end up needing to restore something from backup.

How so? Is this filesystem specific?

I mean, I've been moving literally hundreds of gigabytes with "mv" for many years without any problems.

[prudra]

I've run in to a surprising problem. I am sure I am missing something simple.

I am just trying to move a directory with the mv command, but I get a "directory not empty" error.

There are hundreds of subdirectories, and thousands of files. Certainly I am not expected to move each one, one at a time.

It is 300 GB and I don't have the space to copy them all, and then delete. What is the solution for this? It doesn't seem like it should be such a problem.

Thanks,

Dave

Did you try
$mv -f oldname/ newname/