On Thu, 2009-07-30 at 11:23 -0300, Will Siddall wrote: > Just so everyone knows what I'm doing, here is what I'm doing: > $ls -al ~ | tail -n 5 > -rw-r--r-- 1 myusername users 222118 2008-11-28 10:23 > untitled.JPG > -rwxr-xr-x 1 myusername users 172 2008-03-12 12:14 wmamp3 > drwxr-xr-x 4 myusername users 4096 2008-10-05 22:41 workspace > -rw-r--r-- 1 myusername users 1041452 2008-11-18 21:29 > xine-out.wav > -rw-r--r-- 1 myusername users 0 2009-07-21 21:18 zero.trf > > $cp -a --preserve=all ~ /media/bigdrive/backups/ > $ls -al /media/bigdrive/backups | tail -n 5 > -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 222118 2008-11-28 10:23 untitled.JPG > -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 172 2008-03-12 12:14 wmamp3 > drwxrwxrwx 4 root root 4096 2008-10-05 22:41 workspace > -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1041452 2008-11-18 21:29 xine-out.wav > -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-07-21 21:18 zero.trf > > I've been using this stuff enough to know what's in the man pages and > how to use google. No matter what though, the output is the same > whether I'm running it from within my Arch install or from a live cd > like ubuntu. What filesystem is the destination? You're aware of the fact that FAT32 doesn't support permissions and ownership?