> [rsync over ssh]
> [tar, ftp, untar]

> `diff -r' said there were no differences, but `du -sh' said the
> rsync'ed copy was 425 MB in size while the untarred one was 356 MB.

> Could you explain why du thinks these directories have different
> sizes please?

Not definitely, not without more information.

The two plausible reasons that come to mind immediately:

- The source tree contains some files which are hardlinked together;
   tar preserved the hardlink relationship, while rsync didn't.

- The source tree contains some files which are (or could be) sparse;
   tar generated sparse files, while rsync didn't.

If I had to pick one as more likely to be responsible in your
particular case, solely on the information I have, I'd pick the first.

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