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I'm looking at an online man page for the sync command and I can't quite figure out the intended use of the -d or --data option.

Is it faster? Does it have any noticeable effect? Or is it something legacy?

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Many filesystems have checksums for meta data. Usual data on the other side is often not checksummed. Using sync -d is a faster operation than a complete sync and should be preferred in situations where time matters, like hanging on a fail-safe battery. sync -d also needs less IO access and thus can increase the lifespan of the device, especially on cheap devices like SDcards and other cheap flash memory technologies.

Recommend use: Use sync -d within program loops which are followed with a sync at the end of loop and use sync or sync -d; sync in CLI.

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  • Who recommends using sync -d? There is no reference in the answer.
    – Kusalananda ♦
    Commented Jan 20 at 8:59
  • I'm the reference and I also explained why it's recommend.
    – paladin
    Commented Jan 20 at 14:40

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