As the comments say, the question has **already been asked [here][1]**. **So... short answer: you can't.** I'm quoting *[David Mackintosh][2]*: > There are no trivial ways to add a total progress indicator. > > The reason for this is that when rsync looks at a list of files to > sync, it doesn't know ahead of time which files will need to change. > If you are doing delta transfers, the deltas themselves have to be > calculated ahead of time to give a total picture of the work that > needs to be done. > > In other words, the easiest way to calculate how much work there is to > be done is to actually do it. --- But you can have a progress bar about the **number of file transferred** using `pv`, if you already know how much you have, quoting *[zerodeux][3]*: rsync -aix /source remote:/dest | pv -les $(df -i /source | perl -ane 'print $F[2] if $F[5] =~ m:^/:') >/dev/null [1]: http://serverfault.com/q/219013/158888 [2]: http://serverfault.com/a/219257/158888 [3]: http://serverfault.com/a/279097/158888