info:To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers
info:To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers
type:reference
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# Moving repositories managed by GitLab
# Moving repositories managed by GitLab
Sometimes you need to move all repositories managed by GitLab to
Sometimes you need to move all repositories managed by GitLab to
another filesystem or another server. In this document we will look
another file system or another server. In this document we look
at some of the ways you can copy all your repositories from
at some of the ways you can copy all your repositories from
`/var/opt/gitlab/git-data/repositories` to `/mnt/gitlab/repositories`.
`/var/opt/gitlab/git-data/repositories` to `/mnt/gitlab/repositories`.
We will look at three scenarios: the target directory is empty, the
We look at three scenarios:
target directory contains an outdated copy of the repositories, and
how to deal with thousands of repositories.
- The target directory is empty.
- The target directory contains an outdated copy of the repositories.
- How to deal with thousands of repositories.
DANGER: **Warning:**
DANGER: **Warning:**
Each of the approaches we list can/will overwrite data in the
Each of the approaches we list can or does overwrite data in the target directory
target directory `/mnt/gitlab/repositories`. Do not mix up the
`/mnt/gitlab/repositories`. Do not mix up the source and the target.
| `project_id` | integer | yes | ID of the project |
| `project_id` | integer | yes | ID of the project |
| `destination_storage_name` | string | no | Name of the destination storage shard. If not provided the storage will be selected automatically. |
| `destination_storage_name` | string | no | Name of the destination storage shard. In [GitLab 13.6 and later](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/-/issues/3209), the storage is selected automatically if not provided. |