pre-populate data when "Migrating to a different server"?

[mmccarn]

Migrating to a different server mentions transferring the data folders using rsync.

Is it safe to pre-populate the destination data so that the "final" rsync runtime (and consequent server downtime) is minimized?

If so, is it worth updating this paragraph with the new sentence below?

Copy all files from your Nextcloud instance, the Nextcloud program files, the data files, the log files and the configuration files, to the new machine (See Backup and Restoring backup). The data files should keep their original timestamp (can be done by using rsync with -t option) otherwise the clients will re-download all the files after the migration. Depending on the original installation method and the OS the files are located in different locations. On the new system make sure to pick the appropriate locations. If you change any paths, make sure to adapt the paths in the Nextcloud config.php file. Note: This step might take several hours, depending on your installation. You can safely reduce down time by pre-populating the new data folder using rsync (with appropriate settings) before enabling maintenance mode then doing a final rsync at this stage with maintenance mode enabled and the web server disabled.

[tflidd]

Good idea. You have to make sure to delete data on the new server that has been deleted in the meantime on the old one.

How do you avoid conflicts when you pre-populate without maintenance mode? Are there options to avoid that?