diff --git a/common/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/common/utilities/RemoteDirectoryCopyActivitySensor.java b/common/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/common/utilities/RemoteDirectoryCopyActivitySensor.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..63c3d06865d77578132f6061c767e6ebab1c228a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/common/utilities/RemoteDirectoryCopyActivitySensor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2008 ETH Zuerich, CISD
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package ch.systemsx.cisd.common.utilities;
+
+import java.io.File;
+
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.concurrent.InactivityMonitor.IActivitySensor;
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.exceptions.StatusWithResult;
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.exceptions.UnknownLastChangedException;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link IActivitySensor} that senses changes in copy operations to a directory.
+ * 
+ * @author Bernd Rinn
+ */
+public final class RemoteDirectoryCopyActivitySensor extends AbstractCopyActivitySensor
+{
+    private final File target;
+
+    public RemoteDirectoryCopyActivitySensor(File target)
+    {
+        super();
+        this.target = target;
+    }
+
+    public RemoteDirectoryCopyActivitySensor(File target, int maxErrorsToIgnore)
+    {
+        super(maxErrorsToIgnore);
+        this.target = target;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected StatusWithResult<Long> getTargetTimeOfLastActivityMoreRecentThan(long thresholdMillis)
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            final long lastChanged =
+                    FileUtilities.lastChangedRelative(target, true, thresholdMillis);
+            return StatusWithResult.create(lastChanged);
+        } catch (UnknownLastChangedException ex)
+        {
+            return StatusWithResult.<Long>createError("Cannot determine time of last change of "
+                    + getTargetDescription());
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected String getTargetDescription()
+    {
+        return String.format("target '%s'", target);
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/common/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/common/utilities/RsyncBasedRecursiveHardLinkMaker.java b/common/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/common/utilities/RsyncBasedRecursiveHardLinkMaker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..55f6ae1a66f6fc74dc14f6d85891cf442a99b33e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/common/utilities/RsyncBasedRecursiveHardLinkMaker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2008 ETH Zuerich, CISD
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package ch.systemsx.cisd.common.utilities;
+
+import java.io.File;
+
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.concurrent.ConcurrencyUtilities;
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.concurrent.InactivityMonitor;
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.concurrent.InactivityMonitor.IInactivityObserver;
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.filesystem.rsync.RsyncCopier;
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.logging.LogCategory;
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.logging.LogFactory;
+
+/**
+ * A hard link maker based on <code>rsync</code>.
+ * 
+ * @author Bernd Rinn
+ */
+public class RsyncBasedRecursiveHardLinkMaker implements IDirectoryImmutableCopier
+{
+
+    private static final String RSYNC_EXEC = "rsync";
+
+    private static final Logger machineLog =
+            LogFactory.getLogger(LogCategory.MACHINE, RsyncBasedRecursiveHardLinkMaker.class);
+
+    private final static long MILLIS = 1000L;
+
+    private final static long DEFAULT_INACTIVITY_TRESHOLD_MILLIS = 300 * MILLIS;
+
+    private final static int DEFAULT_MAX_ERRORS_TO_IGNORE = 3;
+
+    private final static int DEFAULT_MAX_ATTEMPTS = 10;
+
+    private final static long DEFAULT_TIME_TO_SLEEP_AFTER_COPY_FAILS = 5 * MILLIS;
+
+    private final long inactivityThresholdMillis;
+
+    private final int maxErrorsToIgnore;
+
+    private final int maxAttempts;
+
+    private final long timeToSleepAfterCopyFails;
+
+    private RsyncCopier rsyncCopier = new RsyncCopier(OSUtilities.findExecutable(RSYNC_EXEC));
+
+    public interface ILastChangedChecker
+    {
+        long lastChangedRelative(File destinationDirectory, long thresholdMillis);
+    }
+
+    public RsyncBasedRecursiveHardLinkMaker()
+    {
+        this(DEFAULT_INACTIVITY_TRESHOLD_MILLIS, DEFAULT_MAX_ERRORS_TO_IGNORE,
+                DEFAULT_MAX_ATTEMPTS, DEFAULT_TIME_TO_SLEEP_AFTER_COPY_FAILS);
+    }
+
+    public RsyncBasedRecursiveHardLinkMaker(long inactivityThresholdMillis, int maxErrorsToIgnore,
+            int maxAttempts, long timeToSleepAfterCopyFails)
+    {
+        this.inactivityThresholdMillis = inactivityThresholdMillis;
+        this.timeToSleepAfterCopyFails = timeToSleepAfterCopyFails;
+        this.maxErrorsToIgnore = maxErrorsToIgnore;
+        this.maxAttempts = maxAttempts;
+    }
+
+    public boolean copyDirectoryImmutably(final File sourceDirectory,
+            final File destinationDirectory, final String targetNameOrNull)
+    {
+        final File target =
+                new File(destinationDirectory, (targetNameOrNull == null) ? sourceDirectory
+                        .getName() : targetNameOrNull);
+        final IInactivityObserver observer = new IInactivityObserver()
+            {
+                public void update(long inactiveSinceMillis, String descriptionOfInactivity)
+                {
+                    machineLog.error(descriptionOfInactivity + ", terminating rsync");
+                    rsyncCopier.terminate();
+                }
+            };
+        boolean ok;
+        int attempt = 0;
+        while (true)
+        {
+            ok =
+                    createHardLinks(sourceDirectory, destinationDirectory, targetNameOrNull,
+                            target, observer);
+            if (ok || attempt++ > maxAttempts)
+            {
+                break;
+            }
+            if (ok == false)
+            {
+                ConcurrencyUtilities.sleep(timeToSleepAfterCopyFails);
+            }
+        }
+        return ok;
+    }
+
+    private boolean createHardLinks(final File sourceDirectory, final File destinationDirectory,
+            final String targetNameOrNull, final File target, final IInactivityObserver observer)
+    {
+        final InactivityMonitor monitor =
+                new InactivityMonitor(new RemoteDirectoryCopyActivitySensor(target,
+                        maxErrorsToIgnore), observer, inactivityThresholdMillis, true);
+        final boolean result =
+                rsyncCopier.copyDirectoryImmutably(sourceDirectory, destinationDirectory,
+                        targetNameOrNull);
+        monitor.stop();
+        return result;
+    }
+
+}