You can also use the cpio command in conjunction with find. This keeps the perms, time stamps, owners/group, links, etc. This option is independent of OS distro and/or version.

Begin by placing yourself in the directory you want 'cloned'.

Code:

cd /path/to/your/dir

Issue the find command for this directory and pipe that to cpio and specify the new path.

The options to cpio are - these are what I use.

Code:

find . -depth | cpio -pmuldv /path/to/new/directory

Notice the find command is using the PATH of (the 'dot' character) for its search path. You could use an absolute path in your find command but then you recreate that path in the new location as well. Not a bad thing in itself but it can be extra work if you need to restore.

Code:

The cpio options: p     pass through mode
                                            there are 3 modes; in, out, pass through
                                  m   preserve modification times
                                  u    unconditional
                                   l     link files instead of copying, when possible
                                  d    create directories as needed
                                  v    verbode

On a Linux system you can do and see these options and more.