Using `rsync` as more advanced `cp`

Unless you have some specific needs, I would throw out most of those options and keep it simple: rysnc -aEv (on the default OS X version) or rsync -aXv (on the Homebrew version).

Options

• -a is archive mode, which essentially means preserve the metadata (timestamps, permissions, etc.) and do a recursive copy. This is what you want for your standard backup or copy operations.

• -E/-X preserves extended attributes (a.k.a. resource forks). In the past the built-in rsync version had special functionality to cover HFS+ quirks in this regard, but newer default versions of rsync may be improved in that regard now. I would lean towards using the built-in version unless you have a specific reason not to.

• -v is the verbose option, and simply makes it easier to track what's going on if you're running this in a Terminal window. If it's going to be running in a script, you can remove it.

Unless you know you need them, you can safely ignore most of those options you've got already. Some are duplicated by the archive command, and others (like --inplace, which can slow things down and leave the filesystem in an inconsistent state) are only necessary for specific edge cases. Do yourself a favour and keep things simple — if you run into specific issues with the options I've listed, perhaps enumerate those (in a separate question if need be).

As an aside, running into problems copying via Finder is a bit of a red flag IMO. While it may not always be as fast as some options, it shouldn't be throwing error messages. You may want to verify/repair your disk in Disk Utility.