Cp and rsync -- when are they done?

Question

I'm trying to copy all my Applications from an ext. drive, to my startup drive. I navigate to the root of the ext. drive, then run either cp or rsync.
I can't seem to find a way to get any feedback from either. I tried -vr as options for rsync, and still only get a ">" which just sits there. As well, when I go to check what copying is completed by looking in the Finder, I see no folder there.
Here are the commands I'm trying, from the root of the ext. drive:
sudo cp -Rf Applications Users/home/desktop/'my backup folder'/Applications
and
sudo rsync -vr Applications Users/home/desktop/'my backup folder'/Applications
Is there any way to tell what these things are doing?

Answer 1

from an admin privileged account, at any directory level, try
sudo cp -pvR /Volumes/NameOfExtDrive/Applications /Users/jeffreyellis/Desktop/my\ backup\ folder/ 
Note the use of the backslash character to "escape" the white space in the filename. Or put the whole target path (/Users/jeffrey.....) inside single quotes ('). Also note that by not including "Applications" in the target, the copied directory will take on the same name in the backup folder. Also note the trailing slash after "my\ backup\ folder/". And of course, this is all on one line.
Or try
sudo rsync -vvauE --delete --progress --stats /Volumes/NameOfExtDrive/Applications /Users/jeffreyellis/Desktop/my\ backup\ folder/ 
for an incremental update, to include deleting stuff removed in the source
do a man rsync to see what all the options do.