File Sync Solution?

D

Durntdude

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 22, 2011
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My current computer setup is a desktop, laptop, and server. The server is used for all my HTPC needs and file storage, the desktop tends to be gaming mostly with a side of websurfing, and the laptop is for light gaming and on the go stuff.

To the point in hand, I have a couple folders(200GB+ total but mostly only a couple files are added/removed) which I want to keep synced amongst all my systems. I am looking for some solution where these files can automatically sync on boot and maybe ever hour or so afterwords). Since I tend to use either my laptop or my desktop at a time, I need both of these to sync to the server (2 way sync with deletions). It would be preferable that the application is portable although it is not a big deal. It would also be nice if everything was in the background running and only had a popup if there were conflicts.

I've used SyncToy(IIRC doesn't allow deletes), Allway Sync(limited), freefilesync, deltacopy(slow), and goodsync(best option so far but slow). None of those suite me. I've probably used more over the years but don't remember them. Mostly they don't do 2 way sync with deletion but the others are just too slow (gigabit nics+switch+cat5e cables and they copy at less than 15 Mbps. A straight copy easily goes to 500Mbps.

TLDR version
Required: 2 way sync with deletion propagation, decent transfer speed (250+ Mbps would be nice, hardware supports it), and customizable auto-run times or cmd line launching me to make an auto-run script

Niceties: Freeware, portable, and hopefully they keep file info in a database instead of every folder it watches (goodsync does this and as a folder neatfreak, it is bothersome).
Any ideas?
 
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You can try to accomplish this with offline files, however it does have some limitations and "issues" when using it on network shares.

Another option would be Microsoft Live Mesh that you could look into.

Other than that, there are a lot of file sync solutions out there
 
I will have to look into "offline files". Live Mesh sounds good except I don't want any information stored outside of my home network.

EDIT: Offline files won't work, it saves the "offline" copy in a database file in windows drive (which is partitioned for small size for better organization).
 
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You could try one of the freebies that have cmd support then set them up to run on Scheduled Task. I've never heard of an automatic syncing program that works on internal networks only.
 
I use a program called FreeFileSync (sorceforge). I've had no issues using it across the network. I use it manually when I need to backup data, and it performs a quick sync check first then copies only the files it needs to, which is lightning fast (especially compared to other programs). It supports remote deletions, the user interface is very simple and self-explanatory... the best out of a handful of sync/backup programs I tried before discovering FreeFileSync. I know it has an option to create a batch job for automation, however I have not used it myself and cannot speak to its effectiveness. Might be a good solution to your situation.
 
You could always use robocopy which is included in Windows. Scheduled tasks can run it every hour, and on boot, or you could set it up to watch for changes and automatically sync them using the monitor switches.
 
Durntdude said:
EDIT: Offline files won't work, it saves the "offline" copy in a database file in windows drive (which is partitioned for small size for better organization).
Click to expand...

You can relocate the offline file cache to anywhere you want, any drive letter you want
 
I know I tried FreeFileSync previously but didn't like it, I suppose I can try it again. It can't hurt.

Robocopy doesn't give the option to propagate deletions. Neither does DSynchronize IIRC
 
Durntdude said:
I know I tried FreeFileSync previously but didn't like it, I suppose I can try it again. It can't hurt.

Robocopy doesn't give the option to propagate deletions. Neither does DSynchronize IIRC
Click to expand...

The /purge and /mir options in robocopy propagate deletions, actually.
 
Oops, apparently I missed that section...it has a LOT of options.

How do /purge and /mir know which files to delete? The functionality would require some sort of database to know that the file did exist but was deleted.

EDIT: If I can get robocopy to properly propagate deletions amongst 3 computers then that would be great, I always prefer to use built in tools and maybe a script instead of external programs
 
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Durntdude said:
How do /purge and /mir know which files to delete? The functionality would require some sort of database to know that the file did exist but was deleted.
Click to expand...

Purge in Robocopy is simply if the file does not exist in source but exists in destination then delete destination file.
 
Alas, Robocopy won't work then. I guess I will use FreeFileSync, it seems to be promising.
 
Richcopy looks like a great utility but it also looks like it suffers from the same issue as robocopy. That being that it is a 1 way sync with deleting propagations, not 2 way =(. Essentially it is good as a backup solution but not a syncing solution.
 
While it is a pay software, I use to use ViceVersa back years ago and it worked great, sounds like it should fit what you are asking for in terms of what the software does.

http://www.tgrmn.com/
 
Free File Sync looks to be working great, I think I will stick to that. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.
 
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