Livesync/Dropbox

Post by **FatherJack** » October 17th, 2010, 4:13

I posted this a while ago, but things have changed, so I'll recap, then add to it.

FJ earlier wrote:Novell's iFolder was the best file-sharey thing I've used, but they broke it horribly in version 3 and the v2 client won't run under 64-bit Windows. Also it needs its own server, but it was the best I've used both at speed, not downloading full copies of files only partially changed (aka deltas), dealing with duplicate files, unlimited storage, massive filestores and all the things the other ones do.

DropBox is good, I use it for a few critical files I like to be able to access from anywhere. The free version has a 2G limit, which matters because all files are uploaded to the server and saved there. It allows sharing, web-access and rudimentary LAN synchronisation.
- Central storage means anyone can get at the files even when everyone else is offline
- Files have to be uploaded before any other machine can get them (even ones on your own LAN)
- It uses a combination of web access and P2P to transfer files, but is rather slow
- The sharing is basic, only full access (including delete rights) are grantable, to email addresses, per folder
- If using the client, any corruption, data loss or deletion is replicated to everyone, though there are tools to recover deleted files
- The web interface lets you download whole folders as ZIP files
- It duplicates files it detects changes in, so should always be reinstalled pointing at an empty folder if you've recovered from backup

Windows LiveSync I also use, for syncing files between my workstations at home and in the office. There's no GB limit, but a limit of around 20,000 files per sync folder. Sharing is enabled, as is web-access.
- No central storage means another machine has to be online for anyone to access the files
- Files are available for all as soon as the index is uploaded to the server, and travel at full speed over a LAN
- It uses P2P to transfer files, but is an okay speed
- The sharing is also basic, only full access grantable, to email addresses, per sync, not per folder as DropBox
- Same issues with client corruption and replication, less robust tools to recover deleted files
- The web interface still requires another P2P client to be active, and often still fails
- Same deal with duplicates/recovering from backup, it tags duplicates more obviously though

I've highlighted the key features, and often wished for a product that will do all of these like iFolder did, but have settled for just using a combination of DropBox and LiveSync.

Now though, Microsoft have decided to drop LiveSync and replace it with Live Mesh 2011 - which doesn't run on Windows XP.

So the search for a replacement is on. For info, my requirements are:

Essential
Win7x64 and WinXP support
No storage limit, or well in excess of my current sync, 55GB
File limit in excess of 27000 files, 3500 folders
Works on 4+ computers
Sensible handling of duplicates
Automatic operation
Disconnected PCs resync when reconnected
Can remove PCs that no longer exist
No damage to sync when disk is full/network connection loss
Files available when server down
Free, or very cheap
Desirable
LAN syncing
Deltas
Sharing
Web access
Any-folder sharing (ie: my WoW install dir)
No critical "master" source of files on a local PC
Optional
Cloud storage
Offline access
Deleted files recovery
Archive file downloading (ie. ZIP of folder)

I have a few names of things to try out and I'll be posting the results here.

To investigate:
Allway Sync
Memeo AutoSync
PowerFolder Pro
Spideroak
SugarSync
PureSync
Beyond Sync
FolderMatch
SmartSync Pro
Syncplicity
Sync Now!
ViceVersa
Easy2Sync
GoodSync

Post by **FatherJack** » October 17th, 2010, 7:49

To further explain, I don't need a backup solution - I have a bunch of those already. This is real-time syncing between between PCs. Stuff like DropBox is all well and good, but it's too limited in size and it takes a fucking age to upload to their server.

For backup I use:

- Scheduled daily differential and incremental jobs using NTBackup (another discontinued MS product, grr) of all drives save where games are installed.
- Periodic Datakeeper run on changed files of all drives save where games are installed.
- Occasional full disk batch-file copy of data drive (excludes games and OS)
- Weekly run of GameSave Manager.
- Win7's scheduled backup, which occasionaly works.
- Occasional refresh of the Win7 image backup.

Mostly to a trio of USB drives, one of which is cycled, the other two occasionally dumped to a quad of networked USB drives.

Post by **FatherJack** » October 17th, 2010, 11:14

Well fuck's sake, they're all shit. I knew there was a reason I'd stuck with what I had.

Here's the detail:

Allway Sync - integrates with OffsiteBox (1GB free), but offers no P2P syncing. Can sync with a network folder, FTP server or WebDAV folder. Minimum 1 minute delay on sync. Have to set up one link for each pair of computers - can get complex with more than two, as you'd probably need to define a "master" sync machine and set up all the links either there or to there. Slow, no deltas. Its functionality could mostly be achieved with a batch file. Also seems to need manual intervention, auto mode is bugged.

Memeo AutoSync - Not free ($30) Only syncs folder pairs, not P2P.

PowerFolder Pro - 1GB limit, 2 computers only. $60 for 3, $90 for 5

Spideroak - 2GB free, pretty much same as DropBox, but with fancy versioning, deltas and redundancy saving. $10/m per 100GB.

SugarSync - No free option. $5/10/15/m for 30/60/100GB.

PureSync - just a folder syncer. Bugged auto-sync.

Beyond Sync - folder syncer. Not free.

FolderMatch - another overpriced folder syncer.

SmartSync Pro - Expensive ($45/PC). Only a folder syncer, remote PCs have to be done via an FTP server or network folder. Does seem to work reasonably well, but auto mode only triggers on source folder changes. Can get confused.

Syncplicity - 2GB storage, 2 computers only. $15/m for 50GB, 5 computers.

Sync Now! - folders only, <5GB/sync, not free.

ViceVersa FREE - folder syncer. Single folder only, manual syncing. Source is master.

Easy2Sync - Folder sync, though does automate syncing with network machines (on LAN) and seems to work. Free version does only one project and does not do subdirectories. £39 for full version.

GoodSync - folder syncer, not free. $30, 64-bit version available. Gets in a mess when files are moved.

GMailFS
ZumoDrive
Box.net

Those last three are online filestore, GMailFS being a hack to store files in your GMail account. While they could potentially be used with a folder syncer, again the problems of slow upload and size limits stop them being very useful.

The search continues...

Post by **ProfHawking** » October 17th, 2010, 13:56

i use this: http://www.superflexible.com/

It is good at syncing, can do network / ftp etc, good scheduler. Best tool i have found to do whatever i throw at it, but i've never tried it in a very multi-user environment. Not quite sure what you need it to do, but it might suit.

Its not free, or even that cheap, but i am happy with my investment. Lifeftime upgrades etc plus no DRM on it if you are inclined to install all over the place.

Post by **FatherJack** » October 17th, 2010, 17:56

Not really, looks mostly to be a more expensive version of a lot of the above, just a folder syncer with network and FTP capability. I'm looking for something where each PC runs a client, and those clients talk to each other to do the transfer, so don't rely on having a Samba mapping or an FTP server in-between.

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » October 24th, 2010, 18:15

dropbox is $10 p/month for 50Gb. With a couple of referrals you should be able to hit 56Gb