Can we compare file transfer protocols?

[Tuxman]

"File transfer protocols" is not exactly defined here, so I'd like to throw in decentral P2P (like eMule) as an alternative.

[CWuestefeld]

Sorry this isn't going to add to the discussion, but seeing this question just brought on a moment of nostalgia, and I wanted to share it.

I can remember, say, 20 years ago, thinking how great it was that I can download Commander Keen so much faster over Zmodem than the old Xmodem protocol.



It's remarkable how much this stuff has improved since the early days. The protocols have improved tremendously, but the hardware that allows for speeds of 10Mbps at my house, rather than the 300bps at the beginning, or the 14400bps that I was probably using on that Cmdr. Keen download, are just amazing.

[superboyac]

AHHH!!!  I totally played that game!  Man, that brings back memories.  I played that game a lot with my little sister, back when she would want to do everything that I did.

[skwire]

superboyac, you can do what you want (map remote drives locally) with Hamachi.  I've done it myself.  However, and this is a big however in your case since I know how particular you are, you're probably not going to be satisfied with the speed of working with files over what boils down to you and your friends' internet links.  If the files are small, fine, you can probably get away with it.  However, let's say you're working on a text file that is five megs in size.  You open up your text editor, browse to the remote file and open it.  You will now have to wait until that five megs of data is uploaded from your friend's internet link.  In other words, he's uploading five megs of data to you and will be constrained by whatever his internet upload speed is.  Now, once that's done, you make some edits and choose to save the document.  You now have to upload those five megs back to him...all the while constrained by your upload speed.  Each and every time you make a save, that five megs will need to be uploaded to him.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

[JavaJones]

The speed issue is why having everything constantly synced across, like DropBox or SugarSync, is probably the best approach. FTP, VPN with drive mapping, or any other tech is going to be way too manual, slow, and annoying IMHO. But then I'm still not sure I really understand the original requirements...

DropBox, SugarSync, and others can appear as regular drives on your system, accessible by all apps using the normal file system. While these systems also of course cannot make the transfers go *faster*, the simple fact that syncing is done automatically and in the background means it's likely that when you need a file in both places, it will already be there, instead of having to wait on a file transfer done manually.

- Oshyan

[superboyac]

Hi everyone, JJ...
I've been experimenting the last few days with Dropbox and it's working really well.  I have my off site computer syncing my files with Dropbox every night (using SFFS).  Then my home computer syncs Dropbox to my backup location.  It works pretty smoothly.  So unless I go over 2GB, I'm happy with it so far.

[JavaJones]

Excellent! Glad to hear it. And of course, if you do go over 2GB, you can pay (a reasonablea mount), or I think there are some other similar options out there with e.g. 10GB free.

- Oshyan

[superboyac]

4wd: Syncrify!

I can't believe you totally mentioned this here and I glossed over it.  Syncrify is exactly what I wanted!  I'm testing it out right now, very impressive.  Apologies!

[4wd]

No problem, I'm used to being ignored 

[Tuxman]

Did you hear anything, superboyac?

[superboyac]

Did you hear anything, superboyac?

-Tuxman (May 08, 2013, 05:04 AM)

Apparently it takes 3 years for a sound from 4wd to reach superboyac.  So no.  I'll check by in '016.