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Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MyLifeOrganized - a journey in search of the perfect GTD software

« on: April 25, 2006, 11:43 PM »

Okay, I'm at a loss.  Does anybody have any suggestions for keeping files synchronized between two Windows computers without both having to be online simultaneously?  It seems both BeInSync and FolderShare require simultaneous connections, and in my environment that's just impossible.  This is so that I can share my MyLifeOrganized data file between two machines, so that I can access it on my work machine during the day and on the home one in the evening.  Any ideas?

-m_s (April 20, 2006, 01:26 PM)

I use FolderShare to synchronize files between three machines so I can work at any of them.  Not all of them are online concurrently.  I found some interesting, impressive behavior:  when a machine is off, it will get updated when it is started (and foldershare is running); and, interestingly, the updates can come from any machine in the group.  Both of these add up to a valuable service:  you need only two machines running at once among several - at least the "source" machine, and any other machine set to share the same files.  When any other device powers up, it can sync from any other machine with the files.

From the Foldershare FAQ:
"As a member of a library, what happens if file changes take place while my computer is offline?
When your offline computer comes back online, it will be automatically updated with all changes."

In my setup, I have a work laptop, a home laptop and a home desktop.  The latter is always running, but the laptops are on and off.  All three stay in sync, magically, sometimes indirectly through the desktop.

You're right that you can't directly sync between machines that are powered off, and that between only two machines you'll need them both on for a period long enough to sync after a change, but those seem like very reasonable (physically bound) limitations.  Short from synching to a intermediate device like a USB stick, then resynching at the target machine, I can't see a way around it.

Now it may be that Foldershare actually caches the files on their reflector server, and could store them between two machines until the target powers up.  I don't know about this, and I haven't tested, but you might check to see if it solves the problem mentioned above.

Note too that Foldershare can work across firewalls.  I mention this because sometimes one's work computer can be inaccessible (a form of "off") from home, if you work in a firm with even reasonable firewalled security.  The reverse is true if you run a firewall at home or use NAT.  Foldershare handles these instances.

Hope this helps,
jeff