File Sync questions

[MrCrispy]

1. Do you use file syncing?
2. What do you use - program (SyncToy, SuperFlexible), service (foldershare, dropbox), or hardware (Raid 1) and across how many computers?
3. Do you prefer to have the data live only on your pc (foldershare) or in the cloud (dropbox, Live Mesh)?
4. Worth paying for?
5. Would you use it for backups? This is interesting to me because for most people, having an automated sync is a great backup strategy (compared to none), but then there are the dangers - i.e. deletes/bad data are also sync'd.

I think there is a lot of work being done in this area and a lot of scope to help make data easier to deal with for most people. As a developer I know the problem is non-trivial (multi-way sync resolution, transactional commits, differential syncs etc) yet to most users its a simple concept (keep 2 copies of my data).

Its an interesting space to watch.

[Grorgy]

1. Yes, I synch my documents and my music files between my laptop and desktop whenever i get home.

2 SuperFlexible, because it has that smart updating capability that may be in the others but i could work it out in superflexible.   

3 Its all on my computers

4 Worth paying for? well it depends how valuable your data is, a while ago when i used to just browse and play games then no, i didnt do any backups at all, if things went wrong it didn't matter.

5 I do occasional backups, maybe 1 every month or 2 and for the rest i rely on the synching.

So far its worked for me.

[Perry Mowbray]

I use a mixture of Sync'ing and Backing up.

• I use DSynchronize to sync between desktop and USB Drive: This is great for RoboForm, etc that I carry around with me.
• I use Backup4All to backup my "documents" to a RAID1 NAS
• I also keep my photos on the RAID1 NAS
• I use Backup4All to backup essential information (finances, tax, etc) to a private area on my Web Space

I had a look at DropBox, etc, but I've got a PHP script that I can use to get at my Backups/Files on the server from anywhere, so I didn't see the need.

[cranioscopical]

I don't (yet) trust my data to the cloud.
(It does seem to be an inevitable step for cross-border travel, though, now
that documents and devices are scanned/impounded more or less at will.)

So far:

1) I use version backup to keep every change to critical files.

2) I run a root drive backup daily.

3) I run a full system backup weekly (more if I'm working on something that matters a lot to me).

4) I synch key folders daily to several destinations (SFFS):

• other machines on my home network
• external USB storage
• internal alternate drive(s)

    I don't have a computer in the place where we prepare food, so item 4) is an
    everything-but-the kitchen synch.

[MrCrispy]

    I don't have a computer in the place where we prepare food, so item 4) is an
    everything-but-the kitchen synch.

-cranioscopical (May 13, 2008, 02:07 PM)

That made my day

[ChalkTrauma]

I have gotten use to pathsync for doing syncs between my main system and my portable drive, source is available so I've added a few of my own tweaks. Works great for me.

[MrCrispy]

Pathsync looks neat - small, simple and does the job, and I like open source. What tweaks did you add?

[ChalkTrauma]

I added the ability to use environment variables in paths because my USB drive letter changes..