Author Topic: Equivalent to Foldershare? (Read 28,267 times)

AEngineer · « **on:** September 20, 2007, 07:24 PM »

I've been a very happy user of Foldershare for quite a while. I sync about 30G of data between five PCs (and formerly a Mac) almost effortlessly. Its big limitation is that (thanks to MS buying it), it doesn't do linux.

Now I'm thinking of trying to incorporate a linux box into the mix. I'm looking for something that will do the same thing as Foldershare. I'd appreciate suggestions. Here's what my research so far seems to tell me:

- rsync and its offspring might do it but - they seem to be 2-box only and probably hard for a novice to configure

- Powerfolder looks like a candidate, but I found their documentation tough to evaluate - any users here?

- I could probably do a kluge and run a VM with windows on the linux box and thus continue foldershare, but that does not appeal at all.

Thanks

Jammo the OrganizedFellow · « **Reply #1 on:** November 06, 2007, 07:16 AM »

Yeah, I'm looking for a way to sync files tween two computers also.
I found FolderShare via http://lifehacker.com/software/downloads/download-of-the-day-foldershare-137571.php

I also don't want to use it due to the MS ownership now.
Hopefully, some other DonationCoders come to our rescue.

sri · « **Reply #2 on:** November 06, 2007, 07:20 AM »

These might be useful to you:

http://www.leafnetworks.net/

http://www.purplenova.com/index.html

http://www.dekoh.com/index.jsp

AEngineer · « **Reply #3 on:** November 06, 2007, 11:09 AM »

The first link didn't work and the other two are essentially about selective sharing of local items with others. My sense of them was that they're about allowing others to access your files. My interest is in synchronizing large numbers of files on multiple machines, something Foldershare does extremely well, but not extending into the *nix world.

PhilB66 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 06, 2007, 11:39 AM »

Unison file synchronization

PhilB66 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 06, 2007, 12:40 PM »

There's also PowerFolder (Free & Pro Editions).

AEngineer · « **Reply #6 on:** November 06, 2007, 01:35 PM »

Thanks for the recommendations - I find that I'd looked at both PowerFolder and Unison before, but had forgotten them. PowerFolder indeed looks like what I want, though I'd have to ante up considerably more cash than desired to get the capabilities I need. Oh well, now it's just a matter of money.

yksyks · « **Reply #7 on:** May 08, 2008, 10:15 PM »

Any experiences with some of those equivalents? I'm asking because I'm just through with FolderShare--it missed some file changes and synchronized data the opposite direction, destroying some recent changes. (Fortunately FileHamster had a copy, but this was enough to mistrust and stop using FolderShare.)

kartal · « **Reply #8 on:** May 08, 2008, 10:20 PM »

I use powerfolder. I like it but I think their pricing is little expensive.

yksyks · « **Reply #9 on:** May 09, 2008, 09:03 PM »

You're right, it is expensive, but I'm going to give a free version of PowerFolder a try. It should be quite sufficient for my needs.

yksyks · « **Reply #10 on:** July 09, 2008, 09:19 AM »

If anybody is interested in my very short experience with PowerFolder: I realized soon that for some reason it blocks Alt-PgUp and Al-PgDn shortcuts, which are inevitable for Adobe InDesign, so upon every restart I just stopped PowerFolder, saying to myself that I'll have to investigate or eventually disable it later. This repeated several times and I completely forgot about it. Needless to say that I've never synchronized a single bit using it. After today's restart this window appeared:

[attachimg=#]

So I finally uninstalled it without further investigation. Would you trust such an application?

Never mind, in the meantime I humbly returned to FolderShare and I must say, except rare cut-offs, it runs quite well, synchronizing several thousands of files without any problem.

kartal · « **Reply #11 on:** July 11, 2008, 02:06 AM »

yksyks

I have used PF for long time and I do not think PF deserves negative attention. However as I said before it is expensive to me. Also their online storage offer is just too expensive compared to alternatives. That could have been a nice offer 4 years ago but now it is expensive and all you get is 1 gb file storage.

There are couple good things about it thou

-It is under constant developement and you can leave feedback or ask for features in their froms. They seem to take their app serious and try to improve it as much as possible.
-Cross platform, it works under any java supporting platform
-You can create different profiles (more extensive than Folder share). For example you can create project (check in check out style) profile, or just download or upload etc profiles
-There is no sign in, sign out like FS. This has been one issue that kept me away from FS. As long as you know ip numbers it is easy to connect. It also suppoorts custom dns names.

As far as blocking shortcuts goes I totally agree with you, it sounds like a bug thou. You might want to drop a line to the developers at least they know the issue. I know you wont use it but this can be a nice feedback to let them know.

I hate their free version and the pop up as well!

cmpm · « **Reply #12 on:** July 11, 2008, 02:29 AM »

I've been using Syncplicity for a while and it works for me.
Pretty fast and smooth without overloading my computers.

http://www.syncplicity.com/Pricing.aspx

I don't know what the others charge but this good for me.
I use the free one so price isn't a consideration.

yksyks · « **Reply #13 on:** July 11, 2008, 08:07 AM »

Quote from: kartal on July 11, 2008, 02:06 AM

-There is no sign in, sign out like FS. This has been one issue that kept me away from FS.

You mean sign in on the web page? I almost don't use it. I've just set up a couple of libraries comprising over 7000 files to be synchronized and since then it works unattended.

Quote from: cmpm on July 11, 2008, 02:29 AM

I use the free one so price isn't a consideration.

According to the link you provided:

Quote

Free during beta, pricing starts July 28, 2008.

So the free version will soon be over. I can't afford paying for this, especially when I'm almost satisfied with FolderShare.

The problem I had with FolderShare was caused by Excel, which changes the timestamp of the opened file to the current time, and changing it back again after closing it without any editing. This obviously confuses all real time synchronizers/backups/versioning systems. Anyone having an idea? This is my biggest pet peeve with Excel (at least versions 2000 and 2003).

tomos · « **Reply #14 on:** July 11, 2008, 08:29 AM »

Quote from: yksyks on July 11, 2008, 08:07 AM

The problem I had with FolderShare was caused by Excel, which changes the timestamp of the opened file to the current time, and changing it back again after closing it without any editing. This obviously confuses all real time synchronizers/backups/versioning systems. Anyone having an idea? This is my biggest pet peeve with Excel (at least versions 2000 and 2003).

apparently it's solved in the new file-format but that no solution for a lot of us

same problem with Filehamster too - see this FH thread

I opened an xls file with Star Office & it didnt get updated by Filehamster - havent tested it beyond that because I rarely use xls files but could (possibly) be an option
I guess the only other option is to backup xls files in a different manner

cmpm · « **Reply #15 on:** July 11, 2008, 10:53 AM »

There will still be a free one.
If you use the beta.
It will remain active.

That's why I posted the link!

In fact the beta users will be given 4 gigs since we tested it.
And I expect it will stay that way. But we shall see, huh.

cmpm · « **Reply #16 on:** July 11, 2008, 10:55 AM »

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yksyks · « **Reply #17 on:** July 11, 2008, 01:25 PM »

Thanks, cpmp. You made me study in more depth the details. I managed to dig out the most important piece of information:

Quote

Free: Free forever. Allows up to two computers, 5 revisions per file or 30 days of previous revisions (whichever is less), up to 10,000 files, and 2 GB of storage. The free account expires after 60 days of inactivity.

Well, that's not bad. It depends on your type of work. I'm working with large files for professional printing bureaus, so even the paid 40 GB would be questionable, provided I could afford it.

Anyway, I realized only now that Syncplicity works completely different from FolderShare--it's a remote backup and versioning system, too! On the other hand, what I like about FolderShare is its ability to create peer to peer connection, so when I'm at home when both my laptop and desktop are connected to the same LAN, the syncing process runs at the full speed of LAN.

cmpm · « **Reply #18 on:** July 11, 2008, 02:35 PM »

For syncing between computers I use the free version of GoodSync.

http://www.goodsync.com/download.html

Although the Pro may be auto sync this version must be done manually.
And of course no size limit.
You have to set your syncing folders to share in order for it to work on a network.

But I do use syncplicity between two computers, cause I can.
It monitors in real time any changes and it's fast, but slows if you are runnning other programs giving syncplicity a backseat to whatever you are doing. But it is still syncing till it's done. Even if the computers are shut off and back on, it will resume automatically where it left off.

Then there is XDrive from Aol that can do syncing.
It's a 5gb capacity for free. Not sure about between computers though. I haven't tried it.

I'm not interested in Microsoft products for this kind of thing.
Though they have them, they dump a load of extra files on your computer with their 'Live' stuff. My experience anyway.

yksyks · « **Reply #19 on:** July 11, 2008, 03:45 PM »

In no way I could be considered an advocate of Microsoft products, but FolderShare does its job silently, quite reliably and nothing else. (Besides, it was not originated in Microsoft.) It lacks a lot of features, but for the price it's a real bargain.

Thanks for other useful links.

cmpm · « **Reply #20 on:** July 11, 2008, 04:16 PM »

Nah, I wasn't talking about FolderShare speaking of Microsoft.
But their other deal ... SkyDrive.
I don't even know if it's still around.

Thinking about this a bit more...
I thought GMail Drive is good, though limited in size according to your GMail account.

http://www.filehippo.com/download_gmail_drive/4384/

Instant access from any computer to whatever you put in there.

kartal · « **Reply #21 on:** July 11, 2008, 04:50 PM »

Well FS is not ip to ip connection at first. A server is needed to route the connections, that is why you need a user name. And I personally do not like that approach.
That would be the main reason why I would advocate PF over FH. On the otherhand when I have used FS for a project it was easy and seamless as you stated. I think that FS is the best if you do not want many configuration options.

In my opinion they both are good products.

Quote from: yksyks on July 11, 2008, 08:07 AM

Quote from: kartal on July 11, 2008, 02:06 AM
-There is no sign in, sign out like FS. This has been one issue that kept me away from FS.

You mean sign in on the web page? I almost don't use it. I've just set up a couple of libraries comprising over 7000 files to be synchronized and since then it works unattended.