Author Topic: Looking for P2p file sharing for personal use (Read 89,158 times)

kartal · « **on:** June 13, 2009, 01:09 AM »

Hi

I am thinking to use p2p kind of applications to share my files across my computers. Does anyone know any safe application, or any application that can do similar job? I already used Powerfolder which is nice but I need to use this on 6 7 computers and I do not have budget for powerfolder licences right now.

thanks

Shades · « **Reply #1 on:** June 13, 2009, 01:19 AM »

You could try: QNext

They have a free version with which you can do file sharing through P2P.

kartal · « **Reply #2 on:** June 13, 2009, 01:36 AM »

Shades, thanks for it. I knew this one(but it did not install properly on my xp64 before) .
The thing is that I do not want to do any registration business, this one you need to register right? I will be using ip to ip and I do not like the privacy issues that might arise due to registration. I should have mentioned in my first post.

Eóin · « **Reply #3 on:** June 13, 2009, 02:10 AM »

Well WASTE would work. Seems the fork WASTE again is active.

Shades · « **Reply #4 on:** June 13, 2009, 02:17 AM »

When taking you previous posts into account (about registration), I shouldn't have made the suggestion. Sorry about that

However, it is the only one I have some experience with.

Innuendo · « **Reply #5 on:** June 13, 2009, 02:37 AM »

Hamachi.

app103 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 13, 2009, 02:41 AM »

Why not set up something like Xerver on each PC the files are located on (non-GUI mode is light as a feather), and disable access to the port you run it on in your router so it won't be accessible from the internet?

This is how I share a lot of stuff with my daughter.

She can just visit page hosted on my PC and take what she wants or needs.

Don't let the fact it's Java based deter you with thoughts that it will be all slow and bloated.

I have been using it for a long time, and even on my old 233mhz, 64mb ram Win9x machine, in non-GUI mode, I can't even tell it's running unless someone hits me up for a file. Even then, the only reason I know is because I can hear the disk activity (old noisy hd) and I take a hit on the available bandwidth on the 33.6k dialup it's using. But while it does lag the internet connection it doesn't lag my system at all.

Since you would be using it behind a router and not on the internet with really slow dialup, it's not too likely you'd take the same kind of bandwidth hit that I do on that machine. I certainly don't on the machines I have running it and connected to the router.

kartal · « **Reply #7 on:** June 13, 2009, 03:35 AM »

Eóin, it sounds good but it did not work on my network(one of my machines is 64bit, that might be the reason)

Innuendo, Hamachi`s licence is as expensive as powerfolders also I believe it requires user registration as well.(1 year 40$ per licences, I am thinking to sync 7 computers)

app103, that method is fine if your download is static, ie just someone downloads something from you, you download stuff from them once in a while. My problem is not sharing couple files with other people. I have some many computers and some of the stuff needs to stay in sync and I cannot afford cumbersome methods(copy, delete, figure out what was updated etc) to keep things in sync. I already use http file server for small stuff but again that is not good for bidirectional stuff.

Innuendo · « **Reply #8 on:** June 13, 2009, 02:42 PM »

katal, the core engine is freeware & I think it only costs money to use if you use it with the LogMeIn service. You can always get an older version from FileHippo or OldVersions from before LogMeIn bought them out.

Lashiec · « **Reply #9 on:** June 14, 2009, 01:27 AM »

Quote from: kartal on June 13, 2009, 03:35 AM

I have some many computers and some of the stuff needs to stay in sync and I cannot afford cumbersome methods(copy, delete, figure out what was updated etc) to keep things in sync. I already use http file server for small stuff but again that is not good for bidirectional stuff.

Maybe SyncToy, then?

kartal · « **Reply #10 on:** June 14, 2009, 02:01 AM »

Lashiec, that is a local only solution. I am looking for anywhere solution not local network. I have syncback pro and does a better job than ms synctoy in my view.

Lashiec · « **Reply #11 on:** June 14, 2009, 02:05 AM »

Oh, ok, I thought it was local network only. Then, the only P2P option that I can think about is DC++, but I think it won't be of any help.

kartal · « **Reply #12 on:** June 14, 2009, 02:53 AM »

Lashiec, thanks for another suggestion. I actually tried that one as well. It ddid not work within my local network so I did not bother to try outside. Most of these apps rely on opening some ports on the router which I am hesitant mainyl because one port only could be directed to one computer at a time(forwarding and I am sure it is possible to multiple port computer tricks. I just do not want to get too complicated with this stuff. I need a flexible system. It looks like PowerFolder is way more superior to any of the systems I know of.

Innuendo · « **Reply #13 on:** June 14, 2009, 05:20 PM »

How about Allway Sync then? Free for personal use and the only limitation is being limited to syncing 40,000 files in a 30-day period. Syncs across local networks and the internet.

http://allwaysync.com/

kartal · « **Reply #14 on:** June 14, 2009, 05:23 PM »

Innuendo, I do not think that thing would let me sync files and folders over the internet

Innuendo · « **Reply #15 on:** June 14, 2009, 07:52 PM »

From the homepage, kartal:

Quote

One synchronization software provides all these solutions

* Sync data between your desktop PC and laptop (notebook).
* Replicate and back-up data between your home and office computers.
* Synchronize more than two directories.
* Update and back-up files over a local network or the Internet.

kartal · « **Reply #16 on:** June 14, 2009, 09:07 PM »

Quote from: Innuendo on June 14, 2009, 07:52 PM

From the homepage, kartal:

Quote
One synchronization software provides all these solutions

* Sync data between your desktop PC and laptop (notebook).
* Replicate and back-up data between your home and office computers.
* Synchronize more than two directories.
* Update and back-up files over a local network or the Internet.

Innuendo, you need to set up an ftp server on both sides to use this thing considering that one of my comps is a netbook, I hesitate choosing ftp server as a solution. I already use Syncback and it has superior ftp sync. Sorry I did not articulate my point enough. If I have to choose the ftp path I can always use http://www.webdrive.com/ or some other free alternatives. As I mentioned I am looking for more intuitive solution.

On the otherhand I am not sure if there is a way to encrypt the data on the ftp server or during the trasnsfer that is another reason why I do not want ftp solution.

It also offers amazon etc stuff but those would cost me more than I would pay for software solutions.

Innuendo · « **Reply #17 on:** June 14, 2009, 11:27 PM »

Even PowerFolder relies on online storage to achieve its functions. The only difference is you are using their servers instead of your own FTP server or a webDAV-type account.

It seems that in this corner of the software market the simpler and more intuitive you wish it to be the more you are going to have to pay. I've searched pretty extensively over the last couple days. What you want, with the ease of use you want, coupled with what you want to pay does not appear to exist.

kartal · « **Reply #18 on:** June 14, 2009, 11:52 PM »

Quote from: Innuendo on June 14, 2009, 11:27 PM

Even PowerFolder relies on online storage to achieve its functions. The only difference is you are using their servers instead of your own FTP server or a webDAV-type account.

It seems that in this corner of the software market the simpler and more intuitive you wish it to be the more you are going to have to pay. I've searched pretty extensively over the last couple days. What you want, with the ease of use you want, coupled with what you want to pay does not appear to exist.

Actually Powerfolder does not rely on online service to share and sync data. PF can connect to peers either on the network or over the internet. Online storage is just one of the options they offer. The powerfolder servers might get involved if the handshaking between peers has been unsuccessful. That i think works much like p2p servers which Pf wolders just provide routing of the client ip, rest is done PF client to client.

To me pay is not the real issue until certain amount. I was just looking for a free option if it exists, if it does not I will see what I can pay for.

Thank you for searches and suggestions. I was just wondering if anyone on DC forum successfully has used file sharing the way I wanted.

Eóin · « **Reply #19 on:** June 15, 2009, 12:11 AM »

You could use a distributed versioning system? Probably serious overkill, but free.

kartal · « **Reply #20 on:** June 15, 2009, 12:16 AM »

Quote from: Eóin on June 15, 2009, 12:11 AM

You could use a distributed versioning system? Probably serious overkill, but free.

Yeah I was thinking to use Tortoise(with server setup). I have not tried Git stuff, do you think it is easier to setup(server and client?)

I used tortoise for my projects before but it was only one client no server, I did use for plain file versioning and it was great.

Eóin · « **Reply #21 on:** June 15, 2009, 01:10 AM »

Since you want encryption I'd say combine msysgit, tortoisegit with an ssh server, possibly freeSSHd but I've no experience with others to claim it's best or anything, but it does work.

Sounds like a bit of a hack to combine all three but tortoisegit and msysgit go hand in hand anyway. I use them all the time and love it. freeSSHd worked flawlessly for me in past for PuTTY console and tunneling access, since git can talk over ssh directly it works fine through tortoisegit. Git as a versioning system does take some getting used to though, I found it very different from Subversion, but now feel making the change was well worth it. Still may be overkill for your purposes.

kartal · « **Reply #22 on:** June 15, 2009, 04:46 AM »

Thanks for the short tutorial, I will definetely check out.

4wd · « **Reply #23 on:** June 15, 2009, 10:51 AM »

Doesn't creating/using an SVN imply a central repository?

If that's the case, isn't it easier to use rsync?

It's included with all Linux distros, here's a Windows GUI version, (there's probably other builds available).

Transfers are encrypted and only the parts of files that have changed are transferred.

Just set up a server on your central repository and poll it with a client from the other machines.

Quote

Some features of rsync include

* can update whole directory trees and filesystems
* optionally preserves symbolic links, hard links, file ownership, permissions, devices and times
* requires no special privileges to install
* internal pipelining reduces latency for multiple files
* can use rsh, ssh or direct sockets as the transport
* supports anonymous rsync which is ideal for mirroring

I would think the last feature is the best match for what you require since syncing is equivalent to mirroring.

Innuendo · « **Reply #24 on:** June 15, 2009, 02:15 PM »

Kartal, I'd suggest the last freeware version of PowerFolder (PowerFolder Basic), but I just found out that it doesn't have the encryption features that one can only get from the commercial Pro version.