File Sync

[cash0989]

Hey all,

 

I was searching around but couldn't find much useful information on this, or maybe I am looking in the wrong place! I am trying to sync a specific folder across multiple devices. Say Computer one has a folder @ C:\Users\User\Music\Specific Folder   and computer 2 has a folder @ C:\Users\User1\Music\Specific Folder.   I am wanting both folders to sync with each other so they are always the same, but they have to stay in their current locations. Anyone have any ideas? I've been trying to use OneDrive in this way and just cannot figure it out. 

[Windows7ge]

FreeFileSync over the network (HomeGroup maybe). FreeFileSync is a little tricky to learn but once you get it it's a very nice program.

[cash0989]

Well, it would work, but I've got more than just 2 computers. I should have specified this could be over 100 different computers that need to be synced. As well, they are not all on the same LAN. 

[Windows7ge]

10 minutes ago, cash0989 said:

Well, it would work, but I've got more than just 2 computers. I should have specified this could be over 100 different computers that need to be synced. As well, they are not all on the same LAN. 

Usually in an instance like this you would have a Web or File based server that hosted all the data instead of clients all having local copies. On site clients would have SMB to connect, offsite clients would have either a Encrypted Tunnel, Encrypted Tunnel+VPN, or SFTP. This would make such synchronization no longer necessary. Alternatively there would be a client/server application where the clients would all exchange identical data from said server doing essentially what you're asking but not peer-to-peer.

 

If the clients are not always going to be on the same network I cannot say with confidence you'll find a peer-to-peer based solution. At least not without potentially jeopardizing the security of your network. Chances are you'll require a server median.

 

Other than my initial suggestion I don't know of any other way to do what you're asking. There are many more people here who may have other solutions though most usually hangout in the Networking & Server and NAS sub-forums.

 

Off the top of my head usernames are:

@brwainer, @Lurick, @beersykins, @Falconevo, @leadeater, @Jarsky, @Mikensan

 

Well there's 7 brains and I'm confident at least 3 can say if what you're trying to do is worthwhile or feasible with current software.

[leadeater]

2 hours ago, cash0989 said:

Well, it would work, but I've got more than just 2 computers. I should have specified this could be over 100 different computers that need to be synced. As well, they are not all on the same LAN. 

OneDrive might do what you want, you can configure it so all the user directories i.e. Documents are stored in OneDrive and the files are sync'd to the local computer OneDrive folder. Any computer you login to you'll see the files in the same location and you can access them immediately even if they haven't finished syncing to the local computer.

 

Dropbox does similar, likely more exactly to what you need. Would need to know more about what you need and how you expect it to function in more detail to give better advice. 

[Falconevo]

To help assist, you will need to provide some further information.

• Are you willing to spend any money on the project? (Quite Important)
• Are you expecting ALL devices to be able to delete/modify/rename content within the share?
• What device types will be syncing to the file share?  e.g all windows devices or some apple/android etc...
• What are the bandwidth capabilities of the devices connecting to the share?
• Do you require users to be able to modify/edit files at the same time?
• With 100+ users it's doubtful you are going to be in 'sync' at all times without an external high bandwidth 'master' node which seeds everyone
• Do you require encryption at rest, transit and/or both
• What access do you have to firewalls on the client/endpoint devices?
• Do you have any reservations about using cloud based systems?

If you can answer all those, it will probably shape a solution.

[brwainer]

SyncThing and ResilioSync support what you are looking for where each client can have a specific location for where it stores its local copy of the synced folder. I use ResilioSync as it was the first like this, but if I was setting up again I’d look closely at SyncThing

[LogicalDrm]

Second Resilio Sync. I have used it to sync music, videos and other files between Windows desktop, linux/windows laptops and Android phone/tablet. Free version is enough for what you are after.

[Mikensan]

With OneDrive you can create symbolic links within the onedrive folder for each folder you want to sync on the client computers.

As @leadeater pointed out, Dropbox does exactly what you're looking for without anything special.