Looking for Synchronization Software

[sechs]

Here's the situation:

I have two computers, I'll call A and B. Computer A is at my home and what I'll be at most of the time. Computer B is on-site; I'll use it from time to time directly, but usually will only access it remotely through Symantec pcAnywhere. Computer B is also used by other people.

I have a large amount (gigabytes) of files that need to be synchronized between the two computers. Generally, however, data will be flowing from A to B. pcAnywhere has synchronization and cloning functions which I have tried. The problem is that the connection between the computers gets dropped reasonably often, and pcAnywhere won't reconnect and resume automatically. I also cannot trigger a file transfer from A to B from B, as I won't have a possible zombie computer on my home network.

I'd prefer a cheap or free solution, but if there's something that's particularly elegant, I may be able to get the client to spring for it.

 

[MaxBurn]

Hmm, duno. I use Beyond Compare between my memory stick and computer for synchronizing in case it gets corrupted but I don't think that program will help you here. Might want to give it a shot though, it has features I don't know about in there.

 

[CityK]

Have a look at Unison

 

[Handruin]

Another tool to you may want to investigate is ViceVersa. I haven't used it, but it was given a 4 out of 5 in a magazine I read. It is at least worth a look.

 

[sechs]

Thanks for the leads thus far.

Unison shows some promise. It's interface is extremely thin, and it will be extremely visible to any users on the target computer. I fear that stupid users may close the target server, and I'd have to manually restart it. I also haven't been able to tell if Unison will automatically reconnect and resume.

ViceVersa looked like the odds-on favourite until I downloaded the demo and discovered that I couldn't synch across the Internet using an IP address.

 

[Mercutio]

xcopy /h/i/c/k/e/r/y/d

Works great and it resumes on broken connections really, really well.

 

[sechs]

xcopy doesn't seem to take an IP address as destination....

 

[Mercutio]

Actually, it does. You can use CIFS i.e. \\192.168.1.5\sechsshare

 

[Bozo]

I use xcopy at work across our network using IP addresses.

You might want to look at XXCopy. [http://www.xxcopy.com/index.htm] It's like XCopy on steroids. I use it mainly because it can be setup to only copy files that have changed. Saves time and bandwidth.

Bozo :mrgrn:

 

[Mercutio]

Er, that's what that big long list of command line arguments I rattled off a couple posts ago does, too.

 

[Buck]

Yes, that would be the /d.

 

[Buck]

Yes, that would be the /d.

 

[Bozo]

Interesting....learn something everyday

Bozo :mrgrn:

 

[LiamC]

Er, that's what that big long list of command line arguments I rattled off a couple posts ago does, too.

And I just thought you left out the ickery dock

:eekers: :mrgrn:

<for the slow>
/h/i/c/k/e/r/y/d/i/c/k/e/r/y/d/o/c/k
the mouse ran up the clock
the clock struck...

I'll take my medication now...

 

[sechs]

Actually, it does. You can use CIFS i.e. \\192.168.1.5\sechsshare

I think that I'm missing where the actual synchronization comes in.

 

[Fushigi]

In theory you'd do something like:

C:
CD\
CD Z:\Backup where Z: is your network drive
XCopy *.* Z: /h/i/c/k/e/r/y/d

And it'll only grab the new/changed files/directories.

But I tried this last night and I got numerous "Sharing Violation" messages for files that Windows had open (no apps open at the time) and eventually got an "Insufficient memory" error and the XCopy would die. My guess is that there's an error counter and the sharing violations trigger it. Hit a threshold and the insuf mem error happens and it aborts.

So I'm trying to do more granular backups - C:\Windows, C:\Program Files, and C:\Documents and Settings - but the problem persists.