Keeping files in Sync across multiple machines

[RandBlade]

I used to use Windows Live Sync which became Windows Live Mesh which would keep designated folders in sync across my machines and Skydrive (which I'm not too interested in). However Microsoft have closed that down to just concentrate on Skydrive and I'm not so interested in that. What I want is my files to be kept automatically in sync across my computers and accessible offline as well as online. I'm not sure if Skydrive etc are accessible while offline. Maybe it is, I've not used it since Mesh closed down as I was just using my Laptop but now I've got another PC I want to use.

Is there any software whether Skydrive itself or any other alternative that anyone can recommend?

My key objectives:
Works autonomously (automatically does it when online)
Works offline
Compatible with both Windows 7 & 8

As a tertiary concern, that the files are accessible with an iPad would be neat but is not a required feature.

[Aimless]

If you don't mind using specific folders and mostly want to sync files then Dropbox and Google Drive are both very simple and effective cross-platform solutions. Is there anything in particular about your usage that would make those alternatives less than ideal?

[Dreadnaught]

I've been using Google Drive for very similar purposes and it's been very effective.

The main beef is the initial upload of all your files can be a bit slow -- but once that's done it's quite nice and functional.

[RandBlade]

I want to be able to select where the folders are and integrate it basically with generic Windows Explorer usage. Can Google Drive do that?

I.e. be able to create and modify files and folders from Windows Explorer, Word, Excel etc and not worry about the software that is doing the legwork behind the scenes.

[Aimless]

I want to be able to select where the folders are and integrate it basically with generic Windows Explorer usage. Can Google Drive do that?

I.e. be able to create and modify files and folders from Windows Explorer, Word, Excel etc and not worry about the software that is doing the legwork behind the scenes.

The only limitation is that you have to have all files and folders that you want to sync within a single überfolder. That folder looks and behaves just like any other folder in Explorer!

Both are free for basic use so I suggest you install one or both and check them out, easier to understand them that way. I feel dropbox is a summat better experience in some ways but I like how well Google Drive is integrated with all other Google services. It's also cheaper which is why I opted for a premium plan with them

[Aimless]

http://www.evernote.com/shard/s3/sh/...ff4a01043a6ebf

[Khendraja'aro]

Skydrive also does the same thing as Dropbox. You just have to mark folders als "Available offline" if you indeed want to access them while being just that.

Other than that, it's the same deal as Box, Dropbox and the various other programs available.

(By the way, before someone comes bitching about "Why do I have to mark them as 'available' first?" - it's actually a pretty clever thing to do. I'm also using Dropbox which, due to a recent purchase of a camera, has a maximum capacity of 50GB. Now, please imagine what would happen if I actually used all that space while also syncing automatically to my Laptop who only has a 128GiB SDD...)

[Aimless]

Don't worry, Dropbox has a "selective sync" feature

[Khendraja'aro]

Where? It's not really a feature if it's hidden so well it might as well be non-existant.

Not to mention that this is not the same. It disables sync completely which is actually the opposite of what Skydrive does.

With Skydrive, everything is in sync and only the stuff I explicitly selected will also be downloaded automatically, rather than on demand as the rest.

With your "feature" I simply remove folders from syncing. That's not very useful as then I don't really have access to those folders' contents on my other computers. Which means that in turn I shouldn't have bothered to upload the stuff to Dropbox in the first place.

[Aimless]

It's in the settings under the "advanced" tab. I suspect this is because Dropbox doesn't actually want you to be that selective, nor do most Dropbox users feel they need it. If you like you can, on computers with smaller hard-drives, choose to not sync some folders. I use the feeature mostly to avoid syncing a folder full of lectures and vidcasts Naturally there are advantages to skydrive's approach, I just haven't really fallen for skydrive

[Aimless]

Actually, now that I think about it, skydrive in its current incarnation may be just what you're looking for RB. It seems to have come a long way since last I gave it a shot!

[littlelolligagged]

I like sugarsync

[RandBlade]

The only limitation is that you have to have all files and folders that you want to sync within a single überfolder. That folder looks and behaves just like any other folder in Explorer!

That's one thing that irritates me! With Mesh I could choose a folder on my desktop, a folder in My Documents, a folder on another HDD etc and it would sync those. Not make me remake my entire file and folder structure to put them in the same damn folder.

[Illusions]

GoodSync. I use it to keep files in sync between my Windows 7 PC and my OSX Mac Laptop. Just a disclaimer though that I use a Synology NAS as an in between for the storage, so how it works is both the Mac and PC check the NAS as a network drive, and sync with that. It will sync or not sync whatever you tell it to.

I've been running it for about a year now, only major issues being with how the operating systems treat it. On the PC end its worked flawlessly. On the Mac end I've had issues where it would stop working because it found a new version, and be stuck with an invisible window waiting for input from me as to whether or not it should update simply because it was running in tray mode (fixed by simply turning off checking for updates). Then there is also the fact that the Mac can hibernate while programs are running, like GoodSync, which is a problem because GoodSync on another computer will not sync a file that is currently marked as being synced by another system. Then there is the fact that it interprets significant differences differently than the PC version. Lets say you had a folder that had a gig of data in it, and suddenly its 10 MB, you'd want it to check with you before syncing right? But if its 10 MB to a gig, you don't really care, you can always delete the files later. The PC version sees a difference in these two scenarios, the Mac version does not, which means after rendering something, or creating a rather large file, I sometimes find the Mac has not synced because its waiting on me to give it the go ahead.

Otherwise I recommend it.

Also you can use it to sync to Drive or SkyDrive if you want too.

[Wraith]

Skydrive will allow offline access of your files. By default it's online only, but if you right click on your skydrive folder and select "make available offline", then it'll store a copy of everything on your skydrive locally and automatically sync whenever you connect to the internet. You can also do this for only select objects if you don't want to sync everything.

edit: Oh, Khen already covered this.

[Khendraja'aro]

That's one thing that irritates me! With Mesh I could choose a folder on my desktop, a folder in My Documents, a folder on another HDD etc and it would sync those. Not make me remake my entire file and folder structure to put them in the same damn folder.

You can do that via Symlinks. Should work for other services, too, but with Skydrive it would look like this:

Open command console or Powershell.

mklink /d “%userprofile%\SkyDrive\TARGET” SOURCEDIR

Replace TARGET with the name the folder should have in Skydrive (e.g. "Music"). Replace SOURCEDIR with the address of the already existing folder (e.g. "C:\Music")

And you're done. Granted, it's a bit more involved but this way you can keep your existing folder structure and have them synced at the same time.

[RandBlade]

Now that makes me happy. So I could have an empty Skydrive folder and essentially just populate it with links to whichever master folders I want sharing?

Only other advantage Mesh had over Skydrive that I know of by allowing you to choose what you shared and allowing multiple choices was that you could selectively share different things with different machines. Eg I could sync work files between my Laptop to Work PC, my photos etc with Amanda's Laptop and backup everything onto my home PC.

[Illusions]

You keep mentioning things Mesh can do, and I mentioned GoodSync which can do those things. And GoodSync can sync to SkyDrive.

[Khendraja'aro]

You probably didn't shout loud enough.

[RandBlade]

You keep mentioning things Mesh can do, and I mentioned GoodSync which can do those things. And GoodSync can sync to SkyDrive.

You also threw in loads of caveats and concerns.

[Illusions]

You also threw in loads of caveats and concerns.

Keeping it honest and informative.

[RandBlade]

Keeping it honest and informative.

Yes but that's why I responded to Khen's suggestion of an evolution of what I had been using with a fix rather than the one you suggested with half a dozen extra caveats and concerns. It wasn't personal.

So can either Goodsync or Skydrive do the above of selective sharing (rather than an entire master folder) and is Goodsync free to use or premium? I've never heard of it before.

[Khendraja'aro]

Well, by using the "Make available offline" you can indeed selectively sync. In the sense that everyone still has access to those files but only the folders and files you selected are automatically downloaded - the "Make available offline" setting is machine specific.

Unless you're talking about sharing files with other users.

[Illusions]

So can either Goodsync or Skydrive do the above of selective sharing (rather than an entire master folder) and is Goodsync free to use or premium? I've never heard of it before.

GoodSync does selective sharing. Logically files are available offline, the original never leaves your computer, but whatever you are syncing needs a connection with what it is syncing to to update file/folder changes. The free version of GoodSync is limited to 3 jobs, 1000 files, and I think is a bit more restrictive on the rules. A job is essentially a set of rules and its corresponding set of folders. For a better idea of rules, they are things like sync at startup/shutdown, re-analyze on folder change, re-analyze and sync every x amount of time, don't sync files ending in .zip, don't sync folders named X (with wildcard support), etc (you can make it pretty involved if you want). GoodSync Pro which is about $40 USD per computer, but doesn't have any job or file number limitations.

The only thing I can't tell you about is direct computer to computer syncing, or a 3rd party online service since I use a NAS as an in between. You could potentially set it up with an external hard drive or flash drive as the in between (one of the rules I believe is on drive connect), or have it sync to SkyDrive. I also don't know if it does things like WinRAR does where it will suggest you upgrade as I purchased the Pro version before the trial expired.