Re: FN-FORUM: Laptop sychronisation

date posted 25th January 2008 13:27

> ***
> I'm fed up with trying to use MS Briefcase to sync between my office
> desktop and my laptop ~ the syncs need a lot of nursing to even get a
> partial sync done, and managing the process includes all the usual
> delights from microsoft.
>
> Have you any experience or recommendation for alternative software?
> ****

If they're resonably technically-minded, or can find someone who is to set
it up, Unison (http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/) is by far the
best (and free) solution I've found. It works using an rsync-like method
but is properly two-directional. It runs on almost any platform you can
name, so you can sync between windows and linux, for example. It has a
powerful and flexible configuration system, so takes a little time to get
it doing what you want. Command line, but has a GTK+ GUI for windows.
Binaries for Windows and Mac from
http://alan.petitepomme.net/projets/unison/index.html

FWIW, avoid Microsoft's SyncToy for anything more than a few files: I
found that it regularly failed to copy across some files, seemingly at
random, and it's _very_ slow.

If anyone would like tips on using Unison, I'd be happy to share. I now
use it extensively to sync my laptop and desktop documents, including my
massive Opera e-mail directory tree - I run Unison in server mode on the
laptop, so both machines inspect their own files on their own disks in
parallel, leading to a doubling in speed compared to non-server mode.

Cheers!

Anthony
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