Gerhard Fiedler wrote:

> Adam Field wrote:
>=20
>> I use rsync for folder replication and for daily backups.=20
>>=20
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rsync=20
>>=20
>> That can get you started on the basics. There are a few windows
>> version available and it's probably already installed in any Linux
>> distro.=20
>>=20
>> It can do delta copies, as in: only copy changes. This is useful for
>> daily backups, as you can keep changes daily in case you save over
>> or change something important.
>=20
> AIUI, rsync is "semi-automatic": you need to give it a sync
> direction, or otherwise manually resolve whether a file missing in
> one location is copied to the location where it is missing or deleted
> at the location where it exists.=20
>=20
> There's also unison, which seems to be similar to rsync. I use it to
> keep backup copies in sync -- but it's always in one direction, so
> the problem doesn't arise.=20
>=20
> The Windows offline files feature needs a single "master" share, but
> it seems to be the only fully automatic bi-directional sync solution.
> I wouldn't want to expose a share to the Internet, though, but you
> could get a router with VPN built-in and run it through the VPN.

If you use a "master repository" where you never directly work on files,
a scheme with rsync or unison can work (almost) automatically. The sync
program always knows that the master copy is older than the other copy
if there is a difference (because you never change the master copy).

I said "almost" because you're sync'ing different machines, and if it
happens that you, say, edited a file on machine A, then later change it
on machine B before machine B has received the mod from machine A
(through two syncs: A to master, master to B), there is a conflict that
needs manual resolution.

I don't know about rsync, but unison is designed to detect such
situations. Depending on the use case they may be rare -- or not.

Gerhard
--=20
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