Can I synchronise files and folders from a Linux server to my Vista laptop for offline use?

Question

For a few versions now Windows has had the ability to synchronise files and folders for offline use. In the past I've always been using Windows servers however in my new place all our file and print servers are running Linux.

The old option "Make files available offline" doesn't seem to be available on these network drives. Is this my lack of familiarity with Vista (i.e. did they just move it) or is syncing files with non-Windows servers not supported?

If it's not supported as standard does anyone have any idea for a practical alternative?

Answer 1

Found in 2 seconds on Google: Using Offline Files with Samba / EMC Servers, NAS Devices

Answer 2

I'm a big fan of Dropbox. It will sync your files across computers and across OS's. Additionally, it will old on to older versions of files, should you accidentally delete a file or update things the wrong direction.

Answer 3

You could checkout rsync which is a really efficient way of keeping files in sync with eachother.

Answer 4

You may be able to use rsync to synchronise a folder on between the linux server and your PC. A quick google search gives deltacopy as a windows client.

There are several programs for syncing windows folders, too. Microsoft's SyncToy is one.

Answer 5

This might sound crude, but I prefer a Cygwin installation on the Windows machine that will execute a ssh script to archive on the Linux Server followed with a scp to get the archive copy locally. This can be extracted or archived as required.

Keeps it simple and controlled.
I can also setup local scheduling to get a backup when I want.