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I know it has been asked before, but I would like it to happen in real time and transparently (without the need to open a separate FTP client such as FileZilla).

For example, if I edit a text file in the local folder and then save it, it should immediately detect it and push the changes to the remote folder.

It can be unidirectional (changes made on the local folder has to be pushed to the remote folder but the reverse is not necessary).

It would be great if it allows us to specify some excluded files/folders which do not need to be in sync.

Is there such an application that you know of?

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80% accept rate
Related question: superuser.com/questions/48782/… – Gnoupi Mar 29 '10 at 9:34
@Gnoupi yes but I would like the synchronization to occur in real time – bobo Apr 3 '10 at 23:21
Yes, I know, I was only adding this as a "related" one, it's not a duplicate. – Gnoupi Apr 4 '10 at 16:39
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8 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

WinSCP can do exactly what you want with it's Synchronize feature. The only problem is that it will occasionally miss an update and you'll have to stop the monitoring and restart it (which forces a full sync). I've only ever noticed this when I'm doing lots of saves to the same file over short time intervals though.

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up vote 4 down vote

SugarSync is a competitor for DropBox. It lets you select the folders you want to sync, rather than just using a special folder under My Documents. Either one is free for up to 2GB storage.

If you're trying to use your own FTP server, I think the free (abandonware) NetDrive plus Cobian Backup is your answer. Cobian will let you schedule the backup periodically.

If you don't mind paying for a backup scheduler, my favorite is Second Copy, which will let you backup files whenever they change.

Both Cobian and SecondCopy work directly with FTP servers, but I've found them to have issues with large filesets over FTP.

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up vote 1 down vote

It seems like Super Flexible File Synchronizer can do this.

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I tried but it can't do it in real time. – bobo Mar 23 '10 at 14:32
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@bobo: It has a scheduler, you could tell it to check every x minutes? – Phoshi Mar 23 '10 at 15:58
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According to this, it has: superflexible.com/realtime.htm – CGA Mar 23 '10 at 21:07
It's not free (dropbox is). – Mick Mar 25 '10 at 8:14
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up vote 1 down vote

Dropbox seems to do this.

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Dropbox works with their servers, not any FTP. – Gnoupi Mar 29 '10 at 9:40
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Correct. The OP asked how to do it "without the need to open a separate FTP client". – JRobert Mar 29 '10 at 13:50
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up vote 1 down vote

Net drive www.netdrive.net

will mount your ftp servers as a separate drive on your computer. Then you can just use any free file sync service to move your files from one folder to another.

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up vote 1 down vote

Have any of you guys tried "Windows Live Sync"! I have just tried it a couple of days now and still testing it with a small number of files. It seems to be doing a good job in keeping files sync between two PCs remotely and it is a snap to install and configure. I have not found any limitations yet on the number of files or size so far.

I am not also sure about the security of the system...

I would love to hear your comments if you guys have had any feedback on this.

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Super User is not a discussion board. It solves problems with answers and isn't a place for general feedback and thoughts. – random♦ Mar 29 '10 at 9:40
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@random - it's only the last sentence that's the problem though. – ChrisF Mar 29 '10 at 9:45
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Agreed. This answer could be better reposted as an actual question if it was dropped. @chr – random♦ Mar 29 '10 at 9:48
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up vote 1 down vote

This took me a good half a day of endless testing - here's my findings: these days there's some beautiful automatic real-time FTP<->PC dropbox-like sync apps, which really are a dream to use. Well, almost. Only ONE truly can be considered (at this point in time): and it's GoodSync. It's consistently reliable and fast and smooth (enough). Other solutions have either deal-breaking bugs or glitches, or feature lackings.

There is a GREAT one called Fling - it's PERFECT - in EVERY WAY!!!! - except, oh, hmm, it doesn't update the ftp server when you DELETE files. it can only add, or modify....it's really an uploading tool, that one. unless someone asks them to add the lacking feature to the app.

And then FTPBox is the other mentionable, but after 10 minutes of trying it out, it's a no-go: it was jittery in its constant 'file x was uploaded' notifications when those certain files didn't even need to be re-synced, and while even updating a file from the local pc, it seemed to then override it with the penultimate version from on the server!!

So it's GoodSync, people, tried and tested.

Eventually, the golden daddy of them all looks to be SyncAny, but it's not out yet. Spose it's worth waiting for that one!

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up vote 0 down vote

Dropbox is your answer. Works on PC's, Mac's Linux and iPhone. You can have 2GB for free and there are option to pay if you need more memory. I've been using it for the past few months and now I couldn't live without it.

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Dropbox works with their servers, not any FTP. Also, check other answers before posting yours, to avoid duplicates. – Gnoupi Mar 29 '10 at 9:41
@gnoupi: I knew about the other answer, but it gave too little information IMHO. – Mick Mar 30 '10 at 10:04
Before having the reputation to edit posts, you can add details also under another answer. I agree that it lacked information, but it was posted an hour earlier. It also doesn't really match for the question, so. – Gnoupi Mar 30 '10 at 11:11
@gnoupi: In what way doesn't it "match for the question"? It looks a perfect match to me. – Mick Mar 30 '10 at 16:24
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in the way that from the question, it seems that the OP wants a solution to sync with his own FTP, and as such, Dropbox doesn't match. It is matching in the general "sync your files between computers", but there are other questions more dedicated to that. – Gnoupi Mar 30 '10 at 16:29
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