74

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. Also, if files/folder are added or removed in the local folder, the exact same changes have to be made on 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?

7
  • Related question: superuser.com/questions/48782/…
    – Gnoupi
    Mar 29, 2010 at 9:34
  • @Gnoupi yes but I would like the synchronization to occur in real time
    – bobo
    Apr 3, 2010 at 23:21
  • Yes, I know, I was only adding this as a "related" one, it's not a duplicate.
    – Gnoupi
    Apr 4, 2010 at 16:39
  • 4
    can admin unclose this please, this was the first post i found in google, not the duplicate. which means this question drives more traffic to superuser.com not the original question. Aug 21, 2017 at 13:57
  • 1
    WILL YOU PLEASE STOP CLOSING TOPICS? Mar 9, 2018 at 15:47

13 Answers 13

47

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.

1
  • Nice feature, but unfortunately it only runs in the foreground (minimized). It would be nice to have it sync without needing to start the program Jan 30, 2019 at 8:47
37

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!

10
  • 2
    I found AutoVer, i have added it as an answer to the question in hand.
    – t.mikael.d
    Jun 8, 2012 at 11:10
  • 1
    Wow I think you've found a winner! After a small bug in setting up a new sync job (FTP invalid error - had to start afresh and add the FTP server details before going back and configuring the rest of the job), it seems pretty smooth and fast! I'll keep testing...it's much faster than goodsync, and seems to have JUST the feature set that I'm after.
    – user78017
    Jun 8, 2012 at 16:07
  • 1
    ah man that's SO annoying - it really does that? if i find it happens to me too (does run as admin/trying exe compatability options/whole app folder/appdata permission tweaks improve things?), I guess I'll have to go back to goodsync for now - unless one can write a simple batch to re-write config files with ftp info upon win login (ah i spose password is not plain text? i'm no expert)...I'm sick of latching on to developers requesting features and pestering to fix bugs! (you can have great success sometimes though! if they're small and nice and...you're lucky!) i starred the duplicati issue.
    – user78017
    Jun 8, 2012 at 23:36
  • 2
    You can also try my free open-source project, IQBox FTP. It's designed to be simple and sync over FTP-SSL by default: iqstorage.com/iqbox.php Oct 20, 2013 at 10:22
  • 1
    Extra kudos for GoodSync. It's fantastic and Every dev should have it!
    – Yousof K.
    Jun 25, 2016 at 21:45
6

AutoVer does what you ask and is free.

It will copy to FTP/USB/Disk when files change and supports many other features.

http://www.beanland.net.au/autover/

2
  • 1
    AutoVer's forum mentions also DSynchronize as a simple alternative
    – xmojmr
    Mar 29, 2015 at 17:11
  • This is the best solution. I use it to synchronize my dev environement with my staging environement, it copies DLLs right after a build. The code is now hosted on GitHub : github.com/hunterbeanland/AutoVer
    – Sébastien
    May 18, 2017 at 8:56
6

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.

1
5

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.

1
  • I tested Netdrive and its super slow. Displaying a folder with 4 jpegs takes 10 - 20 seconds. Netdrive seems to work directly on the FTP server without any caching. If you connect the same server some days later it will load everything again altough nothing has changed on the server.
    – mgutt
    Apr 1, 2020 at 11:21
3

It seems like Super Flexible File Synchronizer can do this.

4
  • I tried but it can't do it in real time.
    – bobo
    Mar 23, 2010 at 14:32
  • 1
    @bobo: It has a scheduler, you could tell it to check every x minutes?
    – Phoshi
    Mar 23, 2010 at 15:58
  • 1
    According to this, it has: superflexible.com/realtime.htm
    – CGA
    Mar 23, 2010 at 21:07
  • 1
    It's not free (dropbox is).
    – Mick
    Mar 25, 2010 at 8:14
3

http://ftpbox.org/

Late to the party! But this works great for me. And is free.

2

Try out GoodSync. It is free for three sync folders and is compatible with FTP, SFTP, and many cloud sync options.

2

I'm a programmer for the open-source IQBox FTP project: https://code.google.com/p/iqbox-ftp/

It syncs FTP in real-time (although it scans the FTP server as FTP servers don't support real-time notifications) and has an optional command-line tool for automation. There's a download for Windows. Also, the Python code works on Windows, Mac or Linux.

1

Total Commander has built-in functionality for FTP and synchronization. Just download and install it, connect to the FTP folder in the left pane, open local folder on the right, and choose Commands -> Synchronize Dirs.

0

Did you try FTP Synchronizer? It's designed for ftp file sync. It doesn't support real time sync, but you can let it sync files every few minutes.

1
  • MWB quarantines it is as malware.
    – user1212070
    Aug 23, 2020 at 21:52
-3

Dropbox seems to do this.

3
  • 11
    Dropbox works with their servers, not any FTP.
    – Gnoupi
    Mar 29, 2010 at 9:40
  • 2
    Correct. The OP asked how to do it "without the need to open a separate FTP client".
    – JRobert
    Mar 29, 2010 at 13:50
  • 2
    The title says "sync with remote ftp folder"... and the question is tagged ftp... those are signs that the question is about FTP sync specifically.
    – rustyx
    May 3, 2020 at 15:25
-5

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.

5
  • 6
    Dropbox works with their servers, not any FTP. Also, check other answers before posting yours, to avoid duplicates.
    – Gnoupi
    Mar 29, 2010 at 9:41
  • @gnoupi: I knew about the other answer, but it gave too little information IMHO.
    – Mick
    Mar 30, 2010 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, 2010 at 11:11
  • @gnoupi: In what way doesn't it "match for the question"? It looks a perfect match to me.
    – Mick
    Mar 30, 2010 at 16:24
  • 5
    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, 2010 at 16:29

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