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up vote 22 down vote favorite
6

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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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
seems like FileZilla can almost do it. might be enough for some people: smallbusiness.chron.com/synchronize-filezilla-47982.html – Cawas May 17 at 22:51

13 Answers

up vote 15 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 9 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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Tried with goodsync, i only wanted to sync changed files. Instead i waited 5 hours for it to sync 4000 files and i found no way to skip a complete sync. – t.mikael.d Jun 6 '12 at 18:57
that is true. I think it does a complete sync every time, EVEN though it scans and only finds say one changed file! very annoying. i only use it for relatively simple websites of mine and I don't suffer from this issue, but again I haven't seen anything still as good or smooth, and SyncAny is still not out yet. Any more ideas? – foregon Jun 7 '12 at 12:25
1  
I found AutoVer, i have added it as an answer to the question in hand. – t.mikael.d Jun 8 '12 at 11:10
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. – foregon Jun 8 '12 at 16:07
Same here, i currently have a bug where the FTP passwords on all sites get reset every time i close the app, go into sleep mode or restart the computer. I also found this tool: duplicati.com it have more features, have a better GUI but it does not yet have real-time upload. I'm trying to get them to add the feature, it's in the to-do list here: code.google.com/p/duplicati/issues/detail?id=60 if you could star it and add a request we may get a better tool and cross-platform too. – t.mikael.d Jun 8 '12 at 18:22
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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
1  
@bobo: It has a scheduler, you could tell it to check every x minutes? – Phoshi Mar 23 '10 at 15:58
1  
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
up vote 1 down vote

Dropbox seems to do this.

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3  
Dropbox works with their servers, not any FTP. – Gnoupi Mar 29 '10 at 9:40
1  
Correct. The OP asked how to do it "without the need to open a separate FTP client". – JRobert Mar 29 '10 at 13:50
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

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/

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up vote 1 down vote

Try FTPSync. It has built in scheduler and runs as Windows service.

enter image description here

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up vote 1 down vote

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

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up vote 0 down vote

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.

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up vote 0 down vote

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.

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up vote 0 down vote

http://ftpbox.org/

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

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up vote -1 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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2  
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
1  
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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