Syncing files between OS X and a server

Question

Dropbox is pretty handy, but I want to accomplish a similar thing on a larger scale - syncing my local files across computers and on a server. I already have a big fat research server with a big drive available via SFTP (also it's useful to have my files available on the server). There must be a program to keep directories in sync with a server that just works.

1. OS X support
2. Minimal CPU/memory usage (My MacBook Pro is kindof sluggish as is)
3. Don't need admin access on the server
4. minimal setup time/cost

Answer 1

You can use the Unix utility called rsync.

For synchronizing a folder to your remote host, use a simple command like:

rsync local-folder user@remote-machine:/remote/folder/

The local-folder will be created in /remote/folder.

---

rsync has several options you will probably want to use (see the manual for more details):

• -a enables archive mode
• -v enables more verbose output
• -n enables a "dry run", i.e. a fake backup
• --delete will delete everything on the remote host that doesn't exist locally anymore (use with caution)