Syncing folders/files between Win7 and OS X automatically?

[TridenT]

So I have a desktop computer (win 7) and it has a lot of my music, documents, etc. I want to have it sync with my laptop whenever I get new music. What software would sync the files between the computers nicely and is highly recommended?

 

[r0k]

I like syncback (freeware) on windows. It does a really good job of syncing two folders but it would mean sharing stuff on your mac as windows (smb) shares and running syncback on windows. Syncback is what made my transition to Mac so smooth. I had all the important folders on my Dell backed up to a network drive. I brought home my new macbook, switched off the Dell, turned on the Mac and copied everything over from the NAS drive to my new Macbook. I was fully up and running in minutes. No Apple store free transfer required.

There is quite a bit of software on Mac to do the same thing ranging from command line utilities that come with the OS to freeware like carbon copy cloner and crashplan (when backing up to anything other than crashplan's servers).

 

[TridenT]

I don't see how syncback works with a mac though?

 

[RichieZ]

dropbox.com

 

[TridenT]

dropbox.com

I don't think dropbox does 100gb+ of files very nicely on my connection...

 

[MotionMan]

I like syncback (freeware) on windows.

Does the free version of syncback give a realtime progress? I tried it today, but failed to see if where I can check if it was working and how much was left to do.

MotionMan

 

[KeithP]

Windows Live Mesh sync maybe? Although it has a 50GB per folder limit and I believe both computers have to be on at the same time for syncing to happen (never used it myself).

http://explore.live.com/windows-live-mesh-sync-p2p-using

-KeithP

 

[TridenT]

Windows Live Mesh sync maybe? Although it has a 50GB per folder limit and I believe both computers have to be on at the same time for syncing to happen (never used it myself).

http://explore.live.com/windows-live-mesh-sync-p2p-using

-KeithP

I don't mind if both need to be on (that's not a real problem) but I do need it to support unlimited amounts of file transfer. I want this to happen over my LAN, not over the internet. I want basic automatic file transfers between folders on two or more computers. This should not require very complicated software!

 

[r0k]

I don't see how syncback works with a mac though?

No. Syncback was for windows. There are other options on Mac. I use CCC and Crashplan on Mac but I'm sure there are others.

Does the free version of syncback give a realtime progress? I tried it today, but failed to see if where I can check if it was working and how much was left to do.

MotionMan

I haven't used syncback (or windows for that matter) in almost 4 years so I don't remember.

 

[TridenT]

Are we seriously taking this many posts on a serious tech forum to find adequate software to transfer files between Mac/PC automatically? In the words of the almighty GOB: "COME ON!"

 

[r0k]

Are we seriously taking this many posts on a serious tech forum to find adequate software to transfer files between Mac/PC automatically? In the words of the almighty GOB: "COME ON!"

Well there's always google, by means of which I found arrsync which is a gui for the built in command line rsync utility that ships with OS X. It turns out I have to deal with this now. I have eyefi uploading pictures from my cameras to my Mac but I have to "get around to" copying them (backing them up) to our Network Attached Storage. I'll probably download arrsync tonight and give it a try. What I'd like to do is once a day push any new photos up to the NAS drive (which is quite similar to what I used to use syncback for when I had a PC).

There is also synctwofolders freeware. I would avoid paying for anything as rsync comes with the OS (if you don't mind spending a little time in terminal) and there are a number of decent freeware options, two of which I mentioned above.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Unison

 

[TridenT]

Unison

Very complicated software from what I've tried.