What is the good Backup/Syncing program for PC *and* Mac?

[asuh]

I own both a Mac and PC. Most of my personal files are on my PC desktop since that's where I first started. And, my desktop can hold much more data than my laptop at the moment. I also trust that 3.5" drives are less likely to go under since my laptop drive moves around quite a bit and is much more likely to go bad and/or get scratches. Besides, I enjoy using both OS X and Windows 7. So that's not the issue here!

I'd like to use a program that's similar in nature to Mozy/Carbonite that backs up all my data to an external server. However, It'd be preferable if I could sync this data to my Mac and allow the Mac to backup to the same source for the same files!

Dropbox is almost this, but they only have a max of 100GB and it's $20/month. I haven't seen any other backup solutions which can support more than one computer either.

Bonus functionality would allow me to play my iTunes library remotely from any computer from backup source, although I know that's wishful thinking without paying for bandwidth too, dang it!

 

[Leros]

Windows Live Sync acts like Mozy but between your own personal computers. Runs on Windows and Mac. It can sync your computers automatically, even over the internet.

My setup:
I use Windows Live Sync to keep all of my computers in sync. Then I use Mozy to backup the files from one of my computers.

 

[Tbirdkid]

Im not sure if this will do what you want, but Adrive gives you 50 gigs free...

 

[asuh]

Leros, that solution MIGHT work. Does it sync everything online or is it smart enough to sync through the local network? I'd love to find something that is smart enough to detect the difference. That's probably pie in the sky wishes though!

Sounds like a good solution. I did try Windows Live Sync a few years ago but it was buggy and I don't think I could sync over a certain amount of data. Even the online cap is, what, 25GB for free? I don't remember.

 

[Leros]

Leros, that solution MIGHT work. Does it sync everything online or is it smart enough to sync through the local network? I'd love to find something that is smart enough to detect the difference. That's probably pie in the sky wishes though!

Sounds like a good solution. I did try Windows Live Sync a few years ago but it was buggy and I don't think I could sync over a certain amount of data. Even the online cap is, what, 25GB for free? I don't remember.

Windows Live Sync will sync over the LAN if you're on it. If you're not, it will sync over the internet.

It has no data cap since you're syncing between your own computers.

They have Live Mesh with is basically the same thing as Live Sync, but it also uploads to their servers. I think you get 5GB free.

It's been stable for me. About once a month I get a problem when I compile code into one of my sync. It works 99.9% of the time, but sometimes it doesn't know which version to save and it asks to ask. Other than that, its worked pretty flawless for me.

 

[asuh]

Windows Live Sync will sync over the LAN if you're on it. If you're not, it will sync over the internet.

How does it know the difference? Do I have to mess with Proxy settings at all for this?

They have Live Mesh with is basically the same thing as Live Sync, but it also uploads to their servers. I think you get 5GB free.

Ah yes, that's what I used and it worked but it was too buggy for me. Maybe it's improved in the last 2 years.

I'll try to give this a whirl and see if this solution works for me. Sounds promising so far.

 

[Leros]

How does it know the difference? Do I have to mess with Proxy settings at all for this?

Its all automagic. You don't have to do anything.

 

[asuh]

Damn, Leros, I'm just now seeing a limitation in Sync that's not good. It says there's a max of 20,000 files per folder that can be sync'ed. That's too bad because my photography folder alone has over 40,000 photos! Otherwise, I've been liking this whole thing so far. I wish there was a solution which didn't have this cap.