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AeroFS - File Sync Without Servers

aerofs.com

11–20 of 123 posts

Re: AeroFS - File Sync Without Servers

#11
post #2

This looks very interesting, but the it's a bit difficult to figure out what it actually is from the website. My impression is that it's like a more featureful take on Unison ("two-way rsync" iirc) with a central server to facilitate NAT traversal. I suppose they probably haven't figured out their eventual pricing model, but I'd certainly pay a few bucks a month just for coordinating NAT traversal, papering over dyna…

I also don't understand from the website if this is a real filesystem (mounts in the namespace of the OS, works with any program etc) or o userspace utility, something like an explorer/finder plugin.

Can anyone shed some light on that? Thanks.

Re: AeroFS - File Sync Without Servers

#12
It definitely looks cool. I assume when the cloud backup option is avaiailable you can choose what to back up? Can you choose which folders are synched on a folder-by-folder basis (since I don't need my 500GB photo library on my mac laptop, but I do want it on y desktops)? Hopefully there is a version that works on Windows Server 2008/2011? This would kick butt on the mac app store. Invite requested...

Re: AeroFS - File Sync Without Servers

#13
post #9

Theory is great, BUT if it isn't storing anything, then at least one device/computer with an up-to-date version of the folder must be online at all times. Is that correct? If not how does it sync without storing the data remotely?

You sync only when both sides are up.

See that seems like a bit of a downside to me, I like being able to pull down things from my Sparkleshare server onto my laptop when I'm out, but I don't have my computer on all the time (Infact, most of the time, when my laptop is on my computer is off and vice-versa). I still think it's a great idea but having some cloud storage is a definate plus.

Re: AeroFS - File Sync Without Servers

#14
I was using this for awhile but the sync algorithm is retarded. It spent all of its time syncing gigs of meta data and saturating my upload rate. Also be prepared to make room for the 100mb+ process as it does not seem to care about memory efficiency.

I guess I'm still stuck with rsync and cronjobs until they work out the issues.

Re: AeroFS - File Sync Without Servers

#16
post #3

Beautiful homepage but there is an extra word in the paragraph "Unlimited Storage": "AeroFS lets you can sync all the data" Also I don't fully understand the product from just the first page. Who is your target audience?

The "unlimited storage" thing threw me. If I understand it correctly, it's limited by the free storage I have to use.

"Your computer quite possibly has hundreds of gigabytes of space..." actually, no. Yes, I have a desktop with hundreds of GB free, but my laptop fights with me every day to keep 10-20 GB free. In that case, I think a network file share makes more sense.

Aside from the confusion marketing, I like it. Definitely looks like a potentially nice, secure Dropbox replacement.

Re: AeroFS - File Sync Without Servers

#17

It definitely looks cool. I assume when the cloud backup option is avaiailable you can choose what to back up? Can you choose which folders are synched on a folder-by-folder basis (since I don't need my 500GB photo library on my mac laptop, but I do want it on y desktops)? Hopefully there is a version that works on Windows Server 2008/2011? This would kick butt on the mac app store. Invite requested...

I'm running this on a Windows Server 2008 (among other things) and it works fine. (update: invites are gone)

Re: AeroFS - File Sync Without Servers

#19
post #7

I've been using the beta for several months now and it has worked great across a variety of Windows and Mac machines. For things like music and photos where I have 40+GB of accumulated bits it feels a better option than a straight cloud based system like DropBox or JungleDisk (which I also use, but for a smaller amount of stuff). I have a number of machines with many GB of spare disk space, so rather than paying mont…

>Since machines on the local network sync at LAN speeds it is also very fast in the usual case.

On a LAN, I don't really see the advantages over something like FreeFileSync, which is GPL'd.

Over the 'net, locating the machine and performing NAT traversal can be useful, though, especially for people behind ISP NAT.

Re: AeroFS - File Sync Without Servers

#20
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sync only when both sides are up.

See that seems like a bit of a downside to me, I like being able to pull down things from my Sparkleshare server onto my laptop when I'm out, but I don't have my computer on all the time (Infact, most of the time, when my laptop is on my computer is off and vice-versa). I still think it's a great idea but having some cloud storage is a definate plus.

Seems like you could use a decent router with USB storage support ;)
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