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FreeFileSync: Open-Source File Synchronization and Backup

freefilesync.org

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Re: FreeFileSync: Open-Source File Synchronization and Backup

#61

Post by nsonha »

orev wrote: post #17
ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #15

The killer feature of this over rsync or rclone (which I love and use almost daily) is pre-run inspection and conflict resolution for each individual file. You know when you need it, and when you do, FreeFileSync shines. For those mentioning WSL enabling using rsync on Windows: have been using it with Cygwin for years, zero issues. So, WSL wasn't a hard requirement.

I can also recommend Cygwin, and I really don’t understand why so many people seem to have either completely overlooked it, or outright dislike it. It’s so much better than having to keep a full blown WSL “VM”/container just to get access to basic tools.

I think WSL1 sound like it's better than cygwin because it's native and made by MS. I also preferred babun and cmder for occasional scripting/dev needs (the Windows machine is only for entertainment to me), but WSL has an upper hand for easier integration with VSCode, Docker and other tools

Re: FreeFileSync: Open-Source File Synchronization and Backup

#62

Post by jbc1 »

I looked at a fair amount of sync and backup tools for macOS a little while ago including this one and couldn’t find any that copied to an external drive on connection. Only on a schedule.

Does anyone know if this is a technical limitation? It seemed like such a core thing to me but it just kept coming up missing.

Re: FreeFileSync: Open-Source File Synchronization and Backup

#63

Post by patmorgan23 »

willis936 wrote: post #52
huhtenberg wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's very fast too This is due to parallel (threaded) copying, which is a paid-for feature in recent versions. If you need fast copying, "robocopy" comes bundled with Windows and it has /mt option that allows spawning multiple copying threads. This is as fast as gets, beating even this tool with ease.

Robocopy uses /mt 8 by default.

/MT defaults to 8 threads (can be between 2 and 128 threads) but /MT is not on by default.

Re: FreeFileSync: Open-Source File Synchronization and Backup

#64

Post by krastanov »

ktm5j wrote: post #56
nerdponx wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a hard pass from me. I will keep using Seafile and supporting FOSS by paying for hosting.

I've been through tons of different file sync/backup solutions but once I landed on seafile I haven't looked back. Truly awesome software, does one thing really well, upgrades are a breeze, I can run it in a container that bind mounts zfs volumes for storage and MySQL database so I can even snapshot those. Love it!

Have you tried synching? It is what I currently use and I would be grateful if you can share your insight on how they compare.

Re: FreeFileSync: Open-Source File Synchronization and Backup

#65

Post by Dylan16807 »

eps wrote: post #7

There is apparently also a "Donation Edition" - Everyone who donates is eligible to download a special version of FreeFileSync without any advertisements, including a few of bonus features. It is built from a different source, so it's neither free or open source. Not that anything wrong with it, but it should probably not be distributed under the same name - https://freefilesync.org/faq.php#donation-edition

Last I checked, it looked like the difference was entirely in the installer, with the program just checking for a registration file at run time. Has that changed? Was my assessment wrong?

Re: FreeFileSync: Open-Source File Synchronization and Backup

#66

Post by Dylan16807 »

canistel wrote: post #46
ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #15

The killer feature of this over rsync or rclone (which I love and use almost daily) is pre-run inspection and conflict resolution for each individual file. You know when you need it, and when you do, FreeFileSync shines. For those mentioning WSL enabling using rsync on Windows: have been using it with Cygwin for years, zero issues. So, WSL wasn't a hard requirement.

You can use the --dry-run option in rsync, with which you can do a pre-run inspection.

That's only a fraction of it. This is an interactive tree view of all the files and all the pending transfers, with the ability to exclude or change sync settings on specific selections or directories, either temporarily or permanently into a saved configuration. It's extremely convenient, and a place where a GUI really matters.

Re: FreeFileSync: Open-Source File Synchronization and Backup

#68

Post by jiggunjer »

orev wrote: post #24

For anyone mentioning rsync, I would assert that rsync is very poorly named, and has polluted the ‘sync’ namespace with a meaning outside of what most people understand synchronization to be. Outside of rsync, the ‘sync’ term almost invariably refers to bi-directional synchronization, with data going between both systems, so when the process is complete, both sides match. Rsync does not do this—it sends files one way…

I think Google sync allowed a type of mirror mode too.

Personally I just call both types sync, and remember it can be bidirectional or unidirectional.

Re: FreeFileSync: Open-Source File Synchronization and Backup

#69

Post by justinclift »

chaosite wrote: post #40
eps wrote: post #7

There is apparently also a "Donation Edition" - Everyone who donates is eligible to download a special version of FreeFileSync without any advertisements, including a few of bonus features. It is built from a different source, so it's neither free or open source. Not that anything wrong with it, but it should probably not be distributed under the same name - https://freefilesync.org/faq.php#donation-edition

This project is kinda wonky from a free/open-source perspective. It's ostensibly licensed under GPL-3 (i.e., there's a source zip which has a License.txt that's GPL-3), but it otherwise acts like freeware with a single developer. It has a history of bundling file-droppers/malware; there's a donation edition with a different feature set, with some extra features (including removal of arbitrary limitations on the regul…

It seems like it serves the same kind of purpose as SyncThing (https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing).

SyncThing seems like a safer bet (better community, proper OSS, etc). :)

Re: FreeFileSync: Open-Source File Synchronization and Backup

#70

Post by Saris »

eps wrote: post #7

There is apparently also a "Donation Edition" - Everyone who donates is eligible to download a special version of FreeFileSync without any advertisements, including a few of bonus features. It is built from a different source, so it's neither free or open source. Not that anything wrong with it, but it should probably not be distributed under the same name - https://freefilesync.org/faq.php#donation-edition

It's technically a recurring donation too if you want the current versions, for €20 you get 1 year of updates.
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