Can I keep 3 files synced over 3 devices with Carbon Copy Cloner?

[arbitrage]

I'm looking for a way to be able to keep 3 files synced up over 2 computers and one external USB3 thumb drive. I was hoping to use CCC to do this but so far I'm running into issues because CCC is using the entire directory structure from each computer that differs because of the root computer name.

What I want to do is to have my Lightroom Catalogue file and Preview and Smart Preview files copied from one computer to my USB drive and then I take that drive to the other computer and sync back those three files and vica versa as needed. I can do this by strictly Copy and Paste but as my Preview file grows to over 100GB that takes more and more time.

So my thought was to use CCC and then it would only sync the changes to the Preview files and not have to copy everything each time.

As I said above the issue is that CCC takes the full directory structure back to the root computer name and since the computers have different names it doesn't recognize it as something it can just modify and instead copies everything again so no difference than if I just Copy and Paste in Finder.

Is there a way for CCC to ignore the directory structure and just focus on the 3 files? If not, is there any other program that will do this efficiently?

Thanks for any advice...

 

[phrehdd]

You might want to check SuperDuper. I am unsure if it will do as you require.

Perhaps you should investigate using a script instead (batch file). You would end up clicking an icon and the process starts.
This would not be an overly complicated script but does require the "lists" to compare differences then do a copy paste. As well, be sure to include not just new files but modified or removed files in the exercise.

 

[rhett7660]

Could this be something done with automator?

 

[phrehdd]

To do it elegantly and with control, I would say it would be hard to get all your steps together.

However, I did find this - http://bombich.com/kb/ccc4/folder-folder-backups

I don't know if you have CCC4 or an earlier version and if the earlier versions can do this.

If you are inclined to make your own script you may want to go to the programmer section here and ask or
consider going to a Linux/Unix site to learn about the commands required -
creating file lists
comparing file lists
generating a file list of "differences" between two lists
copy command applied to a list
delete command applied to a list
overwrite based on an applied list (if one file is newer than another file with same name)

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[pitt1717]

try bittorent sync. been using it reliably for a little while now. i have it to sync my photos and music from my mbp to my desktop and to my server (for a third backup). Once set up, it creates almost a dropbox environment locally

 

[1911]

I've tried a few different apps to do the same thing, ended up with Syncovery.

 

[AlteMac]

I use Chronosync to keep my photo libraries synced, but not in Lightroom -- in Adobe Bridge. I use a USB drive (not a thumb drive) and it works very well. I know some other photographers who also use Chronosync. Syncing Lightroom between two computers is not so easy. Search on the issue and you will see some useful stuff.

 

[thewap]

Chronosync to sync multiple files or volumes, also to sync to icloud, plus ChronoAgent to synch them all to multiple computers.

 

[tillsbury]

Bittorrent sync is free, and excellent at this. The more devices the quicker the sync (and it's already ridiculously quick and efficient). Your directory structures can be in different places.