Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Sync Two Folders

tobefirst ⚽️

tobefirst ⚽️

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 24, 2005
4,612
2,337
St. Louis, MO
Hello. What would be the best software/way to keep two folders in sync?

I have all of my design projects stored on our mac server, but would like to have them locally as well, for when I take my computer off the network. I need them to be synced as often as possible to be sure that the most up to date version of each file is in both places. The sync needs to be two-way, with the most recently edited copy being the one that wins.

How do I do this?
 
There's a product called SyncTime available in the Mac App Store. It will do exactly what you've stated you want to do. However, if you need super comprehensive synchronization with granular control, give GoodSync a look. Both are excellent, well-maintained products with responsive support. SyncTime is by an indie developer, who fixes bugs quickly and actually implements user requests. GoodSync is developed by Siber Systems, the company behind RoboForm. I've used both to do server/local syncs. GoodSync is more of an enterprise tool; I think you'd get by fine with SyncTime.

I should also probably mention Hazel by Noodlesoft. Hazel is a great investment for any Mac owner. File/folder synchronization is just one of the many, many system actions that can be automated through Hazel. It's a time-tested and well-loved app from a venerable developer. Definitely worth checking out.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: WorldIRC
v3 (currently beta) of Mountain Duck (same developers as CyberDuck the s/ftp/etc client) adds “smart folder sync” - so you can have a folder mounted from a remote server (sftp, WebDAV, etc) that syncs when you have a connection but also keeps local copies for when you don’t.
 
Are the files on you mac server just for your use or are they shared and collaborative files? If just your files then iCloud documents is probably easiest solution. If shared collaborative files then my recommendation would be to use Box.
 
@Dave Braine @Big Bad D, Ahhhh....cloud drives are such the easy solution...so easy that I forgot to mention that I can't use them. My IT department won't let me access them. Thank you both for your replies, however.

@culb0743, I'll have to check out SyncTime and GoodSync. I tried Hazel for another project in the past and had so much trouble programming what I wanted done. I've always struggled with Automator and Hazel. Thanks for the suggestions.

@Stephen.R, thanks for the Mountain Duck idea. I've used CyberDuck in the past. I appreciate it.

Anyone else with ideas, feel free to throw them in. Who knows what I'll end up with. Thanks, all!
 
BrianBaughn said:
You didn't answer this. If it's "yes" then you potentially have more thinking to do.
Click to expand...
My apologies. My files consist primarily of Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator documents. They are shared insofar as they need to be on the server in case any of my colleagues need to access them. We never work on the same documents at the same time (a la Google Docs, etc.) and the InDesign documents (the ones that could get messed up the worst) are seldom touched by anyone else regardless.

How does this affect things?

Thanks for your help!
 
tobefirst said:
My apologies. My files consist primarily of Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator documents. They are shared insofar as they need to be on the server in case any of my colleagues need to access them. We never work on the same documents at the same time (a la Google Docs, etc.) and the InDesign documents (the ones that could get messed up the worst) are seldom touched by anyone else regardless.

How does this affect things?

Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

Would it be possible that you, offline, would edit "file A" and that someone else could update the online version of "file A" between the time you've edited your offline file and the time you sync? In that scenario, the other person's "file A" would be the latest version...even if the file isn't amended...just somehow gets a later modification date (like an open/change/undo/save scenario).
 
BrianBaughn said:
Would it be possible that you, offline, would edit "file A" and that someone else could update the online version of "file A" between the time you've edited your offline file and the time you sync? In that scenario, the other person's "file A" would be the latest version...even if the file isn't amended...just somehow gets a later modification date (like an open/change/undo/save scenario).
Click to expand...
Possible, yes, but in our workflow, very unlikely, and the knowledge of the edits would likely be shared previously. Typically, when a coworker makes an edit to my files, they Save As, instead of saving over.
 
Cloud based solutions will do the trick.

You can also use Deltopia's DeltaWalker. It allows you to manually sync files and folders between two locations.

ChronoSync also has the ability to sync between two locations and is my general backup software.
 
rsync command line command.

Here's a small snippet of some code I have to do similar. This is a copy in one direction, reverse pathnames for going back.

cd "/Path/To/Source/Directory"

rsync -a -L . "/Path/To/Destination/Directory"
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: rumormiller
jdelgado said:
[USER=172642]

Another alternative is Chronosync.[/user]
Click to expand...

I use Chronosync and I have it setup to run every three or four days for a certain set of files/folders and then once a month for another set. It is a basically a set and forget on my end. The only time I really get anything is if I do a reboot and I forget to mount my NAS folders.

I am testing out a program that does the automounting, which I am having mixed results on. But it is bringing the folders up more often than not.
 
Thanks for this simple method :)

cd "/Path/To/Source/Directory"

rsync -a -L . "/Path/To/Destination/Directory"

-a, --archive archive mode; same as -rlptgoD (no -H)

-r, --recursive recurse into directories

-l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks

-p, --perms preserve permissions

-t, --times preserve times

-g, --group preserve group

--devices preserve device files (super-user only)

--specials preserve special files

-o, --owner preserve owner (super-user only)

-D same as --devices --specials

-H, --hard-links preserve hard links

-L, --copy-links transform symlink into referent file/dir

rsync is a file transfer program capable of efficient remote update
via a fast differencing algorithm.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back