Science regularly has to synchronize files across file systems. Normally, this would involve a Ruby script or something heinous in a shell language. But that’s just business. When the synchronization is complex, the problem is much more difficult. Answering questions like these becomes a major painola: was the file deleted from one side, or added to the other? Was the folder renamed or removed?
It’s possible to try to be clever and check all your things into SVN to manage the changes, but with gigabytes of music files, for example, this could be another kind of pain (if I delete “Wham Rap” from my collection - not that I would - I don’t want it kicking around in the SVN repo taking up space).
There’s a better way. Science has found a tool called Super Flexible File Synchronizer. You have to pay for it. I mean you should pay for it because it does a lot and it’s very smart. The Scientific Method over the years has required sync tools - they all make mistakes. Except this one: it hasn’t made one bad guess about what to do yet. And when it’s about to delete a bunch of files, it notices and asks “boy that’s a lot of deletions, are you sure?” Exactly what I would do if someone asked me to delete a bunch of files. “Sure that’s what you told me to do, but geez, that’s an awful lot.”
Open source is great when you can get it - but this tool costs money and the people making it, earn it. If you have to sync files, consider shelling out and making your life a whole lot easier with Super Flexible File Synchronizer. And no one associated with Misuse or Science gains anything by recommending this software.
How’s this compare to the classic: rsync?
>diff rsync SuperFlexible
Output:
< < Easy to schedule
<< Very fast
<< Cross-platform
>> GUI.
>> Windows only
>> It is interactive
Sound like a really useful tool! Do you know whether it supports a package feature? Meaning, if you have computer A at work, and computer B at home, and only a USB-stick with limited space to synch the two computers, a package feature would allow you to make a list of all the files on computer A, take it to computer B and it would only copy the files on the stick that are modified/new.
Currently, I am using SynchronizeIt! form Grigsoft, which is also excellent and does support such a package feature, but unfortunately it doesn’t detect moved or renamed files/folders (yet). So if SuperFlexi would do both, it’d be the tool of my dreams :)
Regards
-spit
spitfire: I don’t know the answer to your question. But the guy who writes SuperFlexible has great English and has answered some of my questions quickly. Drop him a line on his website!