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I'm trying to setup a file sync between the file server at my house and the one at my brother's so that we each have offsite backups of important data. Both systems are running Windows (XP on one, 7 on the other).
I like the fact that rsync will only transfer part of a file, the part that has changed, and not the whole thing...saving a lot of bandwidth. But I have had very little luck getting it to work properly. I tried using DeltaCopy, but it's interface is horrible, and while it will work within my LAN it always fails to connect when remote. (See this question for more details on that)

Is there another alternative program that runs on windows and has similar functionality? So far the only other option I can see is using FTP and something like SyncBackPro...but that is just going to transfer the whole file...and only having 512kbps upload bandwidth makes that a total pain.

Edit: To clarify some more, the backup I'm doing needs to scan several hundreds of thousands of files, adding up to more than 400GB, on each end... which is why I'm not using an intermediary service like LIVE for the transfer...

Edit 2: Also, these backups need to be preformed over a remote connection and without a VPN... Meaning that using Windows File Shares (SMB) is out of the question...

Community
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Adam Haile
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9 Answers9

23

There is cwrsync which will let you run rsync in windows. We use it on one of our servers to back up about 140k files. FTP just couldn't handle that.

DHayes
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14

rsync does work on windows - deltacopy is a wrapper around it - though you can use the rsync packaged in it on its own.

Chris W. Rea
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Journeyman Geek
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8

I would suggest you give Robocopy a shot. It's part of Vista/7/2008 by default and in the newer version has mirror support. It also supports resume and networking shares.

BinaryMisfit
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8

rdiff-backup uses the rsync algorithms for transmitting only file differences and it keeps file history. The history part is could be a very important feature for your backup scheme.

I have been using in around the (microsoft only) office for over a year. It just works.

Rodney Schuler
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5

I like Unison File Synchronizer...if you don't mind using commandline tools. It is fast, it scans files for changes much quicker than rsync. Similar to rsync, it only transfers changed portions of files.

davr
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5

Beginning with Windows Vista, the Offline files feature (also known as Client-Side Caching) will automatically sync over slow connections and only transfer the changed portions of files (much like rsync).

I mention this as a possible solution, although you specifically mention that SMB is not an option for you. If you were to give the systems routable addresses (such as IPv6 addresses), you could probably connect over the Internet without a VPN. I do this regularly, and it works well when the ISP isn't blocking the SMB ports. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this for you because one client is running XP, and your ISPs may be blocking SMB. Still, I wanted to mention that the capability is built into Windows Vista/7 when the connectivity is available.

Jason R. Coombs
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4

You can use Windows Live Mesh. There's an option in Mesh that enables you to sync between machines, bypassing Live Desktop and its quota. So you can sync as much info as you want. It's simple to do this: on a folder that's Mesh enabled, choose Sync Settings > Live Desktop > select "Never with this device.".

That setting will skip syncing data with Live and sync directly between devices in your Mesh.

Sajee
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3

You could install cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com) on both machines, install an ssh server on the remote machine (such as cygwin's, or perhaps http://sshwindows.sourceforge.net/), and then use rsync on Windows.

Mr Fooz
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BackupPC is an open source backup solution that uses rsync amongst other things. I think this may do what you want.

Alternatively, there is always Windows Live Sync. It is a very simple and robust way to sync Windows and Macs, but with the following limits:

A maximum of 20 folders (or "libraries") may by synced, including libraries shared over the internet. Each library can contain a maximum of 20,000 files and each file cannot exceed 4GB.

If what you want to sync fits in those parameters, give it a go.

Colin Pickard
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