Installation syncronisation

[martinconroy]

I have previously raised the query of synchronising installations of LaunchBox between computers. I know that Jason uses DropBox but I wanted to raise awareness of an alternative.

There are several reasons why DropBox may not be the best solution - the obvious one being cost! Also, people may not want their info floating in the cloud or simply be restricted by bandwidth/ connection speeds.

 

FreeFileSync was recommended to me, but I have found what I believe to be a better alternative for myself. That is BitTorrent Sync.

The key benefit of both of these is that they are free, however BitTorrent sync seems to have a great interface and is incredibly simple. You simply install on each machine, and then select the folder to be synced. You are then given a unique code which can be entered on the second machine and the folders are linked (and synced). This can be read/write (i.e. updates both ways), or you can get a "read only" code, which means that you have a "master" installation and all others will be synced to that.

Another benefit is that there is no space limit - i.e. you are only limited by your hard drive space. Also, if you have many machines you benefit from the torrenting meaning that the load is shared and (hopefully) speed increased!

The single downside is that (because it's not cloud) based the computer you are on needs to be able to connect to another computer on your network with the data to sync. Don't get me wrong - that can be locally or over the web, but both machines need to be on. If you have a server machine or NAS drive however this is an ideal solution - I recommend checking it out.

Here I am syncing between two local machine:

 

Edited September 9, 2016 by martinconroy

[timekills]

I have previously raised the query of synchronising installations of LaunchBox between computers. I know that Jason uses DropBox but I wanted to raise awareness of an alternative.



There are several reasons why DropBox may not be the best solution - the obvious one being cost! Also, people may not want their info floating in the cloud or simply be restricted by bandwidth/ connection speeds.








 








FreeFileSync was recommended to me, but I have found what I believe to be a better alternative for myself. That is BitTorrent Sync.








The key benefit of both of these is that they are free, however BitTorrent sync seems to have a great interface and is incredibly simple. You simply install on each machine, and then select the folder to be synced. You are then given a unique code which can be entered on the second machine and the folders are linked (and synced). This can be read/write (i.e. updates both ways), or you can get a "read only" code, which means that you have a "master" installation and all others will be synced to that.








Another benefit is that there is no space limit - i.e. you are only limited by your hard drive space. Also, if you have many machines you benefit from the torrenting meaning that the load is shared and (hopefully) speed increased!








The single downside is that (because it's not cloud) based the computer you are on needs to be able to connect to another computer on your network with the data to sync. Don't get me wrong - that can be locally or over the web, but both machines need to be on. If you have a server machine or NAS drive however this is an ideal solution - I recommend checking it out.








Here I am syncing between two local machine:









 

Why do you find this a better solution than FreeFileSync?

I was using OneDrive as I have 1TB+ space from being an Office365 subscriber, but didn't want to wait for files to sync to the cloud first, not to mention less granularity over what gets prioritized for updates.

FreeFileSync allows fast updates; one way, two way, by date changed, however you want across your LAN. If you're looking to sync across WAN, I suppose a torrent type sync capacity is helpful.

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[martinconroy]

10 hours ago, timekills said:

Why do you find this a better solution than FreeFileSync?

Hi @timekills - purely a personal preference. Whilst FreeFileSync may have more flexibility I prefer the simplicity of the interface of this. Basically select a folder, copy the key, paste on the other machine and highlight the directory it corresponds to. Then, just leave and forget it. For me that is preferable to two apps, one to create a sync, then another to define the scheduling. Sure it's not that hard at all to set up, I just found the simplicity of BitTorrent Sync preferable and I didn't need the extra configuration options of FreeFileSync.
I do find the torrenting nature helpful too. I also use this for my work, using a desktop most of the time and then taking a laptop with me. This enables me to easily keep in sync wherever I am, especially as I also share with my media server which is always on and accessible.
There is no doubt that both offer good solutions, just wanted to advise that this one exists as it may suit others better like it does for me.

[timekills]

I'm away from my house, so just realized I wasn't using FreeFileSync any longer when you reminded me about the server/client VC relationship.

I switched to SyncBack (the free edition) which only requires you choose the folder(s) on the two (or more) PCs you want to sync and how. Nothing to install on any other computers. It's about as simple as it gets, but can let you get choosy if you have the need.

I will give BitTorrent sync a try though; I'm always on the lookout for easier and better. Thanks for the tip!


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[ckp]

I've used a lot of sync tools for big data, and BitTorrent sync is hands down the best, most reliable, and even works flawlessly when syncing between Windows and Mac as well. I used it for many years until I started paying for a Dropbox Pro account. BitTorrent sync would be a great way to keep multiple computers at home with LB in sync, including the roms and media.You would just need to be careful if you have LB open at the same time on more than one computer that is setup to sync.