Best way to sync a local drive to a network location?

dtokez · 11 May 2016 at 12:52

I work with a lot of image and video files so it doesn't make much sense to have them stored on my server for speed, but I would like to have access to those files from other machines in my house as soon as I turn my main rig off

What is the best solution for automatically syncing the drives?

Craig321 · 11 May 2016 at 12:53

DropBox?

It has LAN sync, so should be pretty quick: https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/137

dtokez · 11 May 2016 at 12:56

hi mate, great idea but not really a good solution I don't think - I have too much data on my scratch drive that I want to sync, 250GB is almost full

Craig321 · 11 May 2016 at 16:27

Just remembered, there's the 'Briefcase' feature in Windows which might do exactly what you're after. Not 100% sure if it does as I've never used it, but it's worth exploring: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/sync-using-briefcase#1TC=windows-7

Edit: not sure if that still exists in Windows 10. So it might be worth also looking at the sync centre: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-sync-center

bledd · 11 May 2016 at 17:52

robocopy /mir "source" "destination"

paradigm · 11 May 2016 at 20:17

Yep, robocopy, or if you prefer a GUI, good old SyncToy.

Armageus · 11 May 2016 at 20:24

+1 for robocopy, and you could have it as a logoff script so that it runs automatically

dtokez · 11 May 2016 at 22:26

cheers all, I will go away and read up on the suggestions

spoon · 11 May 2016 at 22:58

Here is the script I use to sync two folders - feel free to modify to suit your needs

@echo off
:: SpOoN-PC66 to SPN-FILE-01 Drive Backup Jobby

:: D Drive
set D_Drive_SRC="D:"
set D_Drive_DST="\\SPN-FILE-01\Backup\SPN-PC-66\D"

:: C Drive Desktop
set Desktop_SRC="C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Desktop"
set Desktop_DST="\\SPN-FILE-01\Backup\SPN-PC-66\Desktop"

:: Picks up date in format DD.MM.YYYY e.g. 27.08.2008
For /F "tokens=1,2,3 delims=/ " %%a in ('date /t') do set date=%%a.%%b.%%c_

:: Pics up time in format HHMM e.g. 01.45
For /F "tokens=1,2 delims=:" %%a in ('time/t') do set time=Time_%%a.%%b

:: Output path and file
set outfile="C:\Tools\Logs\SpOoN-PC66_To_SPN-FILE-01_%date%%time%.log"

:: Copy Commands
C:\Tools\Robocopy.exe %D_Drive_SRC% %D_Drive_DST% /MIR /XD "VMware VMs" "$RECYCLE.BIN" "System Volume Information" /XF "pagefile.sys" /R:3 /W:3 /V /NP /LOG:%outfile%
C:\Tools\Robocopy.exe %Desktop_SRC% %Desktop_DST% /MIR /R:3 /W:3 /V /NP /LOG+:%outfile%

attrib -s -h \\SPN-FILE-01\Backup\SPN-PC-66\D

stewski · 11 May 2016 at 23:03

I use create synchronicity.

joeyjojo · 12 May 2016 at 08:47

paradigm said:
Yep, robocopy, or if you prefer a GUI, good old SyncToy.

This.

Or rsync on 'nix.

fezster · 12 May 2016 at 09:17

Armageus said:
+1 for robocopy, and you could have it as a logoff script so that it runs automatically

I recently needed to reliably sync files between 2 network locations. Robocopy was the obvious choice. However, when looking to download it, I found it had a replacement called RichCopy:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.04.utilityspotlight.aspx

Comes with a GUI as well and seemed to do what it says on the tin.

Armageus · 12 May 2016 at 09:22

fezster said:
I recently needed to reliably sync files between 2 network locations. Robocopy was the obvious choice. However, when looking to download it, I found it had a replacement called RichCopy:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.04.utilityspotlight.aspx

Comes with a GUI as well and seemed to do what it says on the tin.

Be careful with Richcopy as it has some issues that were never fixed (as it has been discontinued), mainly regarding include or exclude file patterns.

bledd · 12 May 2016 at 10:06

robocopy has been part of Windows since server 2003. No need to download anything.

Jamesyboyjim · 12 May 2016 at 10:27

Tend to use a program called Allway Sync to synchronise up and down to and from network drives.

fezster · 12 May 2016 at 10:31

Armageus said:
Be careful with Richcopy as it has some issues that were never fixed (as it has been discontinued), mainly regarding include or exclude file patterns.

Oh ok. I didnt realise. Will stick to robocopy in future then.

smsmasters · 12 May 2016 at 10:52

I use this, it's the best imho.

joeyjojo · 12 May 2016 at 20:26

fezster said:
Oh ok. I didnt realise. Will stick to robocopy in future then.

I was going to say the same thing as you but reading up on it RoboCopy continues to be developed even into Win 10, whereas RichCopy died with Win 7. At least according to wikipedia.