Smart synchronization between 2 networked PCs

Question

I have 2 computers, one running Server 2008 x64 as workstation and one running XP Professional.

I want to sync them over LAN (about 200gb of files), and I have tried allwaysync. But it's slow, it has to analyze all files to see if they were changed (over the network), since it only runs on one computer.

I am now looking for a program that runs on both my computers, so it can keep track of the changes locally, and then directly sync the files that were changed, no analysis needed!

I haven't found anything useful yet though. I tried live sync, but it can only sync up to 20.000 files I also tried live mesh but it has a limit of 5 GB.

EDIT:

What I have tried so far:

• Unison: Works, takes some time to configure but slow file transfers (1/10th of just copying files over network)
• Syncback: Does have "fast backup" feature, but it's not what I need
• Deltacop: Not working on server 2008 x64, but it seems like it's one way only, not for syncing
• Live sync: 20.000 file limit is just too low, I don't want to split all my folders.

Solution so far: copy all files 1 time manually and use Uunison to sync from that point on.

Answer 1

Unison is your friend. Unison keeps a list of files both ways, so that it doesn't have to rescan all files fo every run.

Answer 2

You can give DeltaCopy (RSync for Windows) a try.

You can read more here.

The performance is rather good without eating up much resources. Might not be as easy to setup though.

Answer 3

Syncback has a function called fastbackup which i believe does this.

Answer 4

Keep using Microsofts free Live Sync Service.
Originally that was FolderSync before Microsoft bought that Company.
Since then they have renamed Folder Sync to Windows Live Sync and also added Windows Live Mesh as a service

Sync = Sync between machines, no limits on storage. Just choose a subdirectory if there are more than 20.000 files.
Mesh = Sync between machines and store things in the cloud with WebGUI. 5 GB max.

Though I am not a Microsoft Fan, I'm using this to transparently sync 3 Macs, 1 Linux Box and a Windows Machine. As I don't want my data "in the cloud" I've opted for Live Sync.

Live Sync is the only service I know of (like dropbox or sugarsync) that syncs machines in the same LAN segment directly, and not by pushing everything "up" (via internet upstream) and then load it "down" to the other machine... A gigabyte sized file goes directly from one machine to the other...