Sync files automatically on a home network?

Question

I have a folder that MUST be in the folder it's in. I want to sync it between two computers in my house, both running Win8. If anyone remembers Windows Live Mesh, I want a program that does something like that. It's basically skydrive, but doesn't have to be in your %appdata%/skydrive folder to sync stuff. Skydrive also syncs over the internet, which is another problem.

This can be using something that syncs over a network, as they'll both be on the same network.

Homegroup works, but I can't find out how to sync folders other than pictures, documents, etc... Google searches came up useless.

Currently I'm using SugarSync, which works fine, but it goes over the internet. It's basically dropbox but lets you chose folders other than your %appdata%/dropbox folder.

Answer 1

If homegroup works. You can try adding the folder you need synced up to one of your libraries that homegroup uses (documents/music/pictures etc)

On win 8 open any folder to get the explorer tab at the left hand side. Click on Libraries, then right click a category (Docs/Music etc). Click properties. From the menu that comes up you can add a new folder to the homegroup. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I have a similar scenario where I sync music and movies from my gaming computer to my media server across the LAN of my house (the tool doesn't only work on media files). The total file size is around 400GB so I obviously can't use a cloud service like drop box or sky drive without paying a lot of money. What I do, is every week or so, I run a program call SyncToy. It is developed by Microsoft and is also free. Here is a link to the download page. This program will put a file in each directory, so don't delete it or it will remove the pair. It also recursively synchronizes.

If one of your machines is always running, you could have a script that would run 30 seconds after the other computer starts (to give the computer enough time to obtain an IP). I have my script setup to mount the NFS share, then run the sync. Here is another page that describes another way to automate SyncToy if you don't like the batch script method. I didn't read into the page too much, but it seemed pretty strait forward when I skimmed through it.

Answer 3

You can try BitTorrent Sync, it is currently in beta but works pretty well. It syncs files over LAN as well as over the internet (if there are remote peers). You can configure it to use only the LAN though.

Also it is essentially free and has no bandwidth or storage limits.

http://www.bittorrent.com/sync/download

Answer 4

If Homegroup works, then you must be on a LAN. SyncBackFree comes recommended by Lifehacker for syncing files over a LAN:

http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/freeware-hub.html

Lifehacker's teaser description of this tool is as follows:

Syncback is a robust tool for synchronizing your files to a different drive, other mediums (disc, removable drive, etc.), and over your local network. The basic edition is free, and does a more than adequate job for simple file transfer and syncing. The mid-level version, SyncBackSE ($30), adds in the ability to back up both open and locked files, and the professional version SyncBackPro ($50) adds even more features, like encrypted backup and tons of customization options. You can compare the three versions of SyncBack [on their website].