discosync

One-way synchronization tool to keep disconnected sites in sync, written in Java.

Usage scenario

You have a large collection of pictures from your little family. You never would absorb a loss of them, so you decide to keep a backup on the computer of your parents. So how can DiscoSync help you in this situation? What to do?

• One-time hard work - transfer a complete copy of your collection to your parents (hundreds of gigs of data!).
• Use DiscoSync to create a new SyncInfo that contains all details about the files you transferred, including checksums. You can also create this SyncInfo on your computer before you transfer the files.
• After you saved your collection at your parents PC, keep the SyncInfo for later use.
• After 2 months, your collection growed, you changed and deleted files and added a lot of new nice pictures. And you plan to visit your parents again, maybe because you just have to.
• Use DiscoSync to create a SyncPack on your PC, using the saved SyncInfo from the copy at your parents PC. The SyncPack will contain all changes that are needed to synchonize the backup at your parents PC with your updated collection. New files, changed files, deleted files - all is in there. But it will be much smaller than your complete collection!!
• Transfer the SyncPack directory to your parents. Maybe now an USB stick is enough to hold the data!
• Use DiscoSync to apply the SyncPack to the backup at your parents PC to synchronize it with your collection.
• Thats it, you updated your backup!
• Finally, use DiscoSync to create a new SyncInfo of the backup on your parents PC for the next run, and take it with you.

So how to use?

On the remote PC, create the RemoteSyncInfo of TheBackupDir:

discosync -createsyncinfo -basedir e:\TheBackupDir -syncinfo e:\RemoteSyncInfo

Transfer the SyncInfo to your home PC for later use. When the data in TheOriginalDir changed, you can compare the changes use the RemoteSyncInfo:

discosync -comparesyncinfo -targetsyncinfo c:\RemoteSyncInfo -basedir c:\TheOriginalDir -verbose

When you plan to transfer all changes in TheOriginalDir to TheRemoteDir, then create MySyncPack on your home PC:

discosync -createsyncpack -targetsyncinfo c:\RemoteSyncInfo -basedir c:\TheOriginalDir -syncpack c:\MySyncPack

Transfer MySyncPack to the remote PC. On the remote PC, apply MySyncPack to TheBackupDir:

discosync -applysyncpack -syncpack c:\MySyncPack -basedir e:\TheBackupDir

Finally, on the remote PC, create a new RemoteSyncInfo and transfer it to your home PC for the next synchronization.

discosync -createsyncinfo -basedir e:\TheBackupDir -syncinfo e:\RemoteSyncInfo