Automatically do a two-way sync of two directories

Question

I would like to do a two-way automatic sync between folders Directory A andDirectory B. This means that whenever a file in Directory A or one of its sub-directories is changed, that change is immediately applied to Directory B, and whenever a file in Directory B or one of its sub-directories is changed, that change is immediately applied to Directory A. Thus, the two directories would be completely identical, including document properties. How can I achieve this?

I am using Ubuntu 16.10.

Symlinks are not an option.

Solution 1

Unison

Unison is a GUI and terminal-based tool which allows files and directories to be kept in sync with each other, between different local directories and drives or on a network, which could be on different operating systems. The application is available for Unix operating systems (Linux and Mac OS X) and Windows. Changes can be made on the different places, and Unison will update the machines with the correct versions of files and folders, copying, deleting, renaming or deleting files and directories as necessary.

Unison sync app is probably the most used and trusted by the Ubuntu/Debian community. It is available at the Software Center and at the package manager. It has a command-line and a graphic user interface (GUI)(GTK).

Ubuntu Help Community Wiki - Unison

Ubuntu Manual - Unison

A short use example, close to your request, can be found at Rmano answer (screenshot below).

FreeFileSync

FreeFileSync is a free data backup software that helps you synchronize files and synchronize folders. It is designed to save your time setting up and running data backups while having nice visual feedback along the way. FreeFileSync is Open Source software, available for Windows, Linux and macOS.

I've never tried but it seems to be worth a shot. It has a default GUI and is under active development.

Synkron

Synkron is an application that helps you keep your files and folders always updated. You can easily sync your documents, music or pictures to have their latest versions everywhere. Synkron provides an easy-to-use interface and has lot of features. Moreover, it is free, open-source and cross-platform.

Solution 2

For a long time I used rsync to sync my laptops(2) and a 3rd machines, then I tried with syncthing but this morning a famous search engine offered me this project :

Mirror

You will also find a comparison of different solutions.

His main argument against rsync are : not real time and nor officially two ways.

ps: I'm using it through zerotier so my machine are always able to communicate together.

Solution 3

I would recommend the synkron tool. This is an open-source application available for linux(and other OS's). More recent copy of the file is updated over folders based on the time stamp. The frequency of the sync is user defined.

To install you have to build it which requires Qt 4.3 or recent version.

Check the sourceforge page ( synkron on sourceforge) to download and installation details.

Advantages over rsync+cron and other simple approaches:

• A temporary backup is created which is saved for certain duration of time.
• Option to not propagate deletions.
• Multiple folder can be linked as masters, or slave-master configuration.

Project page - Synkron page / Documentation - Synkron documentation

Comments

[phil294]

unison is available in ubuntu repos. apt-get install unison-gtk

[Andyc]

I know this is old, but which one of those tools, if any, will work with a USB stick that gets removed and inserted from time to time? Ideally it should recognize when the USB stick is plugged in and automatically sync the folders (one of them being on the stick) and not complain or get stuck when the stick gets removed or is not there to start with.

[Felipe G. M. Maia]

@Andyc These software should work with whatever storage device you choose. The port is also irrelevant, as long as the OS recognizes the device connected.

[Andyc]

@FelipeG.M.Maia Yes, it works indeed (FreeFileSync). The only thing I haven't been able to make work yet is the automatic synchronization when I insert my USB stick. The documentation is to me a little cryptic on this: you are supposed to give it some commands like in a command line, but it doesn't say how this commands should look like. There is an example, but I didn't find it very useful. Manually it's working though and for me a great improvement over rsync.