Windows Alternative to Rsync?

sync file-transfer remote

73,758

Solution 1

There is cwrsync which will let you run rsync in windows. We use it on one of our servers to back up about 140k files. FTP just couldn't handle that.

Solution 2

rsync does work on windows - deltacopy is a wrapper around it - though you can use the rsync packaged in it on its own.

Solution 3

rdiff-backup uses the rsync algorithms for transmitting only file differences and it keeps file history. The history part is could be a very important feature for your backup scheme.

I have been using in around the (microsoft only) office for over a year. It just works.

Solution 4

I would suggest you give Robocopy a shot. It's part of Vista/7/2008 by default and in the newer version has mirror support. It also supports resume and networking shares.

Solution 5

I like Unison File Synchronizer...if you don't mind using commandline tools. It is fast, it scans files for changes much quicker than rsync. Similar to rsync, it only transfers changed portions of files.

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73,758

Adam Haile

Windows Mobile Code Monkey

Updated on September 17, 2022

Comments

Adam Haile almost 2 years

I'm trying to setup a file sync between the file server at my house and the one at my brother's so that we each have offsite backups of important data. Both systems are running Windows (XP on one, 7 on the other).
I like the fact that rsync will only transfer part of a file, the part that has changed, and not the whole thing...saving a lot of bandwidth. But I have had very little luck getting it to work properly. I tried using DeltaCopy, but it's interface is horrible, and while it will work within my LAN it always fails to connect when remote. (See this question for more details on that)

Is there another alternative program that runs on windows and has similar functionality? So far the only other option I can see is using FTP and something like SyncBackPro...but that is just going to transfer the whole file...and only having 512kbps upload bandwidth makes that a total pain.

Edit: To clarify some more, the backup I'm doing needs to scan several hundreds of thousands of files, adding up to more than 400GB, on each end... which is why I'm not using an intermediary service like LIVE for the transfer...

Edit 2: Also, these backups need to be preformed over a remote connection and without a VPN... Meaning that using Windows File Shares (SMB) is out of the question...
- alex over 14 years
  
  512 kb/s? Wow... And you're in the US?
- Adam Haile over 14 years
  
  haha...5Mb/s down and 512kb/s up and I pay $60 for it...welcome to the land of the free :D
- Vadzim almost 6 years
  
  alternativeto.net/software/rsync/?platform=windows
Adam Haile over 14 years

Any way to get this to work over something other than a windows file share?
Rodney Schuler over 14 years

If you have large files that often have small changes robocopy is very network inefficient. It transmits the entire file even if only the last few bytes have changed.
Goyuix over 14 years

I like this a bit better than cwrsync as it seems slightly more "Windows-ified" - ultimately they do exactly the same thing.
Christopher_G_Lewis over 14 years

Mesh rocks. Seriously.
Jason R. Coombs over 14 years

If rschuler is right, then Robocopy is nothing like rsync, and this is a bad answer.
Adam Haile over 14 years

With this method are there still limitations like file size, number of files in a directory, etc? This would be a dealbreaker for me...
Sajee over 14 years

Adam: Here are some limit numbers from over a year ago. Not sure if there are changes since this was published: blogs.msdn.com/livemesh/archive/2008/08/13/…
Nicholi almost 13 years

Interesting find.
jnnnnn over 11 years

If using this rsync, be aware that it expects cygwin paths.. e.g. /cygdrive/c/users/
LMSingh almost 9 years

Robocopy was less than half the speed in a 4 GB download on the same line compared to other options. It couldn't resume broken transfers. My first impression is that it's overrated. Since then I found better tools but don't have enough experience to comment on those here. I did use Deltacopy and it was pretty cool. See another answer on it in this thread.
7_R3X over 6 years

Since it's a default package in Windows, it's useful in corporate environment where you do not have the permission to install any third party software on the systems(At least without going through a long chain of processes before you're allowed to install it).