FreeFileSync automated folder monitor/copier

[TerryMcK]

I'd been looking around for some automated software which would copy images from my imaging laptop (A lowly I5 with 16GB RAM), as soon as they were taken, back into the house so I had the images instantly available on my main computer (A dual Xeon workstation with 64GB RAM).

When the clouds have parted and the imaging rig is running if it gets cold I am not normally outside! I remote into the imaging laptop using RDP via a wireless connection.

 

Anyway onto the main subject of the topic. I have been googling and found this fantastic software which is GNU public domain software that costs nowt. It is called FreeFileSync and is available from here

Essentially you set it to monitor a folder, for instance your \Pictures\BackyardEOS directory and when image files arrive in that folder it is copied to the destination of your choice. In my case it is a network share on my server. So I have two copies of each image and it saves me time copying GB's of data later on! It can be configured to copy anywhere like an external USB drive for instance.

The software has another module called RealTimeSync that sits in the background monitoring your chosen directories and it automatically copies the files. It is this module that I use the most.

 

It's a bit like GoogleDrive or Microsoft OneDrive but not copying potentially large files via t'internet to some anonymous datacenter int'cloud.. 

The files are then available on your destination computer for processing on a faster computer with DeepskyStacker/Photoshop etc. The software can be configured to run a as service so it is always running in the background whether you login or not.

Did I mention its absolutely free?

Edited October 10, 2019 by TerryMcK

[Viktiste]

Windows SyncToy also does a good job at that, and it is free too. 

[TerryMcK]

Synctoy doesn't automatically monitor a folder for file changes though. It's true that Synctoy can be setup to automatically sync files on a schedule daily etc using Microsoft Task Scheduler. 

Whereas RealTimeSync does.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Use the inbuilt robocopy, granted it doesn't have a fancy gui, but its free & will do everything the others will do (some are just a gui front end to robocopy) and its easily scriptable to copy files between multiple sources\destinations etc....

[stash_old]

27 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

Use the inbuilt robocopy, granted it doesn't have a fancy gui, but its free & will do everything the others will do (some are just a gui front end to robocopy) and its easily scriptable to copy files between multiple sources\destinations etc....

If its Windows then +1 for Robocopy - as it was written by an M/S employee and good few years ago

[Helen]

Thanks for this 😁. That will be really useful!

Helen

[stash_old]

The big problem with copying between computers is you dont want to kill all other network traffic - some copy applications do. This site provides the Front End GUI's for Robocopy which provided more than options to "hang your pc" 🙂  - Again like Robocopy  - Richcopy (Front end GUI to Robocopy) was also written by M/S employee

https://www.howtogeek.com/130729/add-a-graphical-user-interface-gui-to-the-microsoft-robocopy-command-line-tool/

[TerryMcK]

I think you are missing the point. RealTimeSync monitors the source folder(s) and copies files to the destination folder as the imaging camera delivers the image files to your imaging computer. You don't have to set it off copying as you do with Robocopy etc, as it is all done automatically in the background. Also realtimesync, when setup to run as a batch, doesn't use the GUI overhead. It also runs on Mac and Linux as well as Windows. 

Old programs like robocopy, richcopy et al do copy files but you, the user, have to trigger the copying process or rely upon task scheduler to run it on a timer. 

Edited October 10, 2019 by TerryMcK

[freiform]

Why not using a more up-to-date, distributed solution like syncthing? It also monitors, syncs across multiple devices, can be run on all relevant operating systems..

 

Sven

Edited October 10, 2019 by freiform

[Dr_Ju_ju]

ummm, robocopy can also, continuously monitor folders for new items & copy them to a remote destination,  it doesn't have to run then stop, but can also keep running, waiting for new files to sync, etc.

[TerryMcK]

ok cheerio for now

Edited October 11, 2019 by TerryMcK

[stash_old]

8 hours ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

ummm, robocopy can also, continuously monitor folders for new items & copy them to a remote destination,  it doesn't have to run then stop, but can also keep running, waiting for new files to sync, etc.

yep Julian is 100% correct 🙂  suggest others carefully read the doc info first 😉  

13 hours ago, freiform said:

Why not using a more up-to-date, distributed solution like syncthing? It also monitors, syncs across multiple devices, can be run on all relevant operating systems..

"If it aint boke dont fix it"  - Vast options ,well tested software and created ,as I have stated already, created by M/S employee's AND I think he implies Windows's OS by saying RDP and BackyardEOS 🙂

 If we are talking multi OS then you are correct 🙂

But as always the individual chooses what is correct for him/her 🙂

Edited October 11, 2019 by stash_old