Hello everyone. I’m new to Syncthing and Unison, and I just read the project overviews and FAQs as well as most of both documentations. I’m a little stuck in thinking everything through until the end, so maybe I could ask some of you for your advice and/or opinion.
Q: What do I want to achieve? A: Synchronized folders and files as well as symlinks. LAN-only preferred, no online/cloud, i.e. everything should, if possible, work without any internet connection whatsoever.
Q: How many and which devices are in use? A: Three, at least. We’re having three Mac devices in our network, as well as optionally a Raspberry Pi with optionally some storage attached that could serve as network storage (SSHFS, NFS, AFP, et cetera) and serve files between the Mac devices; also an Apple Time Capsule with 2 TB storage would be available.
Q: Is real-time synchronization necessary? A: Not really; it would be okay to be automating, i.e. auto-starting, the check/sync for example every hour. I think this is one of the main differences of Syncthing and Unison, that Unison needs to be “started” manually after making changes to files, and Syncthing just runs in the background and as soon as something is changed, the changes are propagated to all other devices?
Q: Are the devices used at the same time? A: Generally, I’d like to say no. In the very most cases the three Mac devices are not used at the same moment in time.
Q: Are all devices always-on? A: Not really. The Mac devices (old Macbook, new Macbook, Mac Mini) are often in sleep mode, I guess; the Raspberry Pi on my network is always-on, though.
In case I haven’t forgotten to write anything down, I think that’s all I have to say, i.e. am asking/looking for. Based on these demands, would you say that Syncthing or Unison would be the better way to go, and if you don’t mind, please elaborate why?
PS: I also just found out about git-annex, which also looks somewhat promising?
Thank you so much, everyone. :)
7 posts - 3 participants