SyncDroid

Setup

You need to install SyncDroid on each computer that you want to sync together.

SyncDroid can either sync over the network or over a ’sneakernet’, which can use a USB drive or mobile phone or CD-R. If you’re syncing over the network, you put in the IP address or name of the other computer. If you’re syncing to a USB drive, you tell it which drive to use.

You also need to tell SyncDroid what you want to sync. Usually this will just be your My Documents folder or part of your home directory. You can change this at any time as your needs change.

General use

Most of the time, SyncDroid will work automatically. When the two computers can reach each other on the network, it will keep files in sync. It scans for changes automatically when the computer is idle, so you won’t notice any slowdown or delay. It detects changes automatically and sends them to your other computer.

If you’re using a USB drive, SyncDroid will keep itself synced against the USB drive whenever it’s plugged in. You can unplug it at any time, take it to the other computer and plug it in there. SyncDroid will read the USB drive automatically and sync itself. You don’t need to run any commands or do anything special.

Forced syncs

You can force a complete sync at any time. You’d usually do this if you’re leaving and want to make absolutely sure that all of your changes have been synced - this can take a little while if you’ve made a lot of changes or if you’re running over a slow network. SyncDroid will scan through all of your data, sync it all up and let you know when it’s done.

Firewalls

SyncDroid will work over the Internet as best it can. You can determine which port to use, including port 80, if you need to evade firewall restrictions. It sends HTTP-like traffic that won’t confuse proxies. It encrypts all data so that it can’t be intercepted over the network.

Eventually, there’ll be a SyncDroid Online service that will work on any PC with Web access. You can either bounce your traffic through the Online server or store your files directly on the Online server.

Mobile phones

SyncDroid can sync against a mobile phone using Bluetooth or USB. This gives you the ultimate in convenience - nothing more to carry. Just bring your phone in range of your PC and everything will be zapped across automatically!

Hiding information from some computers

Want to keep your home data off your work computer? Or documents from Client A away from Client B? You can set up SyncDroid to exclude certain files from certain computers.

Conflicts

All file synchronization programs must deal with conflicts at some point. You might change a file at home and differently at work without linking the two together. SyncDroid tries to handle this as best it can.

• If it knows you’ve change a file on one computer, it’ll warn you if you try to modify it on another computer
• It’s fairly intelligent about merging files together
• If something does go wrong, you can always undo the change