Directory Synchronization

As a web developper, having the ability to specify a local directory as being a mirror of a remote directory and having the ability to have files automatically go to the correct location from the local folder would be a big asset.

For an example of the type of feature is at http://www.turboftp.com/

I think so too.

I love FTP Voyager, and now I am looking forward to SmartFTP to have this function.

I'd also like to request the ability to specify a time offset for the synchronisation. Example: My computer is at EST (Sydney, Australia) and 10 hours ahead of GMT, but the server is set to GMT so I'd like to be able to specify an offset so that the two times will be synchronised.
Pete

I'd like to do a repeated, scheduled sync. every 5min, every 8hrs, every day for example.

I'd also like to trigger a sync based upon an event, say a new file appearing or a file being updated' in the source directory

I switched from LeechFTP (folder size on hard drive = 905 ko) to SmartFTP (folder size on hard drive = 5026 ko) and i'm sad to not find this usefull function wich compare in one click the current active local folder with the current active distant folder.

In one click it automatically highlights_and_select the files wich are different. i.e. same file (same name, same date, etc...) modified 1 minute before is also highlighted as would be new files.
Then just need to click "upload" and the distant folder is updated.

I cruelly miss this option cause i care for 3 websites with more than 3000 files in each.

that is indeed the one big option still missing.

Totally agree. Having localremote sync built into SmartFTP would ice this particular cake.

yes. directory synch is REALLY nice idea ...

I think Directory Synchronization should be top on the future feature list. Considering what an FTP program like SmartFTP is meant to do, Directory Synchronization seems only logical, if not required.

just another person saying that this is a feature that I have had to go elsewhere for. please add this to the top of your list SmartFTP. Your program needs it !

I would also like to be able to specify whether or not to replace local/remote files based on filesize, rather than just date.

pretty please with sugar on top needs to be included in at least version 1.1 if not 1.0.979

Get that feature NOW..

And it wouldnt even be so difficult to make

Agree this is a good idea. I have changed from using the site manager in Namo Webeditor, which I found kept hanging but it had, in addition to a sychronisation function, a select modified files (to upload) function. This was also extremely useful and recommend it be considered.

FTP Sync - yes please

It seems that SmartFTP development is halted for a while but once it gets back on track please:

Directory Synchronization!

That's a pretty easy feature to implement, it doesn't require any research just getting into it.

Christian Rauh

SmartFTP development is running but no with public builds

I've read the posting on the knowledge-base about why synchronization isn't possible on all FTP servers.

Knowledge Base : Home > Features > Synchronization

But it seems that one could do a very good job of a basic -- if not a 100% guaranteed -- synch feature. The previous poster who suggested adding a time offset between client and server would pretty much do the trick in most cases, n'est-ce pas?

In particular, while one needs to be able to query a server for timestamp of a file, it need not be in UTC. And one doesn't really need MDTM for 90+% of the use cases: one can just default to the server setting the time at upload and that's good enough for what most web folks need/want.

30 mins into using this software I found myself looking for some kind of folder-browsing synchronization function. I'm pleased to say that with the latest version it's all there, works well and saves me loads of time.
Just manually set the local browser and remote browser to the root directory of your site, click the synchronize button in the middle, and they browse folders in perfect harmony.
Well done to SmartFTP. A simple, yet very useful addition.

Hello
Perhaps I'm a little slow, but I cannot get the Directory Sync to work.
I am newer to FTP, but understand the basics from command line AGES ago.
v 2.0.1000

The Quick Transfer toolbar is in the middle with 6 buttons. Download/Upload good, left and right move are grey, Sync Navigation and Queue/Direct Transfer ok, but only sets button. No action with click.

What steps, specifically, do I need to follow?
The KB listed above doesn't help.
What do I need to 'activate' and how, PLEASE.

I'm begging for the 'idiot' guide to this.

Thanks

OldIron

Oldiron, did you figured it out yet ? I am having the same problem....so would be interested how it can be used....
Thank,

Boris

Oldiron, did you figured it out yet ? I am having the same problem....so would be interested how it can be used....
Thank,

Boris

Me Too !!

I would love to be able to synchronise folders, directories or complete drives but can't get this to work.

Anyone got a solution?

Full-blown synchronization is not yet implemented in SmartFTP ...

I don't know if I'm doing it right but I seem to have stumbled on the solution !! And it looks great !

I think the first piece of advice is try to getting it working first of all by synching just one or two small folders, to prove you've got it right. Then go for the big ones, then the whole lot !

I have lined up the 2 folders (or whatever) I wanted to synchronise (happens to be a local and a remote).

I highlighted the synch button and the Q button below that in the centre column so that they stayed highloighted.

I don't know how important it is but I also played with the Workers and Kbps/Worker numbers to see if that made a difference. I happened to choose 7 and 10 respectively but I imagine you can choose anything you like (but I suspect not zero ??)

I then selected the root local folder (with many, many subfolders totalling about 40gb) that I wanted to synchronise with the remote equivalent.

I dragged that folder (and effectively all the subfolders although it's not obvious at this stage) to the Temorary Queue box down the bottom, which highlights if you hold the dragged folder over it. Then I let go, so that the folder plopped into the temp queue.

I then highlighted that folder in the temp queue and dragged it to the remote folder I wanted it to synch to, held the mouse over the folder and let go.

Then I moved to the Transfer Queue and it had already started synchronising !!

Very exciting to watch but with 40gb it could be a bit addictive !

It did stop a couple of times, which was interesting to try to solve ... Firstly I think I had one bad subfolder that was causung some problems. It just seemed to lock up. Since I already knew that folder had something not quite right with it, I deleted it on both sides and started the synch process again. Everything wenrt fine.

Secondly, the remote disconnected a couple of times. But it seems you only have to click on the green arrow to reconnect and the whole process carries on.

In experimenting, I did find it reassuring to just take a few small batches of files, then folders, one at a time just toprove that it was working and you'll quickly see the Transfer Queue clear all the files and return to empty.

Finally, after playing around and running bits and pieces, I ran the whole partition. And it ran really well .... You could see the larger files and folders sit there while they uploaded slowly, while further down you could see the smaller files synchronising at a rate of knots

In the bottom grey bar there were some stats of Mbs done and Mbs still running etc but to begin with there was not much happening there, so it can be disconcerting to start off with, so don't think you've done soemthing wrong.

Good luck and I hope this was helpful and that it works for you guys !

I too am trying to get this working. I can set up my local and remote browser windows, and I can select Sync Navigation and browse both windows at once. But what I really need to do is have the same directory structure on the local and remote systems, to select the root folder of this common directory tree on each size, and to click a "Synchronize" button and have SmartFTP automatically copy the most recent version of each file throughout the synchronized directory structure to the other side. It also needs to cope with file additions and deletions, new and deleted directories, things being moved or renamed (maybe these are just a combination of Add and Delete).

Can SmartFTP do this sort of thing? How?

Thanks - Rowan