On Jun 22, 2004, at 3:21 AM, Glyn Davies wrote:
Downloaded the demo last night Jack. Seems like a good app so will buy it this morning and use it to watch the second (now separate) Big Disc.Check out this app - ChronoSync - it works very well:
Just a note from another user of ChronoSync. I love it. I used a number of sync utilities for years going back to the synchronization control panel that was included on OS9 Powerbook installs. ChronoSync is the most efficient of any of the many systems I've tried over the years. I use it to keep three identical volumes on three separate computers in sync. These volumes are about 60GB and represent jobs in progress... jobs that are still open and not yet ready for final archiving to DVD. One of the volumes is on a portable firewire drive that stays with my Powerbook and goes home with me when I leave the studio. That helps to cover me in the event of something like fire or burglary at the studio.
The problem with any sync system is that you run the risk of doing something stupid to one drive and then having it duplicated to the other volumes before you realize your mistake. I minimize that... not eliminate it... by having one end of the synced pair on a very large drive... much larger than the typical size of data that need to be synced. When you use the *sync deletions* feature on Chronosync it gives you the option of moving files that you delete on one volume to a deleted items folder on the other where they are held until you manually remove them. I will let that deleted items folder grow considerably as it holds a few months worth of deleted files. Every so often I go in an clean out really old files that I'm certain have long since been safely archived away. I have had occaisions where that deleted items folder has saved my butt. Situations where an inadvertently deleted item on one drive caused the same thing to happen on the other during a sync... and I didn't realize it until maybe weeks later.
When using ChronoSync, get in the habit of running a trial sync first... especially when you are first trying to get your head around how to best use a syncing system. When the trial sync finishes it will show you stats on how many files are being moved or deleted. At this point you can often catch mistakes before they happen.
I use Retrospect for routine backups of the rest of the system but its generally just not practical for my image data where so much data changes on a daily basis. ChronoSync or some other sort of syncing system seems best suited for the image data with ultimate archiving to CD or DVD for completed jobs.
good luck
Bob Smith
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