Syncing files based only on changes to file tags

[joelha]

Maybe this has been discussed before and, if so, sorry for bringing this up again. I've been using FreeFileSync as a way of syncing updated files from one hard drive to another. Problem is, there are only two ways this program allows me to sync a file. Either by changes to file name and date, which doesn't take into account file tag changes, or by file content. While the file content option might do it, only scanning (not updating) almost 1TB of files is estimated to take 15 hours. There has to be a better way. In short, when I only update file tags (nothing else) of some of the files on one hard drive, I need a reasonably quick way of syncing those files to other backup hard drives. Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

Joel

 

[Mahesh]

Hi Joel,

 

I would recommend rsync, a small software tool that only copies file changes from source to destination. It comes standard with almost all linux distributions, and I believe with Mac OS as well. And you can find it on most NAS boxes. There is a Windows port called DeltaCopy here:

 

http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp

 

rsync might be a little hard to use the first time, but there are plenty of documents on the net explaining how to use it.

 

Good luck! :-)

 

Mahesh

 

[joelha]

Thanks so much, Mahesh.

 

This sounds like exactly (and maybe even better) than what I was looking for.

 

I'll definitely give it a shot.

 

Joel