Sync Devices To A Central Server And Then Sync The Server To An Off-Site Comptuer?

[wbelk7777]

Is this possible with Bittorrent Sync?

 

I would like to be able to sync (backup) my iphone pictures and laptop pictures to my server.  I setup a separate E: drive on my server for the pictures.  I would sync the iphone to E:\BTSYNC\IPHONE and the laptop to E:\BTSYNC\LAPTOP.  I then want to sync (backup) the server folder E:\BTSYNC (and all the sub-folders) to an off-site computer.  This presents a nested folder situation and I’m not sure how to get around it.  Thank you for your help.

[trevellyan]

I would like to be able to sync (backup) my iphone pictures and laptop pictures to my server.  I setup a separate E: drive on my server for the pictures.  I would sync the iphone to E:\BTSYNC\IPHONE and the laptop to E:\BTSYNC\LAPTOP.  I then want to sync (backup) the server folder E:\BTSYNC (and all the sub-folders) to an off-site computer.  This presents a nested folder situation and I’m not sure how to get around it.  Thank you for your help.

 

I think you can do nested folders if all the keys are read-write keys.

[wbelk7777]

Thank you for responding.  I believe that I am limited to read only links for the iphone photos.

[trevellyan]

Thank you for responding.  I believe that I am limited to read only links for the iphone photos.

 

Is there a reason you don't want to share the individual folders with the off-site computer?

[wbelk7777]

Thank you for the suggestion.  I was trying to keep the setup simple, by having a single folder synced between the server and off-site computer.  If I sink the individual folders, I will have to make two connections from every device that I want to sync (backup).  Example one from the iphone to server and one from the iphone to off-site computer.  As the number of devices grows or if something changes in the future, I can see this becoming complicated and time consuming to change.

[trevellyan]

Thank you for the suggestion.  I was trying to keep the setup simple, by having a single folder synced between the server and off-site computer.  If I sink the individual folders, I will have to make two connections from every device that I want to sync (backup).  Example one from the iphone to server and one from the iphone to off-site computer.  As the number of devices grows or if something changes in the future, I can see this becoming complicated and time consuming to change.

 

Sync works with keys, so all you have to do is set up each key/folder combination on the server and the offsite computer. You don't have to tell the iPhone or either server anything specific about any other device, because they find each other using the keys.

[wbelk7777]

That's a good point.  I could setup keys that never expire and don't require confimation for each device and then store them in a safe place.  That way I wouldn't have to go back to the devices if I needed to make changes on the server or off-site computer.  One possible negative that I can think of is, wouldn't it require more time and bandwidth on the part of the device that is sending the photos to sync both the server and the off-site computer?

[trevellyan]

That's a good point.  I could setup keys that never expire and don't require confimation for each device and then store them in a safe place.  That way I wouldn't have to go back to the devices if I needed to make changes on the server or off-site computer.  One possible negative that I can think of is, wouldn't it require more time and bandwidth on the part of the device that is sending the photos to sync both the server and the off-site computer?

 

It seems to me that you're holding some misconceptions about how Sync works.

 

First of all, key expiry and confirmation are only relevant to the first use on an additional device. Once set up on a device, a key never expires, nor does it require further confirmation.

 

Second, the idea of having multiple devices using the same key is that they all exchange information with each other. If a key for your phone is shared with multiple other devices, it won't take any longer for the phone to deliver changes, because the other devices can communicate those changes among themselves.

 

It might be a good idea to start by reading all the articles under Getting Started With Sync and Common Questions at http://help.getsync.com/.

[GShlomi]

As far as I understand, he did get it right about the phone taking longer to upload the photos when synced with more than one destination at the time. Due to limited data upload rates, he needs to upload the same photo twice at the same time...

[trevellyan]

Due to limited data upload rates, he needs to upload the same photo twice at the same time...

 

I don't understand this, but maybe I'm missing something.

 

The way I see it, the phone (or any peer) will only spend as long as it needs to get any new content shared with at least one peer. While the phone is busy doing that, all other peers will be sharing with each other. If we assume the phone's connection is the slowest, all other peers will be done as soon as the phone is done. Remember, Sync is full duplex, i.e. data flows in both directions at once on each peer.