One-way sync files from one computer to another

Question

I'm writing a program for my grandpa, who's not exactly tech savvy. I want to make it easy for him to always have the latest version of my program (which consists of one Python script, by the way). He can just download it from an email to his desktop, but I had to set the default download location and if it gets messed up he's out of luck.

I want to be able to have a folder on my computer with my script in it, and when I update the program, I want the changes/new program to appear on his desktop. It would be even better if it only works one way, in case he accidentally deletes it on his machine.

So all the files in my folder go on his desktop, but all the files on his desktop don't go into my folder. I don't believe GDrive or Dropbox (my first ideas) can do that.

I have Windows 8.1, and he has 7.

EDIT: I'm starting to get into GitHub. Is there a way to use GitHub to automatically update his local repository?

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 24 '15 at 16:40

I know you said Dropbox is not what you're looking for, but I think it's the easiest solution without getting too complicated. There's plenty of ways to sync, but they're all going to require a little bit of hand holding, and most of them will need special permissions.

If you're worried about him deleting files, I would do the following:

Set up a dropbox folder on the computer... somewhere he won't go fiddling with it.
Set up a scheduled task to robocopy /E (so copy, not delete) the dropbox contents to the desktop. You can configure the timing as you'd like.
You could also add a key to Run so that even if he somehow deletes the scheduled task, you can just tell your Grandfather to reboot his computer, and have the task execute and readd itself to scheduled tasks.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 24 '15 at 16:48

Out of my mind I'd use

Bittorent Sync to share a folder that he cannot update - or any other file sharing solution which limits shared folder permissions
An approach similar to what was done a while ago with Dropbox + AutoHotKey remote automation

Julian Knight · Answer 3 · 2015-06-25T05:51:29.453

If you mark one of the folders in your dropbox as shared, read-only with his DB account and put the files in it, it should be synchronised fine with him and he can run the application from that location as long as your script does not try to write to its own folders (write to %temp% or somewhere similar). He will not be able to delete anything, the worst he could do would be to unlink the shared folder which is easily fixed.

Dropbox is perfect for this.

UPDATE: You can easily sign him up for an account and configure his PC for him. Use Teamviewer or similar to remote to his PC if needed.

Yes, you can drop a link onto his desktop. The most seamless way is to create a softlink from the shared dropbox folder (which will appear in his DB folders) to the desktop. But that either needs you to create it from the command prompt or another tool. You can also do this however with a simple .lnk Explorer link by right-dragging the shared folder to the desktop and selecting to create a link.

He doesn't have a Dropbox account. Other than that, great!
A big part of this is that the files have to appear on his desktop. Is this possible? — spelchekr, Jun 25 '15 at 00:06

Divin3 · Answer 4 · 2015-07-03T02:47:24.157

0

To solve this easy, first You need to have both computers connected in the same network.

There is PC1 (your PC) and PC2 (grandpa's PC)

All You need to do is on PC1, copy your program into a folder, share that folder over the network, make sure PC2 has (read) access to the folder.

On PC2, You create a .bat file in the programs directory with the following script:

@echo off
xcopy \\PC1\<shared folder name>\*.* /d /y
<name of file that runs the program>
exit

Just copy a shortcut of the .bat from the desktop and You are done.

The .bat file will update, than run the program whenever it is started

EDIT:
Forgot to mention that PC1 needs to be running in order for PC2 to be able to reach the shared file.

edited Jul 03 '15 at 02:47

answered Jul 02 '15 at 04:11

Divin3

1,803

And what happens when our computers aren't on the same network anymore? – spelchekr Jul 02 '15 at 22:39
@spelchekr - if the computers aren't on the same network, this process can still work, it just gets a bit more complicated. If You are connected with PC1 and PC2 to the internet and not in the same network, PC1 needs to have an ftp server, where PC2 can connect and download the file from. – Divin3 Jul 03 '15 at 02:45
@spelchekr personally, I have an external HDD connected to my router and set as an ftp server that I can reach from anywhere on the world even if my pc is turned off. I would use a similar method for this. But if You don't have this option, You can always find an online ftp hosting site. – Divin3 Jul 03 '15 at 02:53

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 03 '15 at 04:44

I use Syncovery.

There are more options in it than can be explained in this context. It's insane. But, it's easy to use.

I use it to do a one-way (left->right; exact) copy in the following scenarios:

f:\Pictures -> g:\Pictures
f:\HomeVideos -> g:\HomeVideos

I also use it for FTP. When I drop a text file in a folder, it magically ends up on my server.

You can setup a bunch of different profiles and the system monitors and copies everything for you.

It runs in the background. It gets the job done.

I also use it with Google Drive:

I sync some of my Google Drive folders using the Google Drive tool, then I setup Syncovery to sync one of those to my FTP. Now, I can edit a file on my Chromebook in Google Drive and it shows up on my PC backup and on my web server magically.

One-way sync files from one computer to another

5 Answers5