[icebraining]

>Since machines on the local network sync at LAN speeds it is also very fast in the usual case.

On a LAN, I don't really see the advantages over something like FreeFileSync, which is GPL'd.

Over the 'net, locating the machine and performing NAT traversal can be useful, though, especially for people behind ISP NAT.

[roel_v]

"On a LAN, I don't really see the advantages over something like FreeFileSync, which is GPL'd."

AeroFS is not a 'copy diffs' tool, it's like dropbox - changes are propagated instantly and automatically, in all directions. Yes you can run a cron job syncing every 2 minutes or whatever but that still doesn't do syncs to many machines, it means you need to keep the machine with the cron job always on etc. So no, AeroFS/Dropbox are not like FreeFileSync or Cobian Backup or rsync or SyncToy or anything like that.

[drdaeman]

I've visited FreeFileSync site on SF and didn't get it. Does FFS support non-interactive ("daemon") mode, where it runs in background, monitors filesystem for changes (using inotify or similar mechanism) and propagates them to one or several remote systems. (I've highlighted the key points.)

AeroFS and Dropbox are not as simple as inotifywatch+rsync. They don't only offer synchronization, but replication and version control.

[jroll]

The advantage is that you can seamlessly move between LAN and WAN, and your sync speed will seamlessly move with you.

[aquark]

I've never looked at (or heard of) FreeFileSync ... but AeroFS offers a very simple install and clean minimal UI for setting up the syncing.

I don't have to worry about which machine has which copy of which file, or even what the machine names are. I just login and can choose which 'Libraries' to sync with the local machine -- it handles finding the correct source, retrying when I close the laptop lid in the middle of something, etc, etc.